Liverpool v Manchester United LIVE: Result and final score after Harry Maguire misses sitter
The old rivals played out a thrilling draw at Anfield
Amad Diallo struck a late equaliser as Manchester United made a mockery of their recent form to hold Premier League leaders Liverpool to a thrilling 2-2 draw at Anfield on Sunday.
It looked as though Ruben Amorim’s United would go home empty-handed despite a vastly-improved display but Diallo swept in a shot in the 80th minute to earn his side a point.
United had gone ahead in the 52nd minute when Lisandro Martinez powered home a ferocious shot from a tight angle.
But an off-key Liverpool responded seven minutes later with Cody Gakpo curling home a stunning equaliser before Mohamed Salah put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot.
After Diallo’s leveller both sides had chances to win in a frantic finale but it was United’s fans who went home happiest. Liverpool have 46 points from 19 games, six more than Arsenal, while United moved up a place to 13th with 23 points.
Follow all the latest reaction from Anfield in our live blog below:
Pundits tear into Trent Alexander-Arnold’s defending in Liverpool’s clash with Man Utd
Roy Keane criticised Trent Alexander-Arnold’s first-half performance at Anfield on Sunday at the end of a week in which the Liverpool full-back has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid, joking he might be better suited to Tranmere Rovers.
Liverpool insist the 26-year-old, who is out of contract in the summer, is not for sale and when the Champions League holders made an enquiry a few days ago, it was immediately rebuffed with the message they had no intention of discussing it further.
But the speculation intensified amid reports of a second bid from Madrid, adding an unwanted sub-plot to Liverpool’s clash with rivals Manchester United this weekend.
Pundits tear into Trent Alexander-Arnold in Liverpool’s clash with Man Utd
Roy Keane and Jamie Carragher were scathing about the Liverpool defender amid transfer reports linking him with a move to Real Madrid
Neville reacts
Gary Neville was the latest to react on Sky, and he praises United’s performance – especially the midfielders.
“It was the best performance under Ruben Amorim if not all season, by a mile, to come to Anfield, the best team in the league all year,” he said.
“It surpasses the victory at City, they’re in a bad moment, and they were fortunate to get that victory.
“But today they were magnificent, they fully deserved their victory - sorry, it felt like one. There’s no Man Utd fan who woke up and wasn’t expecting the worst,” he adds.
“Mainoo, Ugarte and Fernandes controlled midfield against Gravenberch, Jones and Mac Allister, who have been outstanding all season.
“The backline did well, but they were the standouts. It was an outstanding performance.”
Liverpool must learn these lessons from Man Utd draw or risk letting their title grip slip
The medium-term focus at Liverpool has been split now for some time, given that off the pitch, there’s the lingering prospect of arguably the club’s three biggest talents leaving on free transfers in summer.
Ahead of the visit of Machester United, the biggest focus from that trio was inevitably on Trent Alexander-Arnold, given Real Madrid’s not-so-subtle interest in his signature.
Yet ask most supporters around Anfield and it’s the other two they might be most anxious to sort out: Virgil van Dijk is captain, but also the best centre-back in the Premier League, perhaps on the planet. Arguably the best performer on the sodden park on Sunday evening, he served a reminder of why it will be so important to keep him around.
Liverpool must learn these lessons or risk letting their title grip slip
A below-par showing from the Reds might not be overly costly this time, but they must not make the same mistakes as the title race intensifies
Keane: “What a position to be in"
Some final bits from Keane, who says that rivals may have taken some encouragement from Liverpool’s performance.
“There’s challenges ahead for Liverpool but no-one gives you a league title,” he says.
“There’ll be some encouragement for the other teams from a couple of goals they’ve given up, Fulham coming here last month, they conceded three at Spurs, go back further at Newcastle - so they’ve had their moments defensively where they look a bit sloppy.
“But they’ve got that many goals in them, and if you’d offered this to Liverpool at the start of the season - what a position to be in.”
