Thiago orchestrates Liverpool’s latest humbling of Manchester United

An aggregate score of 9‑0 this season is a fair representation of Liverpool’s superiority over Manchester United and the highest number of goals they have scored against their old rivals in a single campaign since 1895‑96, when United were known as Newton Heath. The tale of the two No 6s on display at Anfield encapsulated why such a chasm exists.

In the United No 6 was Paul Pogba, an expensive, richly rewarded asset who lasted 10 minutes before limping off injured, perhaps never to be seen playing for the club again before leaving on a free transfer this summer.

Wearing Liverpool’s No 6 was Thiago Alcântara, two years Pogba’s senior and radiating the kind of class, composure and vision that underpinned Liverpool’s ascent to the top of the Premier League. He would also hobble off nursing what appeared a tight left hamstring – his laughing embrace with Jürgen Klopp suggested it was not a serious blow – although that followed an 80‑minute performance that left Anfield and his manager drooling.

Thiago orchestrated Liverpool’s latest humiliation of the team from Old Trafford, his disguised passes and frequent dissection of United’s hastily arranged formation adding to the sense that Klopp’s side were, to be blunt, extracting the Michael.

Alisson had set that tone as early as the third minute when executing a Cruyff turn on Bruno Fernandes inside his own penalty area. Thiago needed no encouragement to pick up the baton. The former Bayern Munich midfielder has timed the best run of form of his Liverpool career to perfection.

Ominously for Manchester City, Villarreal, Chelsea and anyone else who stands in the way of Liverpool’s pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple, several of Thiago’s colleagues have also hit their stride as