Andy Roberston Reveals He 'Chased After Ball Boy' to Ensure Hat-Trick Hero Mane Got Match Ball

Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson has explained how he ensured that hat-trick hero Sadio Mane left with the match ball after last night's Champions League tie at Porto. 

The Reds thrashed the Portuguese side 5-0 at Estádio do Dragão, which literally translates, with goals from Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, and a hat-trick from Mane. 

However, left back Robertson revealed how the Senegal international nearly didn't get the honour of keeping match ball, despite netting three times.

“I had to go running after the ball boy for his ball at the end – he was nearly upset! Luckily, I managed to get it. They were three class finishes from him.” He told Liverpool's official website.

“Mo and Bobby have stolen the headlines in the last couple of weeks. But Sadio is on my side [of the pitch] and he is a workhouse, he works so hard. He took the limelight and got his three goals.”

The left-back has hailed the performance of his teammates, and said that the way the team started set the tone for the rest of the game.

“We just didn’t let them settle. Their fans tried to make it a bit hostile at the start, and we managed to quiet them very quickly,” explained Robertson.

“In the first five or 10 minutes we kept the ball and settled down and they let us have it. The first goal completely calmed everything down – and we never looked back.

"We were spot-on from the get-go. We were first to every second ball. We created chances and kept chances out, I don’t think they really had any clear-cut ones."

The two teams meet again in the second leg of the tie at Anfield on March 6, with Liverpool taking a commanding lead back to Merseyside.