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In a devastating afternoon of football, Liverpool destroyed 10-man Manchester United 0-5 at Old Trafford.
The Reds rocked up to the home of their greatest rivals and absolutely took them to pieces. From the fifth minute to the last, the Reds were outrageously dominant in almost every phase of play and were five up by 50 minutes. If they had wanted to, this could have ended up being anything, but it ended at five. An incredible afternoon of football.
Here are 15 mind-blowing stats from the afternoon’s awesome football.
1. A record win for the Reds
Manchester United vs. Liverpool is one of the biggest games in world football and certainly the biggest game in English football. These two sides have won 39 league titles and nine European Cups between them. They are incredibly dominant and even when one of them was at a low ebb we never saw a thrashing like Sunday afternoon. Literally, as this was the biggest away win in the history of the fixture, eclipsing even Rafa Benitez’s incredible 1-4 win from 2009.
2. Home invasion
Manchester United have lost 1-6 at Old Trafford twice in the last decade, so it’s not like United fans haven’t experienced this feeling in the pit of their stomach before. But this is Liverpool and, what’s more, that zero really stings. The clean sheet, effortlessly procured by the Reds really, drives home the absurd dominance. According to Opta, no one has 0-5’d Manchester United at Old Trafford since Man City did it in 1955.
3. Klopp sets record pace for 200
Managers often say they don’t care about personal accolades but Jurgen Klopp hit a pretty big one as he became the fifth Liverpool boss to reach 200 wins for the club. But more remarkable than that is the fact the German did so faster than any other Liverpool manager, in his 331st game – two sooner than Kenny Dalglish managed his 200.
4. A bad start
They say you should start as you mean to go on and in United’s defence they absolutely did that today, just, y’know, not in a good way. Naby Keita’s goal with just 4:42 on the clock was the fastest the Reds have ever scored at Old Trafford in the Premier League.
5. A REALLY bad start
It didn’t get better from there either, as Liverpool kept on coming and United were just all over the place. The shocking defending, in particular from Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw, got brutally punished by Jurgen Klopp’s men who were four up at half-time. No one had ever scored four Premier League goals in the first half against Man Utd before.
4 – Manchester United are four goals behind at the half-time interval in the @premierleague for the very first time. Smashed. pic.twitter.com/SdunQYeSKU
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 24, 2021
Even Rio Ferdinand, usually the most positive of people, couldn’t hold back from venting his frustration at the break. And when you can get Rio that livid, you know you’ve messed up big time.
We are always gonna pose a threat because of the individuals we have…..but we are so easy to play through it’s unreal!
Embarrassing 1st half… men against boys! 🤬 #MUNLIV
— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) October 24, 2021
6. Manchester United dislike spooky season
While United had never been slapped at 0-5 at Old Trafford before, they had lost 5-0 away from home and 1-6 at home over the years. The funniest thing? They’ve all come in October.
They suffered a 5-0 defeat against Newcastle in October 1996, 5-0 against Chelsea in October 1999, 1-6 against Man City in October 2011 1-6 against Spurs in October 2020 and finally, 0-5 against Liverpool in October 2021.
It seems that Manchester United most assuredly do not enjoy spooky season.
7. Pogba’s “Gerrard moment”
Everyone remembers Steven Gerrard getting sent off minutes into entering the field during Liverpool’s 1-2 home defeat Manchester United back in 2015. Well Paul Pogba had his own Gerrard moment at Old Trafford after a horror tackle on Naby Keita saw him sent off. Admittedly he lasted 15 minutes, longer than Gerrard, but then again his team lost 0-5 not 1-2. And Pogba even found time to be (partly) responsible for a goal when he was dispossessed and then slipped, allowing Liverpool to run away and score their fifth.
A slip!
Paul Pogba lasted a bit longer. 🙃 https://t.co/DzQ8HIP4kb pic.twitter.com/CyPsBNNH7s
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) October 24, 2021
But speaking of great individuals…
8. Mohamed Salah and Ronaldo
In 2003 the great Ronaldo scored a hat-trick at Old Trafford as Real Madrid knocked Manchester United out of the Champions League. In 2021 Mohamed Salah became the first visiting player since the Brazilian to score a hat-trick at Old Trafford, and the first ever in the Premier League, knocking United out of this season’s big boys club.
Mohamed Salah is the first player in Premier League history to score a hat-trick against Man Utd at Old Trafford.
THIS. IS. UNREAL.
