Mainoo seals Champions League return as Manchester United beat Liverpool 2-1 at Old Trafford

“You need someone like this.” So said Benjamin Sesko of Casemiro after the veteran’s commanding display against Brentford on Monday. Fast forward six days and the same sentiment applied to Kobbie Mainoo. Manchester United had two central midfielders like this – selfless, disciplined, destructive and creative – while Liverpool desperately need someone like this. Old Trafford revelled in the contrast, once it had recovered from a self-inflicted scare. The redemption arc was strong at Old Trafford where United sealed their return to the Champions League by completing a Premier League double over Liverpool for the first time in 10 years. Mainoo savoured his own too. Cast aside earlier in the season under Ruben Amorim, his future with his boyhood club in serious doubt, the 21-year-old celebrated signing a five-year contract on Thursday by securing a deserved victory with his first Premier League goal since May 2024. “Manchester born and bred” proclaimed the public address announcer as Mainoo took the acclaim of the Stretford End after his 77th-minute winner. Stockport, Greater Manchester, born and bred, to be exact. It was right to acknowledge the local connection in a fixture that reverberates around the world even when the only prize on offer was third place in the table. But it was not Mainoo’s birthplace that distinguished him at Old Trafford. It was his maturity in and out of possession, his refusal to lose his head while United seemed intent on giving away victory, the Liverpool attacks he broke and the determination to beat Dominik Szoboszlai to Alexis Mac Allister’s weak clearance and clinch the win that separated the midfielder from his peers. Mainoo has only three more games to listen and learn from Casemiro alongside him. He is making the most of the Brazilian’s education. “I’m so blessed to be in this position,” said the matchwinner. “I used to dream about days like this. I’m glad to be here and my future’s at this club.” United’s central midfield provided the platform for Michael Carrick’s team to dominate their fierce rivals in the first half and re-establish control having given Liverpool an unlikely reprieve early in the second. Liverpool’s recovery from two goals down may have restored some credibility to their performance, and showed there is some fight in them after all, but the unvarnished truth for Slot is that the comeback owed everything to United errors and not his team’s quality. Once Cody Gakpo equalised after Senne Lammens’ mistake, it seemed a question of when not if United would regain the advantage, long before Mainoo supplied the answer. The mitigating circumstances behind Liverpool’s 18th defeat of the season in all competitions were extensive and genuine. They started without a recognised right-back, again, with third-choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman deputising for the injured Alisson and Giorgi Mamardashvili for the second successive game and were also without a focal point in attack. Alexander Isak picked up a minor muscle problem in training before the game and was deemed a risk not worth taking after an injury-plagued debut season. On Friday, Slot spoke of the need to build an attack around the £125m striker when the summer transfer window reopens. A necessary strategy, no doubt, but one that is also fraught with risk given Isak’s injury record. The final touch of United’s two first-half goals, scored via the backside of Mac Allister and the stomach or hand of Sesko – Slot was adamant it was the hand – heightened the sense of misfortune among the visitors. It is possible to be unlucky and an average team, however, as Liverpool’s first-half display demonstrated. Slot’s side were routinely pulled apart by United’s slick exchanges down the right and contained easily by the home defence. Thoughts of another early dart from Manchester, in keeping with the mass exodus from the Etihad Stadium during the FA Cup quarter-final humbling by City, must have crossed the mind of some away fans before Amad Diallo’s careless pass to Szoboszlai changed the complexion of the contest moments after the restart. In contrast to his direct rivals in the heart of United’s midfield, Mac Allister endured another afternoon to forget while Ryan Gravenberch was also on the periphery. The downturn in form of the Argentina World Cup winner can be added to the mitigating circumstances behind Liverpool’s troubled season, not just this visit to Old Trafford. Having turned his back on Matheus Cunha’s shot and deflected it beyond Woodman, Mac Allister erred for United’s second goal with a wayward ball under no pressure straight to Mainoo. Maybe that explained the midfielder’s reluctance to pass forwards towards the false 9 pair of Szoboszlai and Florian Wirtz, who was anonymous yet again. Mac Allister’s tendency to stop, turn and take the safe option of a pass back to his defenders drove the Liverpool fans to audible distraction. Mainoo preferred to be bold, to break lines and support his forwards whenever the situation presented itself. Victory, redemption and a place in the Champions League next season was his merited reward.