Sadio Mane feels Liverpool's mid-season trip to La Manga for a training camp will see the side through the business end of the season as they get ready to face Leicester City on Monday evening.
The Reds returned to Merseyside on Sunday after a four-day spell in Spain. Jürgen Klopp took his side on what he called a "second pre-season" with the side enjoying a 16-day break following their win over Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield.
The German will be hoping the trip will have freshened the players up and helped focus heads as they look to secure Champions League football for next season.
And Mane expressed his enjoyment at the trip on a professional and personal level.
Second pre-season
"It went very well. We had a good time but we also worked very hard, we trained together well and we also had a friendly game amongst ourselves. The weather wasn’t brilliant but a bit better than here,” said the 24-year-old.
The Reds, who are no longer in any cup competitions, find themselves with a very favourable fixture list for the remainder of their campaign, with Klopp's men able to enjoy a week's break per fixture.
The extended period of rest could prove vital for Liverpool, especially with their high-pressing, energetic style-of-play.
“It was just like one [a pre-season]. OK, the weather was good and we had a good time, but the training sessions were very intense so it was like a pre-season," continued the Senegalese forward.
The winger added: “It was good to bring the team together again because we had a break after Tottenham. We shared rooms so we were spending time together and getting to know each other as people as well as the training side.”
A hard January month
On the back of a dissapointing and thoroughly miserable January in which their only win came against Plymouth, Liverpool's win against Spurs was of huge importance to their hopes of a top-four finish.
With Manchester United closing the gap in recent weeks, the Reds can ill-afford many more slip-ups. Mane believes the manner of the performance against Mauricio Pochettino’s team has set the benchmark for the standard the players need to maintain for the rest of the season.
With Leicester next on the agenda for Liverpool, Mane has turned his attentions to the fixture, calling for the side to replicate the same style of performance that we were accustomed to seeing at the beginning of the season.
“The last few weeks have been quite difficult for obvious reasons, but we didn’t stop working during that period and that was important,” Mane said.
“But re-finding our form against Tottenham and the way we did it, we thought ‘we’re back now and we’ve got to maintain this’. We have to play the match against Leicester with the same attitude,” he concluded.