Liverpool moved to the top of the Premier League following a 4-0 win over their Manchester Rivals.
A brace from Mohammed Salah and strikes from Luis Diaz and Sadio Mane capped off a stunning Anfield performance in front of an expectant Liverpool faithful.
"Top level performance"
Jurgen Klopp described the performance of his side as “top level” as the Reds continue their surge to leapfrog Manchester City to the Premier League title.
Klopp said: “We started the game well and finished the game extremely well, in between we had to adjust to the high press and different organisation of the opponent [Manchester United]”.
Thiago Alcantara
Despite the front three delivering the goals on Tuesday night, the Liverpool display was conducted by a magical Thiago Alcantara performance.
The Spaniard arguably played his best game in a Liverpool shirt since arriving in 2020. Manchester United couldn’t like a glove on Thiago as the midfielder showed why he is regarded as one of the great midfielders in recent years.
His manager said: “Thiago played a good game, with quality always come responsibility, if you are good you have to play good, and he did that tonight again. So on a footballing point, no complaints.”
Anfield came together
In the seventh minute of the game, rivalry was put aside as Liverpool and Manchester United fans arose to take part in a minute’s applause for Cristiano Ronaldo and his family who announced the tragic loss of their newborn son on Monday night.
Renditions of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and ‘Viva Ronaldo’ were sung around Anfield as football came together to support one of the true greats of the game.
Klopp was full of praise for the crowd and expressed his heartfelt feelings towards Ronaldo and his family: “It was the moment of the game in the seventh minute when the whole stadium came together and showed pure class, so many things are much more important in life, and we really feel for Cristiano and his family.”
A new record in this fixture
Liverpool have defeated Manchetser United a record 9-0 on aggregate over both Premier League encounters this season, but Klopp was quick to say he isn’t thinking about this new record.
“We know Manchester United are in a tough situation, they came here without their first-choice centre midfielders and then Paul [Pogba] had to go off. If the fans want to celebrate about it {9-0] then they can do that but it’s not for me. If it was twice 1-0, I’d have been just as happy. Manchester United will strike back”.