Liverpool are growing increasingly concerned over the fitness of Sadio Mané amid fears that the influential forward could miss the remainder of their push for a Champions League place.

Mané damaged his left knee in Saturday’s victory against Everton and the swelling has remained so severe that the club’s medical staff have been unable to make a conclusive diagnosis. Mané left Anfield insisting that he was “OK”, but that appears to have been an optimistic assessment from a player who scored his 13th Premier League goal of a productive campaign in the 3-1 Merseyside derby win.

That the joint has remained swollen is not a good sign and, at this stage, an operation has not been ruled out, which would bring his season to a