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BRAZIL FOCUS ON SADIO MANE IN CLASH WITH SENEGAL

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Liverpool star, Sadio Mane is getting all the attention from the Brazilian stars as the clock ticks down to their clash in Singapore on Thursday.

Looking ahead to the clash, Brazil’s Barcelona midfielder, said he is well aware of star player Sadio Mane’s ability, after the forward’s Liverpool team memorably dumped Arthur’s Barca out of the Champions League last season.

Said the 23-year-old: “I had the chance to play against him twice and he has great quality and is really fast.

“But I also know the quality of our defence. In my opinion, we have two of the best (central) defenders in the world and we have good fullbacks.”

One of those fullbacks is uncapped Atletico Madrid left-back Renan Lodi.

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Like Arthur, he is seen as the future of the national team. With Marcelo out of favour and Filipe Luis now 34, he is seen as the Selecao’s possible long-term left-back.

Luis himself thinks so, having told the 21-year-old that he will be one of the three best left-backs in the world.

Said Lodi: “You can be sure I’m looking ahead at the World Cup (in 2022) but it has to be a step-by-step process…

“When I arrived at Atletico (in June), I had a meeting with (Diego) Simeone and he told me what I had to improve on, and it was almost all on the defensive side of my game…

“After a few months, I had another meeting and he told me I was developing my defensive play in the right way.”

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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