Kobbie Mainoo celebrated his new contract by scoring the winner that swept Manchester United back into the Champions League as they clinched a five-goal thriller against Liverpool at Old Trafford.
United led 2-0 at the break, thanks to early goals from Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko.
However, Liverpool turned the contest on its head immediately after half-time as Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo capitalised on errors to level.
But in a frenzied finish, Liverpool failed to clear Luke Shaw’s cross and the ball fell kindly for Mainoo on the edge of the area and he crashed a first-time effort into the bottom corner.
It came three days after Mainoo signed a new five-year contract at United – in a season when he did not start a league game under former boss Ruben Amorim.
In a game missed by Sir Alex Ferguson, who was taken from the ground in an ambulance as a precaution after feeling unwell, the victory confirmed United’s return to Europe’s elite club competition after a two-year absence and means Liverpool still need four points to confirm their spot.
Almost as important in meetings between England’s two most successful clubs, this win gave United bragging rights thanks to their first league double over Liverpool since 2015-16.
That can only strengthen Michael Carrick’s claim to be appointed head coach on a permanent basis.
Carrick has now beaten Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea to complete a clean sweep of England’s ‘Super League’ clubs.
There could be no more fitting scorer of such an important goal.
United officials are adamant there was no chance of Mainoo being allowed to leave on loan in the summer window, as he wanted to amid keen interest from Napoli.
But some very serious conversations would have been had towards the end of the winter window if Amorim had not been sacked.
It will forever be the scar on Amorim’s time at the club that he could not find a place for Mainoo in his starting line-up in the league this season.
He did not need to prove it was a bad call but Mainoo’s goal – the precision strike, the celebration that followed, United as a club milking the adulation surrounding an academy graduate – showed the error up for what it was.
Not that it was all plain sailing.
If there was any need for United fans to understand this current team is still not at the level required to compete for major honours, the first 15 minutes of the second half provided it.
The party atmosphere that swept around Old Trafford at half-time as the gleeful home supporters celebrated what they felt was certain to be a comprehensive victory over their rivals was replaced by the equivalent of a slap round the face with a wet dishcloth.
Carrick could only watch in disbelief as his previously sure-footed team collapsed.
Half-time substitute Amad Diallo had only been on the field for two minutes when he played a square pass just inside the Liverpool half to Szoboszlai, who was then allowed to run 50 yards with no challenge.
Senne Lammens has been so solid since his summer arrival from Royal Antwerp but the Belgian got his passing angles wrong for the visitors’ second.
It gives Carrick something tangible to work on this week.
The United fans weren’t bothered about that though. They just sang Carrick’s name as he left the field.
Liverpool analysis: Problems laid bare again
Liverpool and boss Arne Slot can point to their injury problems – and were far from full strength here – but there can be no excuses for their feeble first-half display, which left them two goals behind and with a mountain to climb.
Slot has spoken so often about the importance of the first goal in a game yet for the 21st time in 54 matches this season, Liverpool conceded the opener.
And only against Arsenal in August 2025 (two) have Liverpool had fewer touches in the opposition box in the first half of a league game under Slot than the four they managed at Old Trafford. The sheer lack of fight initially was glaring to see.
Yet the character and quality they showed after the break to score twice in nine minutes was impressive – and evidence that this team does have something about them.
United were guilty of gifting the visitors but Liverpool, lacking a centre-forward after Alexander Isak was ruled out with a minor groin injury, were still clinical.
Szoboszlai, Liverpool’s player of the season, scored a brilliant individual goal – one that the onlooking Ian Rush, Kenny Dalglish and Mohamed Salah would all have been proud of – before Gakpo punished Lammens’ error.
In the grand scheme of things, without two keepers, two strikers and a bench filled with youngsters, a draw at United would have been a point gained, rather than two dropped.
But Liverpool were the architects of their own downfall again when Alexis Mac Allister made a woeful attempt to clear his lines and was made to pay by Mainoo.
Liverpool should still secure Champions League football for next season over the coming weeks – but yet again, the barrage of problems they have were laid bare.
BBC