Slot: “We also feel a bit relieved"
Speaking to Sky, Liverpool boss Arne Slot says that Liverpool “also feel a bit relieved” as United “got a big chance just before the end”.
“That might not be the story of the game overall, in my opinion - we created much more chances than them. A point is something to take, but if I look back tomorrow I’d hope for more.
“If you look at the game back, in the first 20 minutes we had three open chances. We play against many good individuals, you could see it again, and it was a chance for them to show themselves against us, more than in other games - to compete with the best in the league.
“We weren’t surprised with anything they did, they’ve played this style for a few weeks, maybe the only thing that was a bit different was that they mostly kicked the ball long.
On Alexander-Arnold’s performance, he adds: “Trent has played mostly very good games for the club. Today was not his best game but that had to do with them as well.
“Sometimes Ryan [Gravenberch] was not close enough to him so it was a two-on-one situation. I would put it more on the quality of [Diogo] Dalot and Bruno Fernandes.”
More from Keane
Roy Keane tried to reflect on the result from a Liverpool point of view, saying that he thinks the Reds “should be upbeat about it”.
“Whatever the expectation before the game that Man Utd would get well beaten, they came here last season and got a result.
“Liverpool played okay today. They had good chacnes but could’ve lost it at the end. You’re going to have your disappointments when you’re trying to win league titles, when you turn up and expect to win and it doesn’t happen.
“Arsenal would be disappointed last night, look where Man City are. Chelsea, teams will drop points. But the key for Liverpool was getting something out of the game, don’t lose it, take the positives.
“Man Utd were always going to produce a performance at some point, but if I was the Liverpool manager tonight my message would be that we’d take a point, move on.”
Amorim: “We have to fight"
In his own interview, Ruben Amorim says that the “big issue” for his players should be the fact “that even one person thinks you have the ability but not the character”.
“We have to fight that and change that,” he says.
“I think it is really clear. When we are focused, when we fight for every ball, when we suffer and we are tired when the game is finished, we are a good team.
“If we don’t do that all the time then we are going to lose games. That is clear to everybody.
“We controlled very well the tempo of the game. Every time Liverpool had a chance, we controlled and had the ball for a moment. That makes a difference.
“You could see in the game, it was not like we are not suffering all the time because we controlled the ball, sometimes winning some fouls, controlling the transitions. It was a good game.
“Everybody thinks the same thing. We have to start someday to be consistent. Not in the way we play but in how we face the competition - so let’s start today.”
Van Dijk: “It could have been a lot worse”
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk tells the media that the result “could have been a lot worse if we are absolutely honest with ourselves”.
“They had a big chance in the end that could have been a lot worse than where we are now. I’m definitely disappointed with dropping points at home but it is what is and we have to move on and we will.
“We found the 2-1 and then it is about trying to manage the game and keep the ball for longer than three and four passes. We lost the ball too easily at times and then we were more open than we should have been.
“We’re not perfect, we’re still learning and we have to learn from this as well.”
“We look at the next game, we don’t look at the league table,” he adds.
Mac Allister: “The result is not good enough"
Speaking to Sky, Liverpool midfielder Mac Allister said that the result was “not good enough”.
“The performance was not as good as we wanted but at the end of the day it was a fair result.
“We didn’t play as we wanted and conceded too many chances and had opportunities to score more goals.
“The effort was there, the mentality was there because we came back but when you’re 2-1 at 75 minutes you have to defend better and we couldn’t do it so we have to think about what we did wrong and move on.”
FULL-TIME! Liverpool 2-2 Man Utd
Roy Keane has had his say on the draw too, as he adds that “Manchester United turned up” on this occasion.
“They showed a bit of passion. They did it at Manchester City recently as well.
“The argument to all of this though is that you can’t just pick and choose when you want to turn up for a game at Manchester United.
“I don’t think anyone would have predicted them scoring two goals today or nearly nicking it at the end. But the key is that they have to back it up.”
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