Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah scored two each as Liverpool overcame a poor season to thrash Manchester United 7-0 at Anfield on Sunday.
Jurgen Klopp’s men have set a new record for the most wins against two of the most successful clubs in English football.
“It was one of the best performances in a long, long time. Everyone saw what boys could be,” Klopp said.
“The second half couldn’t have started better. From that moment on, we flew and it was very difficult to play against us.”
Just a second loss in 23 games in all competitions effectively puts an end to United’s hopes of a first league title in a decade as they remain 14 points behind third-place leaders Arsenal.
But even more damage could be done to the club by a record defeat in competitive play, the heaviest since 1931.
“The result is quite clear. It’s unprofessional,” said United manager Erik ten Hag.
“There are many things that make me angry. It’s so easy to concede goals, definitely one of them.”
Liverpool are three points closer to Tottenham with a game against Spurs in hand.
Last season, Klopp’s team won two league games with a 9-0 aggregate score, but this season the situation seems to have changed.
A 2-1 win over the Reds in August gave Erik ten Hag his first win as United manager and his team started the day 10 points clear of Liverpool.
Liverpool looked like a shadow of a side that came close to an unprecedented trophy four last season.
But on either side of a 5-2 humiliation on home soil by Real Madrid, they are back in the race for a Champions League spot next season thanks to a streak of 13 out of a possible 15 in the Premier League.
“Everyone should feel us. Everyone should know that we are still there,” Klopp added. “This is who we should be from now on”
– United collapse –
Ten Hag has told his players to embrace the hostile environment at Anfield, where United have not won since 2016.
But they fell apart after Gakpo opened the floodgates two minutes before the break.
Andy Robertson cut through the United defense to play for the Netherlands, who cut from the inside and shot low into the far corner.
In the second period, Ten Hag’s men were shocked when Liverpool’s new front three finally worked.
Nunes punished United for a sloppy defense when the Uruguayan leaned over and head-butted Harvey Elliott’s cross.
Moments later, Gakpo scored his second goal, delightfully beating David de Gea at the end of Liverpool’s lightning-fast counter-attack.
It could have been worse for United as Robertson and Ibrahima Konate saw the effort fly apart by inches.
Salah scored the goal his performance deserved as he crashed into Nunez’s pass over the bottom of the crossbar.
Nunez then headed in on his second ball, as he went completely unnoticed from Jordan Henderson’s cross.
Salah became Liverpool’s all-time top scorer in the Premier League with 129 goals after United’s more erratic defense.
“This is a special event, I cannot lie,” Salah said. “I have been thinking about this record ever since I came here. After the first season, I was always chasing the record.”
Roberto Firmino will retire at the end of the season, it was revealed this week.
But the Brazilian came off the bench to have the final say, scoring a remarkable seventh with two minutes left.
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Source: sports.yahoo.com
