Harry Maguire makes Anfield crowd and 'embarrassing' claims after Man Utd victory over Liverpool

Match-winner Harry Maguire admitted that Manchester United fans must have been ‘fearing the worst’ as Anfield began to purr - but toasted a first victory at Liverpool in almost a decade.

The centre-back’s 84th-minute header delivered United a 2-1 win over the Premier League champions, who suffered a fourth successive loss in all competitions. United made a dream start when Bryan Mbeumo opened the scoring after just 63 seconds to leave the Reds shellshocked.

While Liverpool’s struggles continued, they still created several chances, with Cody Gakpo hitting the woodwork twice before equalising in the 78th minute. Maguire admitted that Liverpool fans were ‘right behind’ their team as they pursued another late winner this season.

But it was United who were to net the all-important third goal, with Maguire left unmarked from a set-piece and headed home.It delivered the Old Trafford side prevailing at Anfield for the first time since 2016.

What’s been said

Maguire told BBC Match of the Day: “It's been a long time coming. It's been a tough place for us over recent years. We know how big it is for our fans. We have the cliche of it being 'only three points' but it is more than three points that today.

"It's massive for our club, for our fans and it is a great memory they are going to have. The lads are buzzing and as cliche as it is we need to build on it now and make sure to take the confidence from it and take the fighting spirit.

"We can play better on the ball, of course we can, we were sloppy at times, but there were times where we played through them and created numerous chances, especially in the first half.

Staying in the game when they scored that equaliser. Although they had a lot of pressure in the game in the second half and Gakpo hit the post, aside from that I don't think they made that many chances and we felt pretty comfortable. Then they open us up with a well-worked goal.

"We could have really sunk our heads and gone under in that moment but we got together, and that is the most pleasing thing. The crowd was right behind them, and our fans with what they have experienced in recent years must have been fearing the worst. To come back from that and score the winner was really important."

Having beaten Sunderland 2-0 in their previous win, triumph over Liverpool meant that head coach Ruben Amorim finally secured successive victories as United boss - almost a year into his tenure. The Red Devils finished 15th in the Premier League last season.

Maguire admitted the feat is something that should be regarded as ‘embarrassing’. He added: "It's embarrassing really. It's not a stat that we should even be speaking about because it is an embarrassing stat to have. Now that's out of the way let's try and make it three [wins] on Saturday against Brighton, because we have to start putting a bit more consistency together. The last three or four years we'd put in a performance like this and the following game we come down again. We have set a benchmark, there are a lot of areas we can do more, we were hanging on there and defending for the last 30 minutes or so.

"We'll analyse it. The manager strives for perfection so I'm sure he will want us to play better than we did in the second half. Great fight, big spirit, big win, but again we have to go again."