When the final whistle went, Jarell Quansah, who had been one of the best players on the pitch and is one of the best young players in the country, put his head in his hands and then pulled his shirt as high over his face as he could make it go.
Bruno Fernandes, the Manchester United captain, noticed his demeanour and gave him a consoling pat on the back. Virgil van Dijk did the same. Liverpool had just blinked first in the title race and Quansah felt it was his fault. Football can be a brutal game like that.
It is true that Liverpool were coasting when Quansah made a mistake four minutes after half time and if fingers are to be pointed for their dropped points at Old Trafford, they could be pointed at those who missed a series of chances against Manchester United as much as they could be pointed at Quansah.
But his mistake was notable, partly because of how brilliantly Fernandes took advantage of it and partly because it carried some echoes of The Slip, the startling moment when a mistake by Steven Gerrard led to a Chelsea goal at Anfield that was a seminal moment in Liverpool’s doomed title challenge in 2014.
Liverpool were 1-0 up when Quansah got the ball inside his own half and played a pass towards Van Dijk. Except he had not seen Fernandes lurking. Fernandes read the pass and ran on to it and, in a flash, he had spotted Caomhin Kelleher off his line and chipped the ball over him from more than 40 yards out.
Liverpool blinked first in the title race, and Jarell Quansah felt it was his fault at full time
Bruno Fernandes had pounced on Quansah’s loose ball to score from the centre circle
Mohamed Salah scored an 84th-minute penalty to save a point after Man United’s turnaround
The goal changed the game. It brought United a measure of deliverance from a game in which they were being outclassed and brought them to within nine minutes of normal time of snatching a famous win after a magnificent second from Kobbie Mainoo.
MATCH FACTS AND PLAYER RATINGS
MAN UNITED (4-2-3-1): Onana 7.5, Wan-Bissaka 6, Maguire 6.5, Kambwala 7, Dalot 6.5, Casemiro 5, Mainoo 7 (Mount 84, 6), Garnacho 7 (Amrabat 80, 6), Bruno Fernandes 6.5, Rashford 6 (Antony 66, 6.5), Hojlund 5.5.
Subs not used: Bayindir, Eriksen, Diallo, Forson, Ogunneye, Amass.
Goals: Fernandes 50, Mainoo 67
Booked: Kambwala, Onana, Mount, Antony, Casemiro
Manager: Erik ten Hag – 6
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Kelleher 6, Bradley 5.5 (Gomez 65, 7), Quansah 6, van Dijk 6.5, Robertson 6.5, Mac Allister 6, Endo 6 (Elliott 69, 7), Szoboszlai 5 (Jones 65, 6), Salah 6.5, Nunez 6 (Gakpo 68, 6), Diaz 6.5.
Subs: Konate, Adrian, Tsimikas, Gravenberch, Danns.
Goals: Diaz 23, Salah (pen) 84
Booked: Bradley, Jones
Manager: Jurgen Klopp – 5
Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire)
Ratings by Nathan Salt
But there is a twist here, too. Quansah did not fold. He did not crumble. He did not disappear or seek anonymity. He played with the kind of courage and indomitability that marks him out as one of the brightest prospects in the country. And he helped Liverpool rescue at least a point.
When the game seemed to have slipped away and all the points seemed to have been lost, it was Quansah who broke up a United counter-attack and evaded a couple of challenges before Harvey Elliott danced into the box and won the penalty that Mo Salah converted to bring the scores level at 2-2. This was not The Slip. This was what would have happened had Gerrard had a chance to redeem himself that afternoon at Anfield.
There is still too much to play for in the last seven games to say that this loss of two points against an ordinary United side will decide anything. But as Manchester City and Arsenal keep winning relentlessly, it was a setback. Liverpool are second to Arsenal on goal difference now but they are nothing if not resilient. They will come again.
When the game began, most people assumed United had a puncher’s chance at best. And most people assumed that that puncher would probably be Marcus Rashford. ‘United don’t have world-class players throughout their squad,’ Gary Neville said. ‘But what they have in Marcus Rashford is someone who can deliver world-class moments.’
United started well. Alejandro Garnacho, who is in such a rich vein of form, thought he had scored when he burst on to a through ball and rounded Kelleher before slotting the ball home but the linesman raised his flag when the ball hit the net and replays confirmed Garnacho had strayed offside.
It did not take Liverpool long to hit their stride though. Salah played a brilliant ball with the outside of his left foot that put Dominik Szoboszlai in on goal and it took a fine left-handed save from Andre Onana to keep his shot out.
