Manchester United 2-4 Liverpool
Thursday night's much-anticipated rearranged clash between Manchester United and Liverpool in the Premier League saw a Portuguese goalscorer on each side as Liverpool triumphed at Old Trafford.
The meeting between arch rivals United and Liverpool, which was postponed earlier this month after protests by the home fans, saw Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Jota on opposing sides and the Seleção duo got their names on the scoresheet in an entertaining encounter.
Fernandes gave United the perfect start in the 10th minute when his shot was deflected into the net by Liverpool defender Nat Phillips for the opening goal. United appeared in control, but the visitors soon grew into the match and threatened an equaliser when awarded a penalty for a foul by Eric Bailly on Phillips, but the decision was reversed after a video check.
Liverpool did draw level on 34 minutes and it was fellow Portuguese Jota to cancel out Fernandes’ goal. A scramble in the penalty area following a Liverpool corner ultimately led to Phillips firing the ball into the six yard box and Jota finishing brilliantly with a flick of his right foot for his 13th goal of the season.
United struggled for the remainder of the game to cope with Liverpool’s growing intensity and a brace from Roberto Firmino soon put the champions on the road to a deserved victory. United pulled a goal back through Marcus Rashford, but Mohamed Salah made the game safe at 4-2 in the final minute.
“I think everyone was disappointed in the dressing room because we know we made big mistakes,” Fernandes told MUTV after the match. “But we will learn from that. We have to keep improving and understand that we are not at our best yet.
“We started well, we scored and we created more chances after that. But we conceded two goals from set pieces and we know we have to work on that. We have conceded many goals from set pieces. Everyone is disappointed in the dressing room. We know we have to improve and do better, and we have to do it straight away against Fulham because we want to secure second place.”
While a second loss in the space of 48 hours (following Tuesday’s defeat to Leicester) was far from damaging to United’s league position, the result gave Liverpool renewed hope of salvaging a top four place. The Reds are six points off 3rd place Leicester and four points off 4th place Chelsea with a game in-hand on both sides, who must play each other next week.
By Sean Gillen
