Mohamed Salah interrupted Thiago Alcantara during his post-match interview to correct his Liverpool team-mate on the position he plays for the club.
Thiago was one of the stars of the show as Liverpool thrashed Manchester United 4-0 at Anfield on Tuesday night to move top of the Premier League. The midfielder put in a commanding performance, dictating the tempo by spraying passes around a United side that was miles off the pace set by their rivals.
United interim manager Ralf Rangnick conceded the defeat was “embarrassing, disappointing, maybe even humiliating” after his team barely even competed in the match. Luis Diaz opened the scoring with a tap-in after five minutes before Sadio Mane played in Salah to make it 2-0 with an ice-cool finish.
Mane turned in brilliantly from Diaz’s low cross to make it 3-0 in the 68th minute and Salah completed the rout late on with a deflected chip over a helpless David de Gea. Having hammered them 5-0 at Old Trafford in October, Liverpool have now netted nine times without reply against their rivals in the Premier League this season.
Sky Sports chose Thiago and Salah for their post-match interview and the duo were in a playful mood in front of the camera. “We were joking a few seconds ago, when we have the top-level strikers that we have in front we see…” Thiago began, before being interrupted by Salah next to him, who said: “Wingers!” Thiago replied dismissively: “You’re strikers more than wingers, come on. You’re scoring a lot of goals!”
Thiago is not wrong: Salah’s brace moved him onto 30 goals in 42 games for Liverpool in all competitions this season. The Egyptian, who plays on the right of Jurgen Klopp's front three, now has 22 goals in the Premier League alone – five more than his closest rival, Tottenham ’s Son Heung-min.
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"When we have these attackers in front of us and you see not only how they score but in defensive situations they want to get involved. It makes us perform,” Thiago continued. "I can't be the one to judge my performance. It is one of the strongest performances at Anfield. We are not worried about where the goals come from. We are happy with all the strikers and how we play."
For his part, Salah was quick to pay tribute to those behind him in Liverpool's star-studded side which has now lost just one of their last 25 games across all competitions to move one step closer to winning the quadruple.
"In midfield they make our life easier,” Salah said. “We have a clean sheet here and there. Once we get the first goal, we want the second and the third. It was a top performance by us and hopefully we continue. I score many goals for this club. Sometimes you have bad luck. The most important thing is the team winning. We just need to focus on ourselves and the rest is not in our hands."
Victory moved Liverpool two points clear of Manchester City, who will have the chance to respond when they host Brighton on Wednesday evening.
