As reality checks go, the humiliation Liverpool handed out to Manchester United at a joyous and almost disbelieving Anfield was as brutal as it gets.
The statistics speak for themselves.
Liverpool’s 7-0 win was a monument to the return of all the qualities that have driven success under manager Jurgen Klopp. Those same statistics piled up like rubble at the feet of a Manchester United side that simply crumbled.
The biggest beating in the history of this famous fixture; the 7-0 scoreline equalling the heaviest defeat inflicted on United; Liverpool scoring six goals in a truly remarkable 45 minutes in front of the Kop.
Joy for Liverpool. Pain for Manchester United.
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United lost by the same margin to Blackburn Rovers in 1926, to Aston Villa in 1930 and to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1931.
None of those will be mentioned in the same breath as this truly remarkable game because of who inflicted it and where.
This is why this win was celebrated so wildly by Liverpool’s baying fans. This is why Manchester United will be so badly wounded.
This will be a day that will be remembered forever by everyone who witnessed it at Anfield – even those United supporters who will try to blank it from their memory but will find it impossible – and far beyond.