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) October 24, 2021
9. Mohamed Salah vs. Cristiano Ronaldo
Mohamed Salah’s relationship with the other Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo, is somewhat more adversarial. And right now it’s a contest the Egyptian is winning. Where everyone assumed Ronaldo would arrive back in the Premier League and be top dog, Salah seemed to disagree and has gone supernova ever since. The dominance Salah is expressing is such that he’s scored more goals at Old Trafford in 2021 than the Portuguese despite playing three fewer games.
Goals scored at Old Trafford in 2021:
Mohamed Salah: ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽
Cristiano Ronaldo: ⚽⚽⚽⚽Mo has played three fewer games. 😅 pic.twitter.com/oDzCkQK0Xt
— William Hill (@WilliamHill) October 24, 2021
10. Salah loves Old Trafford
Not only has Salah outscored Ronaldo at Old Trafford in 2021, but after his goals in the two Premier League games and the FA Cup defeat, Salah has become the first Liverpool player in history to score in three consecutive games against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
11. Mohamed Salah runs the Premier League
Still on Salah because honestly this man is just ridiculous. In 2017/18 the Egyptian scored a record 32 goals in the league, more than anyone ever has in a 38-game season. So far he’s gotten to 10 goals after just nine league games this season (having scored for a record 10 consecutive Liverpool games, if you can believe that). Could he possibly threaten the record Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer set during 42 game seasons with 34 goals? Don’t doubt him!
Here’s the thing with Mohamed Salah’s dominance: it’s not just goals. Obviously he’s a goal machine, but he is also one of the leading lights in almost every single major metric for an attacking player you can imagine including goals, direct goal involvements, shots, xG, big chances, big chances created, touches in opposition box and successful through balls. This is a player at the very peak of his powers.
12. The record-holding African King
OK, seriously, last one on Mohamed Salah. His hat-trick today made him the highest scoring African in Premier League history as he surpassed the legendary Didier Drogba. That is of course just one of the many records he holds. A true king.
Mohamed Salah’s Premier League records:
▪️ Most goals scored during a 38-game season
▪️ Most games scored in during a 38-game season
▪️ Most Player of the Month awards in a season
▪️ All-time most goals scored by an African player 🆕
All bow to the Egyptian King. 👑 pic.twitter.com/oj3AYC5JIN
— William Hill (@WilliamHill) October 24, 2021
13. Jordan Henderson runs the show
Salah wasn’t the only Liverpool player to be resplendent at Old Trafford; Jordan Henderson took advantage of the Red Devils’ miserable midfield to, in essence, run the show. The Liverpool skipper had more touches than any other player has had in a single Premier League game this season (144) and also attempted and completed the most passes on the day too (128/134). Steven Gerrard could only dream of such absurd dominance at the Theatre of Dreams.
14. “A monstrous day for Manchester United”
“For the last three years, they’ve been a counter-attacking team. It looks to me like they’re trying to transition into something different, but they can’t,” said Gary Neville after the match, later adding, “This is a monstrous day for Manchester United as a club.”
When asked about whether or not a new manager would be needed, Neville’s comment was evasive: “The board are in support of the manager, but that [result] is going to put enormous pressure on the board. Something has to change quick.”
Will that something be Solskjaer’s departure? Time will tell, but Neville doesn’t seem to think so.
15. Adapt to Ronaldo?
Asked what’s changed from last season to explain recent decline, Neville seemed to suggest the players need to adapt to Cristiano Ronaldo better: “Ronaldo coming in has been like Elvis Presley coming into Manchester.
“It’s not just down to him, but what I would expect is that the group of players around him have to make sure they are a foil for him. I mentioned before that Rooney, Tevez, Ji Sung Park, and Fletcher were players that played around him, they were a foil for Cristiano.
“These players aren’t a foil for Cristiano. They think they are Cristiano, some of them. They don’t work hard enough.”
It seems strange to suggest that a team who came second and plugged two of their three holes with Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane then need to twist their game and adapt it around a 36-year-old goal poacher, not least because United’s stilted displays since the Portuguese signed suggests they are trying to adapt to him.
5 – Today was only the second time in 617 top-flight league appearances that Cristiano Ronaldo ended on the losing side by 5+ goals in a match, with the other a 5-0 defeat as a Real Madrid player against Barcelona in November 2010. Humbled. pic.twitter.com/0MqTvIWXYJ
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 24, 2021
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