Jurgen Klopp tells Sadio Mane what he must do with Liverpool to win Ballon d'Or

Jurgen Klopp has dismissed questions over a potential Ballon d'Or win for Sadio Mane - saying Liverpool will need to win the Champions League first.

And the Liverpool boss explained the tactical tweak that has allowed Mane to flourish as a centre-forward since the turn of the year.

The Senegal international scored his 20th goal of the campaign in the 2-0 win over Villarreal on Wednesday night. The Reds are now within touching distance of a third European Cup final in five seasons under Klopp.

Mane has been in inspired form of late. He has scored six times across a productive April - including three times against Manchester City - to help keep Liverpool in the hunt for an unprecedented quadruple.

Asked about the forward's claims for a 2022 Ballon d'Or award, Klopp said his "outstanding" No.10 would probably need to win the European Cup with the Reds before that conversation became a realistic one.

“Mane has had an outstanding season and is an outstanding player," Klopp said. "I have nothing to do with the Ballon d’Or nominations. I don’t understand it 100%.

“He is world class. He again played a really good game for us but I don’t know how I can answer with the season not even over.

“Historically we have to win something to win the Ballon d’Or, most of the time it was like this. If you’re not Messi or Ronaldo you have to probably win the Champions League, which we haven’t done yet.

"Give us a few more weeks and we will see where we end up. Sadio wants to contribute, he wants to help the team and that’s what I love most about it."

On the move central since the signing of Luis Diaz at the end of January, Klopp added: “Why Sadio? I think that’s obvious, it’s because he is doing really well. I like him playing there. He can