PL: Liverpool defeat Manchester United 4-2 at Old Trafford

Liverpool boost their top-four hopes with a come-from-behind victory at Old Trafford. Red have won their first PL match at Old Trafford since March 2014, while it was Jurgen Klopp’s first ever away win against Man Utd with the club.

Roberto Firmino’s double helped Liverpool to a thrilling win over Manchester United that boosts their top-four hopes.

Firmino came in for Sadio Mane in the only change to Liverpool’s starting XI, while Divock Origi and Caoimhin Kelleher returned to the bench following injury. Mean While Ole made 9 changes to the starting XI from a 1-2 defeat to Leicester on Tuesday.

Bruno Fernandes had put Man Utd ahead on 10 minutes with a shot that deflected in off Nathaniel Phillips.

Liverpool were awarded a penalty when Eric Bailly challenged Phillips but that was overturned by a VAR review and they levelled through Diogo Jota’s cute backheel on 34 minutes.

A clinical header by Firmino put the Reds in front in first-half stoppage time before the Brazilian netted his second, and Liverpool’s third, only two minutes after the break.

Edinson Cavani’s superb assist allowed Marcus Rashford to finish for 3-2 on 68 minutes to set up an exciting finish.

Two Mason Greenwood efforts were blocked on Liverpool’s line in quick succession, while Fernandes fired over, before Mohamed Salah broke away in added time to seal the win with his 21st goal of the season. He is now level with Harry Kane in the race for the Golden Boot.

Man Utd are second on 70 points, Liverpool move up to fifth on 60 points, four behind fourth-placed Chelsea.

Match Stats:

What Next ?

• Manchester United will host relegated Fulham side at Old Trafford on 18^th May, around 10000 fans are expected to be in the stands.
• Liverpool will play another relegated team in West Brom away from home on 16^th May.

Post-Game reaction from Klopp & Ole:

Jürgen Klopp feels his first win at Old Trafford came at the right time as Liverpool secured a ‘really deserved’ 4-2 victory over Manchester United.

Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool Manager:

“All football games are obviously different. First and foremost, if the defensive line makes a mistake it’s probably most of the time forced by the opponent. I thought we had a good game; we were better tonight, so we won the game. We caused them more problems, that’s why we won the game.

But first and foremost, I have to say the start in the game tonight was better because we had to adapt to a few things. They had an overload on the wings, we didn’t react quick enough from that and that’s how we conceded the goal. Then we did that and you can only create chances from wherever when you play good football – and that’s what we did.

Being 2-1 up at half-time – the set-piece from the second goal was obviously absolutely great. We just did what we had to do. They had their system, which we tried to use; in the back of the midfield, they are incredibly strong but if you are flexible you can at least cause them some problems – and we were flexible in midfield and the front line.

The passing game from the last line became better and better and so we played a good game. We cannot decide these games early all the time, especially against United, so we had to fight until the end, but who cares? We got it, so all good”

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Manchester United Manager

“Liverpool deserved the win. But it was a game that we should have capitalised on. That start we had, we should have capitalised more on that one and that’s something we have to learn from and will learn from.

I don’t think the boys understood that they [Liverpool] were here for the taking. We played well and we played some great football, but when we lost the ball we were a little bit on the back foot. We let them play out and we should have pressed more and made it more difficult, but we’ll learn from it.”