Mohamed Salah set a new African goalscoring record in the Premier League and became the first Liverpool player to score a hat trick at Old Trafford since 1936 as he netted a treble in Liverpool’s 5-0 win over Manchester United.
Buoyed by their incredible midweek comeback against Atalanta, Manchester United headed into their derby clash against Liverpool hoping to close the gap between the teams to just one point.
Manchester United started the match well, and Bruno Fernandes should have done better as he blazed over after being played in following a counterattack by the Red Devils inside the opening four minutes.
Bruno’s profligacy would haunt Manchester United, as Liverpool found the net from the very next attack they launched.
A series of quick passes ended with Salah beating the offside trap before feeding Guinea midfielder Naby Keita, whose finish was caressed into the bottom corner of David De Gea’s goal after five minutes to open the floodgates.
Just eight minutes later, Liverpool doubled their advantage through Portuguese forward Diogo Jota. A defensive mixup saw the ball break for Keita, who then played the ball out wide for Trent Alexander-Arnold to play a low cross into the box, and Jota slid in to make it two.
Salah finally added his name to the score sheet as he turned home a low cross from the impressive Keita after 38 minutes to make it three for the Reds.
With halftime looming, the Reds added a fourth through Salah. A defensive mixup saw the ball break for Jota, and the Portuguese forward sent the ball across to Salah, whose first-time finish was perfectly placed into the bottom corner in the first half added time.
It was the Egyptian’s 105th English Premier League goal, taking him past Chelsea legend Didier Drogba, who held the previous African goalscoring record of 104 goals for the most goals scored by an African in the league.
Salah completed his hattrick just five minutes into the second half with an emphatic finish following a throughball by captain Jordan Henderson.
Halftime substitute Paul Pogba received his marching orders on the hour mark after a dangerous tackle on Keita, which saw the Guinean stretchered out of the pitch with an apparent injury.
Liverpool have now won consecutive away matches 5-0 and have moved up to second in the league with 21 points. Manchester United are in seventh place with 14 points, eight points off the pace after only nine matches in the league.
Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer’s future at the club remains in question after yet another terrible performance by his side. It remains to be seen whether the board would decide to stick with him or move to a new manager.
