Sadio Mane: Liverpool should not 'make excuses' for their dismal season

Sadio Mane claims Liverpool should not look for excuses amid their poor Premier League campaign and has issued a rallying cry as the Reds prepare for the season run-in.

Jurgen Klopp's side dramatically fell out of the title race during the winter after picking up just three wins in 14 league matches between the start of January and the beginning of March - with the Reds currently behind in the race for a top four spot.

Liverpool's schedule does not get any easier after the March international break, with matches at Arsenal and Manchester United on the way in the league along with a mouth-watering Champions League quarter-final with Real Madrid.

But Mane claims Liverpool are trying to find a solution and should become 'fighters' as they look to turn their season around.

The winger said before Senegal's African Nations Cup qualifier with DR Congo: 'We have to deal with the situation and not stop believing, but keep fighting, keep our motivation and go again.

'When you are a fighter you never try to make excuses, we are here to find solutions. Being together with my teammates always gives me high energy.

'In football – and in life in general – you can't expect anything and for years and years this complicated situation has not happened. We have always been successful, but now this has happened and we can see it is like how life is.'

Liverpool's dismal winter also saw them exit the FA Cup at the fourth round stage to arch-rivals Manchester United, with only the Champions League now their only chance of picking up silverware this season.

The Reds take on Zinedine Zidane's Real at the quarter-final stage next month and will face one of Chelsea or FC Porto in the semi-finals should they beat the Spanish side.

Mane is struggling to keep up with the lofty heights of this season, with the 28-year-old just netting seven league goals all season.

The winger had 13 Premier League goals at this stage last season and the Liverpool man failed to find the net in England's top-flight during February and March.

Mane insists, however, that Liverpool need to stick together to change their fortunes and is confident the tide will turn in the coming months.

The Senegalese winger added: 'To change it? Nothing else but stick together, be positive and fight.

'This is what we try to do to change this situation and I'm sure that it will change. I am more proud than ever to be a Liverpool player.'