On 75 minutes up stepped Kobbie Mainoo with the coolest of winners before the Stretford End to cause bedlam among home fans and wrest the bragging rights Manchester United’s way.
After a raid down the left Alexis Mac Allister’s weak clearance rolled to the midfielder who beat Dominik Szoboszlai to punch home a finish that bested Freddie Woodman to the Liverpool goalkeeper’s right.
After ceding a 2-0 half-time lead this ensured a league double over the visitors for a first time in a decade. Yet zoom out, and as United and Liverpool are not in the title race this meeting of England’s heavyweights was akin to two follicly-challenged men fighting over a comb.
Michael Carrick and his men will, of course, be far happier – as victory also confirmed what was all but a (mathematical) certainty: United are back in the Champions League next season and the interim manager has every chance of being offered the No 1 job.
He will not be content, though, with how United folded after the interval, allowing Arne Slot’s visitors to respond to Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko’s first-half strikes with goals by Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo. Each derived from errant United passes, from Amad Diallo for Szoboszlai’s, Senne Lammens’ for Gakpo’s equaliser.
