Sadio Mane has told Liverpool’s expectant fans: Now for the title.
The forward believes the impossible dream of Champions League glory becoming a beautiful reality, shows that anything is now possible for Jurgen Klopp’s talented young side.
Liverpool made up for the disappointment of last year’s defeat in the final to Real Madrid by becoming kings of Europe for a sixth time.
Now Mane and his team-mates want to go one better than their runners-up spot in the Premier League by claiming their first league crown in 30 years next season.
“For sure, I think it’s the start of something special,” said the Senegal star.
“Last year we were so close, and this season we won it. So, next year we go for the league and Champions League. We know it will not be easy but we are Liverpool, we are strong, we will do everything and we still have a young team. We will keep learning and working hard to get more trophies.”
For Mane, no dream can be out of reach after the fairytale of his own rise to the top.
Nobody from his rural part of south Senegal became a footballer, never mind played for one of the world’s biggest clubs.
When he was growing up, it was laughable that a kid who was still playing with his mates on local parks pitches until he was 17 would be appearing in a Champions League Final just a decade later.
But he did it, against all the odds.
As he left the stadium in Madrid with a winners' medal proudly draped around his neck, a player whose journey brought him to Anfield via Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg and Southampton said: “I think I’m still dreaming! I don’t even know how happy I am, I could not believe until now.
“The dream became true. I don’t have the words to describe how happy I am. Of course, it’s one of the best nights of my life.
“It was not easy, it was a long way, but at the end of the day we did it together so really happy and really proud.”
