CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FOOTBALL IS BACK 🙌!

So lovely to achieve the goal of the season by beating those fools and for one of our own in Mainoo to get the winner.

You love to see it!

What a weird game though. I mean, we went from 2-0 up in no time to having to rely on a late winner by the boy who penned a new deal this week.

Almost like it was written in the stars!

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But an incredible start by United and we’re full value for it. High octane, full of energy. This is what we need to see more of from United because when we do play with this relentlessness, we look almost unplayable.

We were all over Liverpool and got that perfect start by Cunha who btw, is loving it against these fools big teams. His goal - although scrappy - was his 6th goal involvement against Arsenal, City, Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and Villa.

A man for the big occasion indeed.

The good thing is that United didn’t let off after that strike.

If anything, we pushed harder, which isn’t something we usually see as more often than not, we do sit back and allow the opposition back in the game.

I felt that it could’ve been a penalty on Sesko. I believe he was being pulled back by Curtis Jones because why wouldn’t he want to score that tap-in from a brilliant Bruno ball?

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Fortunately though, he managed to score straight after. However, I do believe it touched his fingers. Slightly 🤏.

I’m not exactly sure what the VAR saw that didn’t realize in an overruling but hey, we ain’t complaining.

Sesko scored our second and his 11th of the campaign. That is a decent record for his first season in which he was injured for a month and didn’t feature as much under Ruben Amorim - he started 10 of the 16 matches under the Portuguese.

That lucky goal gave us breathing room but as we know in football, 2-0 can be a dangerous score.

The rest of the half saw United sit comfortably with LFC doing very little to suggest they could get back into it.

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Thankfully for Arne Slot though, United felt sorry for them, specifically Amad and Lammens.

You know, I had a lot of Liverpool fans during my livestream on TikTok tell me that this was their C team and that all of Salah, Ekitike, Alisson, Gerrard, Torres, Alonso were all missing and that’s why they lost.

So what the fuck are United supposed to do about that?

Say that we only want to play Liverpool when those players are available? And then beat them? They were all available for the first meeting. Didn’t stop us from beating them then, did it?

But with Amad and Lammens, perhaps they thought that since LFC are missing so many players, why not help them?

Or maybe they wanted a transfer? Maybe they just wanted to make the game interesting and gave them two goals, only to beat them again 🤷‍♂️😭.

Those were really silly and sloppy goals to concede. We had them on the ropes and with a chance to really hammer them.

These two goals came out of nothing and gave them unnecessary hope and momentum, momentum to a point where it looked like they were the favorites!

Only United can do that, eh?

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I suppose in the end, it made the winner all the more special.

With the game drifting, a two-goal lead given away and a whole host of chances being squandered, it felt like United were dropping two points.

But then, Mainoo did what Mainoo does:

Produce in a big moment.

That finish was pure class. It really was a Mainoo finish, you know? One that was just calm but with purpose.

For him to score such a goal in such a game after such a week was incredible.

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And full marks to Carrick here as well.

He picked as strong a team as possible. Brought Cunha back in which proved to be correct. Went with the traditional striker instead of the false 9 which he has done on many occasions in these bigger matches, and he got us back into the Champions League.

He wasn’t at fault for the two conceded and on another day, should’ve seen his side score more than three. I think those would probably be the only things that disappoint him in an otherwise perfect afternoon

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Mainoo winner ✅

Do the double over them ✅

Qualify for UCL ✅

What a great way to end the weekend 👌.

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Ratings

Lammens - 5

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Dalot - 6

Maguire - 6

Heaven - 6.5

Shaw - 6

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Casemiro - 6

Mainoo - 7.5 MOTM

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Mbeumo - 5

Bruno - 7

Cunha - 7

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Sesko - 7

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Amad - 4

Dorgu - 6

Zirkzee - 6

Yoro - 6

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Carrick - 7

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Kobbie Mainoo scores late winner in Man Utd's 3-2 win over Liverpool | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)