Preston North End defender Sepp van den Berg takes on his parent club Liverpool tonight, and that could mean a meeting with Sadio Mane.
Liverpool make the short trip to Deepdale for tonight’s Carabao Cup tie, with a place in the last eight up for grabs.
Many will expect the Reds to coast through this game, especially having smashed Manchester United 5-0 on Sunday.
We don’t anticipate many of Liverpool’s star men to start tonight, but Mane would sneak into the team.
The Senegalese ace – a relatively high earner at Liverpool on £100,000-a-week – was left on the bench against United on Sunday.
That may mean that Mane starts tonight, which would surely strike fear into Preston defenders.
Not in the case of Van den Berg though.
The Dutchman, who is on loan from Liverpool but has been given permission to play tonight, has talked about Mane ahead of the game.
Van den Berg told Goal that he hopes Mane plays tonight having seen him named on the bench against United.
Van den Berg wants to show how he has improved as a player by taking on Mane, laying down the gauntlet to Liverpool players.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Van den Berg. “It’ll be a little strange, maybe, because I know them all, but who knows, maybe that will help me!”
“I watched the game on Sunday and saw that Sadio was on the bench. The first thing I thought was ‘he might be playing against us!”
“I want to play against the best team they can put out! Obviously, I know it’s not going to be the same team against United, but I hope Sadio is playing. As a player, you want to play against the best. That’s the way to test yourself and show yourself.”
“If he plays, I can see how much I’ve grown since the last time I played against him!” he added.