Red Bull gives you wings, apparently.
And in Liverpool's case, it gives you one of the world's best wingers, too.
For Sadio Mane, it promises to be another special European evening.
The Liverpool forward was booed the last time he faced Salzburg, but he can expect a rather warmer reception when his former club visit Anfield in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Mane, of course, spent two years with the Austrian champions between 2012 and 2014, winning a league and cup double in his final season with the Red Bull-backed outfit.
He may have left under a cloud, doing what he could to force a big-money switch to Southampton that summer, but memories of Mane in Salzburg remain overwhelmingly positive. There is genuine pride at what the Senegal star has gone on to achieve since his time at the Red Bull Arena.
“He is probably the best player who ever played in Austria,” says Fabian Zerche, editor-in-chief for SPOX. “He was just a special player, a special talent.”
A Salzburg source tells Goal there is “huge pride” that their club, in Mane and team-mate Naby Keita, have helped develop two Champions League winning players. “Of course our fans have good memories of him,” they add.
Mane was signed by Salzburg on the final day of the 2012 summer transfer window, the Austrians eventually thrashing out a €4 million (£3.6m) deal with Metz, then a third-division French club.
That made him the third-most expensive player in Metz’s history – only Robert Pires and Miralem Pjanic have been sold for more – and raised more than a few eyebrows back in Austria.
“It was a lot of money for a player not many people had heard of, for sure,” says Zerche.
Goal
But Salzburg had done their homework. Sporting director Ralf Rangnick, along with the former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier, who works as Red Bull’s head of global football, had watched the 20-year-old Mane shine for Senegal at the 2012 Olympics. “We agreed we had to take him,” said Houllier in an interview with The Telegraph this week.
Rangnick went to watch Mane play against Tours in a French League Cup game at the start of the 2012-13 season. Afterwards, and following conversations with the Metz president, he phoned Salzburg owner Dieter Mateschitz with a message; sign this player.
A few days later, Mane was heading for Austria.
“He signed alongside Isaac Vorsah and Rodnei who both turned out to be fairly bad transfers,” says Zerche. “But around this time Red Bull were realising the huge amount of unearthed talent in France. Mane was presented as one of the most talented players in Senegal and after his first few games it was quite clear why.
“In Austria you rarely see extremely fast players with technical abilities gliding past opponents, but Mane would do that. He played on the left wing and at times he was just unstoppable.”
Salzburg were building a good side, adding the likes of Valon Berisha, Stefan Ilsanker and Kevin Kampl that summer. Kampl, in particular, struck up an immediate on-pitch chemistry with Mane. Those two, along with the prolific Spanish striker Jonathan Soriano, became key to new coach Roger Schmidt, who was looking to develop a young, high-pressing, high-energy team.
“Everyone liked Sadio,” says Zerche. “He had a special relationship with Schmidt and he was close to Kampl too.
“At the beginning he had some troubles with the physical style of play from his opponents and was sometimes accused of falling too easy – sometimes rightly so. But he was just special, you could see that immediately.”
Goal
Salzburg credit Mustapha Mesloub, one of the club’s integration managers, for helping Mane settle in Austria. He moved into a modest, one-bedroom flat in the city, worked relentlessly at his strength and fitness and quickly learned to speak German. He occasionally returns to Salzburg to visit friends, including Mesloub and his family.
“I was employed to look after him pretty much 24-7,” Mesloub told The Athletic recently. “He spent a lot of time with me and my family and almost became an adopted son.”
On the pitch, Mane’s form was good. He scored 19 goals in his first season and then 23 in his second, as Schmidt’s side completed only the second double in Salzburg’s history.
It would turn sour soon after. Mane’s form made him an obvious target for clubs in bigger, more established leagues. Borussia Dortmund, managed by a certain Jurgen Klopp, were among those keen. Klopp met with Mane personally to discuss the idea, but the German side opted against a move. Klopp has since said it is one of his biggest mistakes.
Instead, the Premier League beckoned. Liverpool were offered the chance to sign Mane but looked elsewhere, and it was Southampton who eventually got the deal done, paying Salzburg a little under £12m ($14.7m).
“Mane tried to force his move by not training,” says Zerche. “And that began a huge melee.”
In amongst it, Mane was removed from the Salzburg squad for a Champions League qualifier against Malmo, having arrived late for a team meeting. Without him, his side lost to miss out on a place in the group stage, and there was a degree of resentment towards him.
“His team-mates were not happy,” said Rangnick.
That led to boos when Mane played for Southampton in a pre-season friendly in Salzburg in 2015, but the man himself harbours no ill-feeling.
“I love the club and the city,” Mane said at a pre-game press conference at Anfield on Tuesday. “I met great people there in a great club. As a human being I learned a lot.”
Mesloub and his family will be guests of Mane on Wednesday evening, and there will be handshakes and high-fives when he runs into former team-mates and coaches before the game.
“Of course it’s a special game for me,” he says. “I was playing there for two-and-a-half years and now I’m going to play against them.
“They will be ready for me and I will be ready for them as well. I will be really happy to meet my ex-team-mates. But at the same time, I would love to win against them!”