Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has explained why he featured Sadio Mane ahead of Diogo Jota in Sunday’s Premier League match against Burnley at Turf Moor.

Klopp said Jota was supposed to be in the starting line up for the game but he had a leg problem; hence starting with Mane.

“Sad played really, really well,” the German mentor told Liverpool website.

“As I said before [the game], it was not the plan to start him today because we know how intense everything was, but Diogo had a dead leg and couldn’t train yesterday [Saturday], so we started Sadio.”

Mane featured for Liverpool after having returned to Liverpool the same week from Senegal where he was part of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) winning celebrations.

Mane scored the decisive winning penalty for Senegal as they saw off Egypt in the final for the Teranga Lions to bag their first-ever AFCON title.

Liverpool won the game 1-0 through Fabinho’s sole goal to keep the team’s title chances alive as they lie nine points and with a game in hand behind leaders Manchester City.