MANCHESTER UNITED DISPLAYED some of the backbone manager Ruben Amorim has been asking for as they scored their first goals at Anfield since 2018 to earn a 2-2 draw against Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Home fans were gearing up to taunt their rivals as Arne Slot’s side were 10 minutes away from going eight points clear of Arsenal with a match in hand.
However, Amad Diallo stabbed home Alejandro Garnacho’s cross – adding to Lisandro Martinez’s first goal in two years – to earn a point having conceded a lead to trail 2-1 after Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah’s penalty had turned things around.
It would have cheered Amorim, who had called for the leaders in the squad to step up after five defeats in his first eight matches in charge.
It was no surprise they they did it against Liverpool, who remain favourites to equal the Red Devils’ 20 league titles despite dropping two points at home, as the rivalry between England’s two most successful clubs always raises the stakes.
And while it may have brought the best out of United from a resilience point of view it strangely did not seem to have the same effect on the hosts, who were slow off the mark in a game which was only given the go-ahead at midday after heavy snow on Merseyside.
But quality endures and after a lacklustre first half they stepped things up after Martinez’s fierce angled strike beat Alisson Becker and went in off the crossbar.
It was exemplified first by Gakpo, who scored his 10th goal in his last 15 appearances by cutting in on his right foot – sending Matthijs de Ligt sliding off the pitch – to smash a shot past Andre Onana.
But the coup de grace seemed to have been applied by Salah, whose 18th goal of the season saw him draw level with Thierry Henry in joint-seventh place on the all-time Premier League goalscorers chart with 175 goals.
Mac Allister’s header from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross hit De Ligt’s raised left arm and although referee Michael Oliver played on he was informed by VAR he should view the monitor and he subsequently changed his mind.
Onana, who had engaged in some pre-penalty shenanigans with a number of Liverpool players, guessed the right way but Salah’s shot was too powerful for him.
Usually, that would be that – especially against a United side who had lost their last three league games without scoring – but Diallo nipped in front of Andy Robertson to snatch a point.
While Salah continued to perform with unerring consistency, having on Friday expressed his desire to win the Premier League again to make what could be his final six months at the club memorable, Trent Alexander-Arnold played as if news of Real Madrid’s approach earlier in the week was weighing heavy.
On the eve of the game Slot had said the defender was fully committed and was confident there would not be any adverse crowd reaction, but his individual performance was lackadaisical and he was at fault for United’s opener.
United wing-back Diogo Dalot had plenty of joy down that flank, from where United scored their first goal when Alexander-Arnold gave the ball away to Martinez who continued his run to smash home Bruno Fernandes’ pass.
He later gave the ball away for a dangerous United counter, brilliantly snuffed out by Virgil van Dijk, and was then booked for pulling back Fernandes before being replaced by Conor Bradley.
The visitors were much more resilient than in previous performances, with Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte holding their own particularly in the first half and Harry Maguire, who ballooned over a chance to snatch victory in the final seconds, providing some of that much-needed leadership.
United are still only seven points above the relegation zone – 13 adrift of the top four – but this will have given Amorim some hope.
For Liverpool it was a missed opportunity but they remain in pole position.
What a great competition.