Man United vs Liverpool LIVE: Premier League result and reaction after Mohamed Salah scores late equaliser
Manchester United 2-2 Liverpool: Visitors fail to reclaim top spot as Salah penalty rescues point
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Manchester United dented bitter rivals Liverpool’s title hopes as Mohamed Salah’s late spot-kick salvaged a 2-2 draw in Jurgen Klopp’s final trip to Old Trafford. Three weeks on from Erik ten Hag’s men edging an FA Cup classic at the end of extra-time, this age-old rivalry resumed in a similarly chaotic clash in the Premier League on Sunday.
Luis Diaz put dominant Liverpool into a deserved half-time lead against stumbling United, only for Bruno Fernandes’s 45-yard jaw-dropper and a magnificent Kobbie Mainoo effort to turn the match on its head.
Salah levelled with a late penalty after Aaron Wan-Bissaka brought down Harvey Elliott, but the Reds could not eke out a winner as Ten Hag’s men successfully put a spanner in their old foes’ title charge.
Relive all the match action below.
Wasteful Liverpool spurn points and lead of the Premier League in improbable Manchester United draw
Two swings, many misses. Liverpool salvage a point at Manchester United but will know they left a victory on the Old Trafford pitch, as well as the lead in the title race. This almost farcical 2-2 draw ensured Jurgen Klopp’s side have fallen behind Arsenal on goal difference. The home crowd gleefully sang about the pressure getting to the German, but what was almost more remarkable was how his team wasted so many chances without any pressure at all.
United should really have been beaten out of sight, having not even had a shot in the first half. It of course meant they were going to score with their first shot. Few could have imagined a shot like that which Bruno Fernandes actually produced. Kobbie Mainoo’s follow, to make it 2-1, surpassed even that.
It also took the game to new levels of absurdity, as well as an element of narrative perfection to go with the accuracy of Mainoo’s shot. That was just so in-keeping with the error-prone farce of the game that it couldn’t quite end like that. There was another mistake in Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s foul, as Mohamed Salah at last just scored.
That made for an oddly unsatisfying ending, certainly unlike the raucous recent FA Cup tie this seemed to directly pick up from. It was summed up in how players from both sides seemed disappointed at the end. Liverpool, however, will feel it most.
Read Miguel Delaney’s full match report from Old Trafford below:
Wasteful Liverpool spurn points and lead at the top in improbable Man United draw
Man United 2-2 Liverpool: The Reds miss the chance to go top despite a late Mohamed Salah penalty
Jurgen Klopp reacts to Liverpool’s profligacy in draw at Man United
Jurgen Klopp claimed that Arsenal will beat Manchester United at Old Trafford in the title run-in if Erik ten Hag’s team play the way they did while holding Liverpool to a 2-2 draw.
Klopp claimed Liverpool dominated United more than they had during 7-0 and 5-0 wins as his side dropped points, despite Mohamed Salah’s late equaliser, as he rued their inability to defeat their old rivals this season.
But Liverpool had 28 shots and Mikel Arteta’s team visit Old Trafford in May and Klopp thinks that United would lose if they repeat this performance.
“If we are still around [in the title race] then that would be great,” he said. “But Arsenal is a good football team. If they play like today, Arsenal will win the game, I am 100 per cent sure. I am sorry to say that. It is a fact we should have won both games but didn’t.”
Read more of the German’s thoughts below:
Klopp reacts to Liverpool’s profligacy in draw at Manchester United
Liverpool had more than 60 shots across two fixtures against their rivals this season but secured only two points
Draw cannot hide incompetence behind Man United’s shocking generosity in defence
Erik ten Hag likes to argue that it is more about the quality of shots than the quantity. Perhaps, then, he can seek solace in the numbers as he searches for a justification for his baffling style of play. In Jurgen Klopp’s valedictory season, Liverpool have had 87 shots against Manchester United and failed to beat them. In Klopp’s farewell to Old Trafford, United shared the spoils in a match where the half-time shot count stood at 15-0, and not in their favour.
Perhaps Ten Hag will prove a pioneer; there is a tradition for Dutch managers to coin theories that reshape the game. Rinus Michels fashioned total football and if, after a first half of Liverpool dominance, there was a temptation to suggest that Ten Hag was purveying total… well, something else, maybe it is the way forward. Perhaps Pep Guardiola will decide the surest way to ensure Manchester City prevail at the Bernabeu is for Real Madrid to have 30-odd attempts at goal.
As United scored the spectacular and conceded the set-pieces, Ten Hag’s flawed philosophy, as much as Klopp’s gegenpressing and focus on intensity, defined a messy epic. United mastered the magnificent and looked decidedly dodgy at much else.
Richard Jolly dissects another worrying and porous display from Erik ten Hag’s side:
Draw cannot hide incompetence behind Man United’s shocking generosity
It’s now 300 shots conceded in United’s last 14 games under Erik ten Hag
Klopp rues wasteful performance - ‘If United play like today, Arsenal would win that game’
Speaking at his post-match press conference, the German said: “Arsenal is a good football team and if [United] play like today, Arsenal will win that game, I’m 100% sure. I’m really sorry to say that but this is a matter of fact. We should’ve won both games and didn’t. That’s our fault.”
Ten Hag speaking to beIN SPORTS
“It’s two points dropped when you are in a winning position. The first half was tough but we thought we were in the game. We were well-organised but we didn’t create enough chances but it was only a small detail.
“It was about winning duels in decisive moments - in the half-spaces and upfront. When you win them, which is what we did in the second half, then you create chances and that’s how we created the second goal. Very proud of the team that they changed it in the second half.
“We needed a mistake to get us into the game but we also made two huge mistakes to do 1-0 down and also for the equaliser.”
On the constant need to change the starting lineup: “When you don’t get the routines in and have to make changes then the routines don’t set in. We have our rules but it’s about understanding and when you have to make split-second decisions you need to know what everyone is doing.
“[Having that understanding] will bring points over the line but now in decisive moments we make the wrong choices and drop points.”
FULL-TIME: Manchester United 2-2 Liverpool
Another disjointed display from United but they escape with a point, preserving Ten Hag’s impressive Old Trafford record against Liverpool.
Van Dijk, speaking to BBC MOTD
“It feels Like a loss, it is our fault again. We had so many chances and we should finish the game off.
“Unfortunately the individual mistake that happened with the equaliser and we had so much time to put it right, but we were in a rush.
On missed chances in the first half: “We should have been 2-0 up at least, but in football unfortunately if these things don’t happen you give them the feeling they could come back and it happened.”
Keane - ‘Point might be crucial for Liverpool'
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, the pundit said: "For Liverpool, they should have won the game. But that point might be crucial come the end of the season.
"They were behind with five to 10 minutes to go at Old Trafford where it is never easy. "I'm sure Jurgen Klopp will have mixed emotions. He will be delighted with his side's performance but they gifted United a way into the game.
"In the end, they clawed their way back for a draw and that could be vital at the end of the season."
FULL-TIME: Manchester United 2-2 Liverpool
Manchester United faced 28 shots, their most on record (from 2003-04) in a Premier League game at Old Trafford.
Home and away, they faced 62 shots in their two league meetings with Liverpool this season (34 at Anfield), the joint-most by any side against another in a season on record in the competition.
More from Klopp
“We were in a bit of a rush – I’d have loved us to take an extra touch. You always have to take different things from the game. I know the outside world will get nervous but we have to be calm – it’s going to be full of life, excitement and desire.
“The goals we have scored have got us where we are. We need to build on that. We’re deal with that in the right way. I’m not over the moon but it’s okay. You take what you get. If we were more clinical then we could’ve won here.”
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