Alejandro Garnacho had scored early for Manchester United, but it was ruled out for offside
Luis Diaz scored the opening goal with a volley after Dominik Szoboszlai’s swinging corner
The hosts were massively outplayed in the first half, and were lucky not to be further behind
A few minutes later, Darwin Nunez broke through Liverpool’s midfield line and as he advanced on United’s retreating defence, Salah stole a yard on his marker on the right and yelled entreaties to Nunez to play him through. Nunez ignored him and then slipped. He was pilloried in stereo, from an enraged Salah on the flank and a livid Klopp on the sideline.
Liverpool carved United open again with a slick move started by Salah midway inside the United half. Salah played the ball to Alexis Mac Allister who spread it swiftly left to Andy Robertson. His cross found Szoboszlai ten yards out. Szoboszlai should have scored but he got his body shape wrong and side-footed his shot wide.
It was just a rehearsal. Four minutes later, Liverpool were ahead. Robertson curled in a corner from the right, Nunez flicked it on and Luis Diaz met it on the volley. He hit the ball down into the ground and it fizzed between Diogo Dalot and Onana as they stood helplessly on the line.
United wasted a chance to equalise almost immediately. Casemiro ran on to a cleverly flighted free kick from Bruno Fernandes and headed it across goal. All it needed was a touch but neither Aaron Wan-Bissaka nor Rasmus Hojlund could apply it.
Onana saved twice in quick succession from curling left-foot shots by Salah, Nunez bent a shot just over the crossbar and Salah leaned back and lifted a cut-back from Szoboszlai high into the Stretford End. On the touchline, Klopp cut a picture of frustration at Liverpool’s profligacy.
Once again, United were in danger of being overrun and outclassed. Liverpool were superior in every department. It was only their lack of ruthlessness that prevented them being four or five goals ahead. United looked lost.
When the half time whistle blew, it marked only the second time in the last 22 years they had failed to have a shot in the first half of a Premier League match at Old Trafford. So perhaps there was a degree of inevitability about the fact that when they did muster a shot, it was a special one.
Only four minutes of the second half had elapsed when Quansah, who had been flawless until that point, played a short ball across field a few yards inside his own half in the direction of Van Dijk.
But Quansah had not seen Bruno Fernandes. The ball went straight to him, not Van Dijk. And Fernandes did not hesitate. He saw that Kelleher, not anticipating any danger, was on the edge of his area and he hit the ball first time. Kelleher desperately tried to regain his ground but Fernandes had judged his shot perfectly and the ball sailed over him and into the net.
Amid the United celebrations, there was some shock in the ground, too. The goal was so completely against the run of play. That was underlined a couple of minutes later when a Liverpool counter-attack ended with Nunez poking a shot wide when a pull-back would have left Szoboszlai with an open goal.
As United rallied, it felt as if Liverpool’s title hopes hung in the balance right here. Twice, Kelleher had to save from the type of awkward bouncing cross that can sometimes elude a goalkeeper who is expecting an attacker to get a touch. Old Trafford roared in the hope of an unlikely deliverance.
Midway through the half, deliverance grew closer. Garnacho played a ball out to Wan-Bissaka and when he threaded a pass into Mainoo just inside the Liverpool area with his back to goal, there appeared to be little danger.
But Mainoo turned beautifully on to what is supposed to be his weaker right foot and hit a brilliant curling shot towards the far corner. Kelleher dived full length but could not reach it and the ball bent inside the far post and into the net.
Kobbie Mainoo curled a special goal from the edge of the box to move Man United 2-1 in front
Erik ten Hag’s men were off the pace in the first half, but were a changed side after the break
Jurgen Klopp’s side are behind Arsenal in the Premier League table after the weekend’s games
Liverpool struggled to regroup. Now it was United creating the chances. Hojlund led a breakaway and played Garnacho in on goal but he could only shoot straight at Kelleher. Still, United began to scent a famous victory.
Liverpool pressed forward. Onana parried a shot from Diaz into the path of Salah, who was only four yards out. But the fall fell to him on his right foot and at an angle and even though the goal was at his mercy, he could only lift his shot high over the bar.
Nine minutes from time, though, United threw their advantage away. Quansah, who had been brilliant since his mistake, thwarted a United attack and brought the ball forward before Elliott danced into the box and was brought down by Wan-Bissaka. Salah took the penalty and sent Onana the wrong way.
Liverpool nearly got the precious third they yearned for deep into added time when Robertson nodded a cross down into the path of Diaz. Diaz met it, stretching, on the half volley and smashed his shot just too high.
