In this, the first meeting of the season between England’s two most successful clubs, was always going to be a special occasion. Under the Old Trafford lights, in the early hours of a wet, Manchester evening, Liverpool and Manchester United walked out in front of a raucous capacity crowd.
United manager, ten Hag chose to put faith in his new charges, starting with Joshua Zirkzee and Matthijs de Ligt coming in for Harry Maguire and Amad Diallo as well as preferring Alejandro Garnacho over the injured Mason Mount.
Meanwhile, Liverpool’s Arne Slot (photo above on the left) deemed it fit to keep the same starting XI from their last outing against Brentford. From the off, the pace was frantic, both sides having early forays into the opposition’s half trading equal blows inside the first five minutes.
That changed when Trent Alexander-Arnold volleyed in from close range despite the best efforts from Diogo Dalot to clear the ball off the line. The celebrations harked back to an iconic 2009 Steven Gerrard goal. Unfortunately for the Reds, the goal was ruled out for a marginal offside by Mohamed Salah.
As the minutes ticked by, despite the early disappointment from the chalked off goal, Liverpool gained momentum and confidence which resulted in enforcing the once great Casemiro into making a mistake. This has become a more frequent occurrence over the last 18 months leading to Liverpool’s first goal.
Casemiro was dispossessed by Ryan Gravenberch, who then found Salah, who in turn managed to find Luis Diaz with a pinpoint looping cross who headed in from close range.
Three goal humiliation for Manchester United
A second goal soon followed after another mistake from Casemiro allowing Salah (photo above on the right) to set up Diaz for his second goal of the night.
The half-time whistle couldn’t come soon enough for the confidence stricken United players. As the players returned to the field there was the noticeable absence of Casemiro who had been unceremoniously replaced at the break by 20-year-old Toby Collyer for his Manchester United debut.
Then, the inevitable happened, and Mohamed Salah continued his love-affair with this fixture adding a third goal 10 minutes into the second half. This finished off a devastating counter-attacking move from the Reds. The 32-year-old Egyptian now has a staggering 15 goals in 16 appearances against the Old Trafford side.
Undertones of unrest were there for all to see, after Alejandro Garnacho was replaced in the 69th minute by Amad Diallo to a chorus of boos from the United faithful. Liverpool continued to try to increase their goal difference at this early stage of the season, but Dominik Szoboszlai was inexplicably denied from close range after seemingly attempting to showboat the ball into the net.
Many Liverpool fans were apprehensive of Arne Slot’s appointment after the departure of the legendary Jürgen Klopp. However, the Dutchman has taken nine points from his first three matches.
A dream-start for the Reds after a utopian afternoon in Manchester.
Manchester United 0 – 3 Liverpool, Old Trafford Premier League, 1 September 2024
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