by So a formula was finally found to stop Liverpool. This involves playing Harry Maguire as the main single runner in a team with two special defenders on the field, and the £85m right winger Antony reinvented as a left back and Bruno Fernandes quarterback, part centre-back. It’s an 11 with a lot of wings, but no one who wants to be a center forward. It depended on Antony’s first goal against a top team in 336 days and Amad Diallo’s first goal for Manchester United in three years. Whether anyone copies Erik ten Hag’s plan, let alone how it goes, remains to be seen.
He needed moments of inspiration from United. But the key to beating Liverpool, perhaps, was to make a game too long: or even a part of a game too long. Jurgen Klopp felt they needed to win in 90 minutes at Old Trafford. They were leading after 111. But in the second half of extra time for their 46th game of the season, a game slipped from their grasp, four scores from the realms of possibility. Which underlines, in part, why no one makes a quarter: because sooner or later, the pursuit of everything becomes all-consuming and something has to give. Especially in knockout football; especially against talented opponents. No one ever wins.
“Today was on the edge and on the edge, it was very difficult for us,” said Klopp. “That was the first time I saw my team really struggle.” Congratulating United, Klopp was brilliant in the win; it was just Liverpool’s third in home competitions this season and two – including the nine-man defeat at Tottenham – came with a late goal when their resources were strained in palliative fashion. “I saw a team that understood the importance of the game and gave everything and it wasn’t enough. And that’s what we have to accept,” he said.
But he was also analytical. “You can’t compare our season to United’s with the amount of games,” he said. It could be argued that Liverpool paid a price for United’s inability in Europe and the Carabao Cup. This was their 18th game in 2024 and only United’s 12th. It gave the Ten Hag team an advantage. For Liverpool, the team that keeps going forward, whose game plan depends on energy, Marcus Rashford’s late equalizer and Amad’s later winner showed failures that would have been damned if they had been fresher. In the circumstances, Klopp was forgiving. “The way we conceded the last two goals shows that we weren’t on top of our game anymore,” he said. “We brought the balls; absolutely no criticism of that.”
Darwin Nunez lost the ball for Rashford’s leveler in the 112th minute. The tie ended with Alexis McAllister, around 120 minutes into his 16th outing in those 18 games in 2024, unable to keep up with Alejandro Garnacho before Amad struck. Wataru Endo, another starting workhorse, was partly to blame when United robbed Harvey Elliott. Thanks to them, Liverpool were on top as long as their legs allowed. In extra time, it felt that Liverpool’s hope was coming from the invincibility of center Elliott. But not many others shared his vitality. Tired legs, tired mind.
Klopp was amused that the regulations of this particular competition denied him an extra substitute. “I have no clue why the FA make it so you can’t change the sixth player in extra time,” he said. “Every other competition has six but the FA thought, ‘we have to make it a bit harder’.”
Not, however, that he had a very strong candidate to be that sixth representative. He had improvised in previous games, winning the Carabao Cup with three kids on the pitch. However that was an indictment of Chelsea. At Old Trafford, no matter how many changes Klopp allowed, he was really running out of top players. “For a while it was fine, for 90 minutes everything would be fine but during extra time there were no options,” he said.
And he showed why, of all their many injuries and while Trent Alexander-Arnold or Diogo Jota or Ibrahima Konate could have made a difference, perhaps the most relevant was the loss of Curtis Jones. Partly because of the Merseysider’s excellent form, but partly because, with Endo, Elliott, Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, Klopp could have two excellent midfielders on the bench for the to give Liverpool a second wind.
Privately, the Germans may have had other regrets. His decision-making has been almost relentless in recent weeks but he was surprised by the strength of the side he named for the second leg against Sparta Prague, already 5-1 up. Mohamed Salah ended up playing 90 minutes that time, which could be a factor in his removal from Old Trafford. Endo, Nunez and Joe Gomez, three of the regulars, came on at half-time but may have benefited more from an off night. That aside, Liverpool have never had the luxury of rest and rotation.
As they always do, Liverpool showed against United that they can adapt and adjust, that they can score goals and that they can get more. For once, they didn’t find a way to prevail. “We didn’t finish the game and when you leave the door open in Old Trafford it’s clear they will have a chance,” Klopp said.
And now the chance of the fourth is gone. Liverpool have been playing a high-stakes game for much of the season, living on the edge, turning to the last available men, coming from behind, sometimes scoring late goals. It was not a foolproof formula. But the strange thing was that when they finally hit the wall, it was against a strange variety of players in a team with Antony at left back.
