Liverpool defeats Man United: Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez, and Mohamed Salah all scored twice as Liverpool thrashed Manchester United 7-0 at Anfield on Sunday to increase their chances of finishing in the top four of the Premier League. The victory ended Manchester United’s momentum.
A week after a resurgent United won the Carabao Cup, their first trophy since 2017, and amid speculation of a championship challenge, they were completely destroyed by Liverpool on either side of halftime as they scored their biggest-ever margin of victory in the match.
After 43 minutes, third-placed United appeared to be somewhat superior, but Erik ten Hag’s team went on to suffer their biggest defeat at Anfield since a 7-0 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1931.
No words can adequately express what we did, Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp stated following the game. “Extremely energetic, vibrant, and forward-thinking. While playing a team in form, they played outstanding football. We unintentionally became a little crazy in the first half. In the second half, everything was generally good—the start, the finish, and the rest of it.”
Liverpool’s first shot on goal, which Gakpo brilliantly finished, gave the home team the lead at halftime.
Within five minutes of the restart, the game was gone as a match as Darwin made it 2-0 with a header following some amusing United defense, and then Gakpo scored in style for 3-0 on a quick Liverpool counterattack lead by Salah.
Highlight: Liverpool defeats Man United
Salah joined the action in the 66th minute to rifle in his team’s fourth goal, and Nunez later put a header past a hapless David De Gea in the 75th minute as United were in chaos and losing their cool. There was, however, still more to come.
With a close-range strike, Salah added insult to injury for United and set a new club record for Premier League goals with 129, surpassing Robbie Fowler, a Liverpool great.
After that, Roberto Firmino came off the bench to give Klopp’s team a huge boost, even though most United supporters had already left the stadium.
Given the two teams’ disparate fortunes since the April 2022 match, Liverpool’s 4-0 thrashing of United at Anfield was a significant shock.
With a depressing loss that Sky Sports analyst and former United defender Gary Neville called a “disgrace,” United fell to third place with 49 points and were essentially eliminated from the title hunt. They trail the leader’s Arsenal by 14 points despite having played one more game.
Liverpool moved up to the fifth position in the league standings with 42 points, three points behind fourth-place Tottenham Hotspur with a game remaining, after claiming their fourth victory in their last five league games.
Jordan Henderson, the captain of Liverpool, told Sky Sports that it was a wonderful day for everyone. “Today’s performance from every single player was of the highest caliber, which is obviously something we haven’t seen in a while.
“Today you could see the energy levels and everything was back, although to be fair the last few Premier League games had shown we were on the right path.”
Liverpool’s previous biggest win over United was a 7-1 victory in 1895 when both clubs were in the second tier.
source: ESPN
