Manchester United is being humiliated by Liverpool. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Reaction to Mo Salah and the Liverpool fans mocking Ole.
By the conclusion of the most high-profile game in English football, if not the globe, only one winner remained — the unstoppable Salah.
Within setting up the opener after five minutes, the Egyptian king set about killing Manchester United by himself, cementing his title as the finest player in the world.
Salah’s hat-trick brought his season total to 15 in 12 games, including 14 in his previous ten outings for Jurgen Klopp’s side and a club record 10 in his last ten.
He was also the first Liverpool player to score three goals in three games at Old Trafford, as well as the first opposition player to score a hat-trick in the Premier League at Old Trafford.
Salah’s mesmerizing form has made him the favorite to win the Ballon d’Or on November 29, and here the 29-year-old set about demonstrating why he is deserving of that elite position.
With his current contract set to expire in 18 months, Salah can effectively set his own conditions for a contract extension, leaving Liverpool with little choice but to give him what he wants in terms of money and duration of the contract.
Despite the fact that Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw are two of England’s most skilled defenders, Salah made them look foolish with his fast feet, intelligent movement, and lethal finishing.
What made Liverpool’s resounding victory even more astonishing was that it was done without their strongest front three, with Sadio Mane beginning on the bench and Diogo Jota starting in his stead, who absolutely justified his selection with a display full of skill and industry.
For the previous two decades, Liverpool has had to watch as Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United dominated the domestic scene, breaking their own record for most titles won to become England’s most successful club. But, in all that time, Liverpool had never been as willing to bend as United was on this occasion.
With their first Premier League championship in 2020, Liverpool cut the gap to one title, demonstrating how much the Merseyside club has advanced, and how far United has regressed, since Ferguson’s departure in 2013.
Klopp inflicted the ultimate humiliation on United and Solskjaer by switching his strongest line-up for the most important game of the season, supplementing his decision not to start Mane with the selection of Ibrahima Konate ahead of Joel Matip in defence, safe in the knowledge that he could get away with it.
The away crowd mocked United with mocking shouts of “Ole’s at the wheel” and asked the crestfallen Solskjaer to give them a wave, a request he wisely refused, the away fans reveling in their fiercest rivals’ anguish.