Arsene Wenger Claims Salah And Mane Lacked 'Belief' Against Real Madrid, Pinpoints Key Event

Salah and Mane fired blank as Liverpool suffered a heartbreaking 1-0 defeat to Real in Paris. 

But the former Arsenal manager reckons the Liverpool forwards didn't have the 'same freshness' and lacked 'belief' as he referenced their crushing Premier League title failure. 

"I would like to give some credit to Liverpool,​" he told beIN Sport.

"They’ve gone for all the trophies they can go for and they just failed with the two biggest ones by just a yard, they’ve been exceptional as well.​

"I wonder after watching that game if the disappointment of last week, being beaten [to the title] in the last game of the season had somewhere dropped a level of confidence.

"You felt as well that Salah, Mane, the guys who make the difference, didn’t have the same freshness, the same belief that they can make the difference."

Wenger also praised Courtois​ for his heroics in goal and believes if Liverpool had levelled, they would've gone onto win the game. 

"Overall they came short, we must be honest, because of Courtois," he added. 

"I felt at some stage that if Liverpool came back to 1-1 they’d come back and win the game.

"But they never found that special moment where they could finish their chances off, and a lot of that is down to Courtois."

​Salah was unable to exact revenge and Mane appears set to leave Anfield this summer. 

While they didn't win the Premier League and Champions League, Jurgen Klopp's team end the 2021/22 season with the EFL Cup and FA Cup.