Liverpool humiliated rivals Manchester United in a 5-0 drubbing at Old Trafford.
73,088 fans saw a historic game of Premier League football with the away side recording an iconic victory over their fierce competitors.
Naby Keita opened the scoring with Diogo Jota doubling the lead, before a Mohamed Salah hattrick put the final nails in the coffin of an already depleted United side.
Cristiano Ronaldo had a solo effort ruled out for offside.
Paul Pogba saw red to further dampen United’s day.
Previous clashes
Manchester United and Liverpool have faced off in 238 occasions. This iconic battle has led to 89 victories, 68 draws and 78 losses for United. Every matchup with these two sides creates an atmosphere like no other.
No matter how bad one of the sides is doing, when it comes to this game, everything changes. Thus, despite Liverpool’s recent success, and United’s poor form, this game was very much anyone’s to win.
Lineups
Manchester United:
- David De Gea
- Aaron Wan Bissaka
- Victor Lindelof
- Harry Maguire
- Luke Shaw
- Fred
- Scott McTominay
- Bruno Fernandes
- Mason Greenwood
- Cristiano Ronaldo
- Marcus Rashford
Liverpool:
- Alisson Becker
- Trent Alexander-Arnold
- Ibrahima Konate
- Virgil van Dijk
- Andy Robertson
- James Milner
- Jordan Henderson
- Naby Keita
- Diogo Jota
- Roberto Firmino
- Mohamed Salah
Team talking points
With the absence of Fabinho and Thiago Alcantara, the selection of the Milner, Henderson and Keita midfield, could have been one Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looked to exploit.
Neither Henderson, nor Milner where in their primes anymore, and Keita was frequently injured, so Solskjaer may have felt by selecting McTominay and Fred, they could use their youth and energy to win the midfield battle in United’s favour.
However, despite this, with the inclusion of Salah, Liverpool were a threat to United irrespective of the midfield battle.
Match events
United started the game the brighter side, attacking Liverpool with pace.
Within four minutes, Bruno Fernandes came close to putting United ahead, after a swift counter attack let Mason Greenwood lay the ball off to the Portuguese midfielder, who’s strike flew over the crossbar.
However, just minutes after, Keita opened the scoring from close range. This resulted from a failed high press which left United’s defence open, and vulnerable for Salah to be slipped in before he laid it off to Keita, who cooly finished past De Gea.
Liverpool came close to doubling their lead two minutes after the opener, as Scott McTominay’s pass was intercepted by the goal scorer Keita, who drove at the United defence before threading a ball into Bobby Firmino. At speed, the Brazilian attempted to drill his effort into the bottom corner, but for United’s Spanish goalkeeper to parry it away.
At the other end, Manchester United’s number 10 Marcus Rashford, went close to levelling the score from a long ranged effort which fizzled just wide of Alisson’s goalposts.
In the 12th minute, Jota doubled Liverpool’s lead. Andy Robertson floated in a speculative ball in behind the United defence, which Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw failed to deal with as they crashed into each other, leaving United desperately scrambling at the back. Keita swiftly moved the ball wide to the right flank where Trent Alexander Arnold fired across a first time delivery for Jota to tap in.
Luke Shaw came close to bringing United back into the game after he found himself in acres of space outside the box, before letting fly to a low struck effort, which nestled just wide of the post.
In the 29th minute, Greenwood picked up the ball on the edge of the box, creating a yard of space before striking his effort on goal which Alisson was able to parry away.
Three minutes later, De Gea kept United in the game, saving Salah’s effort on goal after an inaccurate Rashford back pass freed the Egyptian.
However, it took just six minutes for Salah to get his revenge, with the inside forward firing home from close range to kill United’s hopes of a comeback.
Portuguese striker Ronaldo, came close to an early bath after battling with Curtis Jones led to the five time Ballon d’or winner lashing out and hammering the ball at the Englishmen. Fortunately for Solskjaer’s men, Ronaldo only received a yellow card.
Things went from bad to worse for United, when Salah got his second after terrible defending left the Egyptian attacker in acres of room to fire into the bottom corner, cementing a 4-0 drubbing before half time.
Solskjaer brought on Paul Pogba to replace Greenwood at half time.
Just five minutes into the second half, Pogba was robbed of possession in the middle of the park by Henderson, who crafted a delicious pass in behind the United defence to set Salah away again. The Egyptian made no mistake and put Liverpool 5-0 up within 50 minutes.
In the 52nd minute, Ronaldo thought he’d singlehandedly earnt United a constellation goal, after he skilfully got away from Alexander-Arnold and Ibrahima Konate, launching his effort past Alisson. However, his goal was ruled out for an offside earlier in the move.
Eight minutes later, Pogba ended a woeful cameo after receiving a red card from a shocking tackle on Keita. As a result, Keita was stretchered off.
Liverpool almost made it six in the 71st minute after Alexander-Arnold’s long distance effort was expertly saved by a flying De Gea.
Liverpool took their foot off the gas in the second half after ensuring victory in the first. As a result, the game ended 5-0 to Liverpool.
Liverpool brilliance or United collapse?
Such a dominant and humiliating performance poses questions as to where the game really was won.
Was it through Liverpool’s utter superiority, or a failure on United’s behalf.
Ultimately, you have to look at where the goals came from.
After a lively start from the hosts, the opener stemmed from an ineffective press which left United’s defence gaping for Liverpool to capitalise on.
In addition, another mishap at the back almost led to Firmino doubling the lead soon after. Similarly, Liverpool’s second came from a complete miscommunication from Shaw and Maguire, leaving United’s defence completely unstructured and ultimately vulnerable to another goal.
Once again, Salah, before his inevitable hattrick, could have scored as a result of a Rashford mistake.
Furthermore, Liverpool’s fourth materialized from ineffective defending, leaving even more gaps in United’s defence.
Finally, their fifth arose from Pogba losing the ball in midfield, which Liverpool were quickly able to counter from.
Therefore, bar Liverpool’s third, it’s highly arguable that every goal, and multiple chances were of United’s own doing.
Thus, you could suggest that such a resulted stemmed from United’s collapse.
However, it would be naïve to suggest there wasn’t Liverpool brilliance wrapped up in these mistakes. The offensive quality and clinical nature to capitalise on every mistake is uncommon.
Furthermore, such mistakes often came from Liverpool’s ability to work through United. The first goal in particular, resulted from Liverpool cleverly bypassing the press, and then for their fifth, it was the infliction of their own press to rob Pogba of possession.
Thus, this performance came from a combination of Liverpool excellence, factored in with United’s self-inflicted demise.
What Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had to say
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said: “it’s the darkest day I’ve had leading these players. Mentioning that they “weren’t good enough individually, as a team.”
When asked about responsibility for the result, Solskjaer said: “It’s mine,” “the coaching staff are very very good.”
Who’s next for both sides
United have just under a week to recover from this destructive loss, before facing Tottenham at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium. Then, United face Atalanta in a crucial away tie in the Champions League.
Liverpool visit Deepdale to play Preston North End in the EFL Cup on Wednesday, before returning to Anfield to host Brighton.