Manchester United had a nightmare afternoon, losing 7-0 to Liverpool away. Despite a tentative first half and a plethora of scoring chances, the hosts took the lead just before halftime through Cody Gakpo.
Erik ten Hag’s men were unable to recover, conceding two goals before adding six after the break thanks to a Gakpo second, a brace for Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah, and a late effort from Roberto Firmino.
As one would expect from a match of this calibre, neither side wasted any time in getting involved, with the Reds penalised for a couple of early fouls in front of a bouncing Anfield. The hosts had more of the ball in the first ten minutes, but United’s best effort came from Antony’s trademark curling effort from the edge of the box. After seeing it late through a crowded area, fellow Brazilian Alisson was forced to push it behind, but the subsequent corner resulted in nothing for Ten Hag’s men.
After an excellent ball gravitated towards Darwin Nunez around the penalty spot, Jurgen Klopp’s side had their first real sight of goal, but the Uruguayan was denied by a last-ditch challenge from Lisandro Martinez.
United gradually grew into the game, and we used our time on the ball to create a few great chances. The first came from this afternoon’s captain,
Bruno Fernandes, who was found at the back post by Diogo Dalot’s brilliant whipped cross, but the Portuguese couldn’t direct his header into the bottom corner. The second fell to the in-form Marcus Rashford, who sought his first goal at Anfield. Our no.10 was found through the middle by a sublime Luke Shaw pass, but his first-time shot was tame, and Alisson comfortably gathered.
In the minutes leading up to halftime, Casemiro found the back of the net with a headed effort from a Shaw free-kick, but he was rightfully flagged offside for entering the area a yard or so too early. The hosts surged forward moments later, and Gakpo gave them the lead in the blink of an eye. When Andy Robertson passed inside Fred, the Netherlands international picked up the ball out wide before cutting past Raphael Varane and curling it into the corner beyond David De Gea to give Liverpool a 1-0 lead at the break.
With the momentum in their favour, Klopp’s team took full advantage as they attacked the Kop end, and Gakpo put them three goals up just three minutes later. As things began to fall apart for Salah, he provided a quality pass into the path of his teammate, who went on to loft the ball over De Gea and into the bottom corner.
Ten Hag went to his bench, specifically Scott McTominay and Alejandro Garnacho, to try to get back into the game. But Liverpool proved lethal, scoring four minutes later after a faster counter-attack from United’s initial corner. McTominay appeared to have intercepted it, but by chance, the ball fell to Salah, who turned and volleyed in off the crossbar.
With 20 minutes remaining, Rashford skipped past Alisson with a chance to equalise, but his effort bounced off the post. Minutes later, Liverpool forward Nunez headed home his team’s fifth goal of the game from a Jordan Henderson cross.
Salah added his second of the afternoon to make it six towards the end, when Shaw’s attempted clearance bounced into his path, before second-half substitute Firmino made it 7-0, squeezing the ball under De Gea, as his side collected all three points to ignite their top-four push, while United remain third but our goal-difference has taken a heavy hit, with all the focus now on bouncing back against Real Betis in the Europa League on Thursday.
