LIVERPOOL: Liverpool brought Manchester United’s bandwagon to a shuddering halt as Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah all scored twice in a record 7-0 hammering of their arch-rivals to boost their Premier League top-four hopes at Anfield on Sunday (Mar 5).
A week after a resurgent United claimed their first trophy since 2017 by winning the League Cup and amid talk of a late title push they were blown away either side of halftime as Liverpool recorded their biggest victory in the fixture.
Third-placed United had looked marginally the better side for 43 minutes but it turned into an Anfield horror show for Erik ten Hag’s side as they suffered the club’s worst defeat since a 7-0 loss to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1931.
Gakpo’s superb finish from Liverpool’s first attempt on target gave the hosts the halftime lead.
Within five minutes of the restart it was over as a contest with Nunez’s header making it 2-0 after some comical defending allowed Harvey Elliott to cross and a lightning counter-attack led by Salah ended with Gakpo finishing in style for 3-0.
With United in disarray and losing their heads, Salah got in on the act to rifle in Liverpool’s fourth in the 66th minute and Nunez then sent another header past helpless goalkeeper David De Gea in the 75th. But there was still more to come.
Salah rubbed salt into United wounds with a close-range effort to score a record 129th Premier League goal for the Merseyside club, taking him past the mark of Robbie Fowler.
Roberto Firmino then came off the bench to send Juergen Klopp’s side into seventh heaven with an angled shot after more good work by Egyptian Salah, although by that stage most of United’s army of followers had headed for the exits.
