It was a midfield masterclass unlike anything else witnessed at Anfield this season.
And when Thiago Alcantara's No.6 flashed up on the board late into the second half on Tuesday night, even Manchester United royalty were moved to applaud.
After seeing Thiago run the show in Liverpool's latest humiliation of United this week, the legendary Paul Scholes could do little but show his respect for the Spain international from the press box as he made way for Naby Keita with 10 minutes left on the clock.
It was this type of fixture, much like the previous one against Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final, why Thiago was brought to Anfield when Liverpool were Premier League champions in September 2020.
Club insiders viewed the then Bayern Munich man as the outstanding midfielder of European football and swooped when it became known that the former Barcelona star was seeking a new challenge as he edged closer to 30.
That viewpoint was backed up by Jurgen Klopp on Friday when he talked up both Keita and Thiago as "the best midfielders in the Bundesliga, by a distance" prior to their respective arrivals in 2018 and 2020.
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Klopp was not delivering that opinion with the benefit of hindsight, either. It backed up an assertion he made way back in 2018, when he said: "[Keita] is the best player in the [German] league. I’d have preferred him this season. Last year together with Thiago Alcantara they were the best in the league."
There will be few who will disagree with that claim, particularly those at Anfield to watch Thiago's bewitching performance in a 4-0 hammering of United. A total of 108 successful passes saw him become just the fourth player since records began in 2003 to register over 100 against United.
"He is a good player," was Klopp's deliberate understatement after the game on Tuesday. It was followed by a hearty, trademark guffaw; one that a Liverpool manager can only really let out when basking in the glow of a thumping of Manchester United.
"I don't think you can find many players like this on this planet. There are only a few who see things earlier than anyone else and have the technical ability to not only see it but get the ball there as well. So yes, it was a top game from him."
This is perhaps the first time in his 18 months or so at Anfield that Thiago has been injury-free for a prolonged period and able to contribute to Liverpool's biggest fixtures.
Take, for example, last season's Champions League defeat to Real Madrid. For a variety of reasons, that stemmed mainly from an injury-hit defensive department, Klopp did not start Thiago in either game across the two legs against los Blancos.
A midfield trio of Fabinho, Keita and Gini Wijnaldum was preferred in the away leg before James Milner captaining the side in the Anfield fixture. Both times, Thiago was a substitute as Liverpool crashed out at the quarter-final stage.
The return of the central defensive backbone has enabled the Spain star to be afforded more trust in the centre of the park alongside Fabinho and after cruelly being forced to miss out on the Carabao Cup final after pulling up with an injury in the warm-up in late February, there is a feeling that a fully-fit Thiago can start to exert his considerable influence just at the right time of the campaign.
"People were questioning if he suits our football?" an incredulous Klopp asked on Friday. "Thank God these people don’t make decisions, if a player is calming a game down in moments due to a lot of reasons - one of them is just to have a look, or whatever - it is of course nothing we thought [was wrong].
"It is more important Thiago wanted to join us and he knew how we played. He is a real football person and thinks a lot about football. He knew how we played and he knew he would fit in and we knew it as well.
"It is always about being fit and staying fit and getting used to the slight differences to the former club, whatever these things are in different teams. Then you can go from there. Thiago had only one problem, he was injured. It was never a question if he would suit us."
With an FA Cup final on the horizon next month, as well as a two-legged affair with Villarreal in the Champions League semi-final, Thiago will surely be given every opportunity to build on what has been stunning displays against both Manchester City and United of late.
And if that potentially means him sitting out some of the lesser-heralded fixtures between now and the end of the campaign, it could yet make all the difference in Liverpool's pursuit of glory.
