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#1 Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino underline their importance to the Liverpool cause
Having not played a part in Liverpool's penalty shootout defeat to Manchester City owing to his extra exertions over the summer at the Africa Cup of Nations, Sadio Mane was slowly eased back into competitive action and was handed a brief cameo in the 4-1 opening day victory over Norwich City.
A major talking point before kickoff was whether the Senegalese would start against Chelsea, and the answer turned out to be yes, as Liverpool's number 10 was started in a front three also featuring Mohamed Salah and Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain.
The 27-year-old proved his mettle and rewarded his coach's faith, equalizing immediately after the kickoff of the second half, bundling over the line to draw Liverpool level. Few minutes into extra time, the former Southampton man showed his class, once more, blasting past Chelsea keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga with an unstoppable left-footed finish to put Liverpool 2-1 up.
His night was ended soon after, as Jurgen Klopp withdrew him for Divock Origi and despite expressing his displeasure, Mane's performance was deserving of praise.
For his part, Roberto Firmino was dropped to the bench in favor of Chamberlain but the former was introduced at half-time, with his manager describing the decision to start the Englishman as a 'mistake'.
Together with Mane and Salah, Firmino has formed one of Europe's most devastating attacking trident, and just two minutes after taking to the field, he set his Senegalese partner up for Liverpool's equalizer.
The Brazilian international also had a hand in Mane's second goal, as it was his finely weighted pass that was rifled into the top corner by the former Southampton man.
Both Mane and Firmino have played huge roles in the strides made by Liverpool under Klopp, and on the evidence of their performance against Chelsea, they are raring to go once again this season.
