Jurgen Klopp’s hopes of a final Liverpool game at Wembley are over after a 4-3 defeat to Manchester United in the FA Cup.
In what was a quarter-final classic at Old Trafford, the Reds fought back from a goal down through Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah before seeing Antony score a late leveller to take the game to extra time.
After Harvey Elliott had made it 3-2 it was Marcus Rashford who made it level once more before Amad Diallo struck a winning goal in stoppage time.
But you knew all of that, of course. What you might have missed were a series of interesting subplots at Old Trafford.
But the route back to the dressing room was fraught with issues as Salah and his team-mates made their way past the gloating United faithful.
The Egyptian, whose 13th goal in 14 appearances against United made it 2-1 on the day, was subjected to one particularly boisterous fan deciding to celebrate the famous victory by filming the Liverpool contingent walking past them.
The delighted supporter made sure to point a finger in the direction of Salah and, quite literally, laugh in the face of the Liverpool star, who admirably refused to rise to the bait.
Despite seemingly being faced with the real-life version of Nelson Muntz, from The Simpsons, Salah ignored the unseemly goading before Andy Robertson was labelled a “f****** idiot” by the fan in question. A classy way to mark a massive win, naturally.
Before Marcus Rashford had finished off a move that made it 3-3 on the day, the United striker was guilty of wasting what appeared to be a huge chance in the first period of extra time.
After apparently beating the offside trap, the striker then thrashed a finish wide of Caoimhin Kelleher’s right-hand post before, eventually, the flag was belatedly raised by the referee’s assistant.
Van Dijk Clearly unhappy at the delayed raising of the flag – which has been commonplace for a few years now in football – Liverpool captain marched towards the linesman pointing two fingers towards him in reference to the amount of times Rashford had been offside.
Van Dijk made his frustrations known in no uncertain terms, wanting the offside decision to be made much earlier. The guidelines are there to be followed, though, regardless of how much they frustrate the players.
And the crowd goes mild
Liverpool’s arrival at Old Trafford is usually soundtracked to the sound of angry boos and vociferous fumes from the Manchester United faithful.
However, there was a stark contrast on Sunday afternoon when the Reds’ team bus pulled up at the home of their arch-rivals. As Klopp and his players got off the vehicle and walked to the entrance, the United fans who were there to greet them were strangely subdued.
Rather than be greeted by fury and frothing by the Red Devils’ followers, there was little more than eery indifference, according to those who on site.
It was a welcome that was most unbecoming of such a staunch rivalry, with one witness to the reaction of Liverpool’s arrival describing it as “ridiculous” for just how tame the welcoming was. It eventually warmed up, of course.
