At Anfield on Sunday, Mohamed Salah and Liverpool, a premier league powerhouse, stunned Manchester United by outscoring them 7-0. United suffered its worst loss in the Premier League and the team’s joint-worst loss in all competitions just one week after winning the League Cup.
Six goals were scored in an energetic second half, with two goals each from Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah, and Roberto Firmino. That dealt a serious setback to Erik ten Hag’s four-pronged quest for trophies as a push for the league crown is now seeming increasingly implausible.
Liverpool, on the other hand, strengthened its own attempt to make the Champions League by capitalizing on Saturday’s defeats of top four opponents Newcastle and Tottenham. With 129 goals, Salah surpassed Ronaldo as the Merseyside club’s all-time highest Premier League scorer.
Although Jurgen Klopp’s team has failed to be consistent thus far in the season, Anfield was in raptures as it saw arch rival United humiliated on Merseyside.
In addition, Liverpool still has a game in hand while Tottenham, who are in fourth place, are now three points behind Liverpool.
With Arsenal’s late 3-2 victory over Bournemouth, United knew anything less than a victory would be a severe setback to its championship campaign as Liverpool focused on the top four.
But, history was not on their favor, as they had not triumphed at Anfield since 2016. Last season’s matchup saw United lose 4-0. Even though United had made improvement under Ten Hag, the team’s composure under pressure had already been tested this season by losses against Manchester City and Arsenal.
Yet seven days after the Dutch manager at United won his first title, he suffered this embarrassing defeat. As he gathered Andrew Robertson’s ball in the 43rd minute, Gakpo gave Liverpool the lead. He raced into the area right away, avoided Raphael Varane, and then stroked a shot past David de Gea and into the lower corner.
Before to that goal, United’s players had wasted opportunities of their own, with Bruno Fernandes’ far post header going wide and Marcus Rashford’s timid shot at Alisson going straight at the goalie with only the goalkeeper to beat.
If United supporters were anticipating a comeback after the interval, Liverpool’s frenzied start to the second half left them speechless.
Nunez increased Liverpool’s advantage by converting Harvey Elliott’s cross after Luke Shaw botched the ball’s clearance. When Salah’s deft movement defeated Lisandro Martinez in the 50th minute, he clipped a pass for Gakpo to loft past De Gea, making the score 3-0.
From there it went from bad to worse for Ten Hag as his team still tried to get back into the match. Liverpool ruthlessly exploited United’s ragged defense, with Salah making it 4-0 in the 66th and Nunez scoring again in the 75th.
It was 6-0 when Salah scored in the 83rd and substitute Firmino stepped off the bench to score in the 88th. Liverpool’s seven goals came from just eight shots on target.
