It began less than a minute in with a gentle shove of Mohamed Salah’s shoulder during a break in play. Not long after that, there was a body check on the Liverpool winger as he attempted to press David de Gea. Luis Diaz got a taste too, with a push into his back down by the right-hand corner flag at the Stretford End, sending him stumbling into the advertising hoardings.
Much has been made of Lisandro Martinez’s relatively modest stature for a centre-half but whatever he lacks due to his 5ft 9in in height, he makes up for by acting 10-men wide. No United player since Rafael da Silva had approached these meetings of English football’s greatest rivals with the requisite level of aggression until Martinez. This was the night Manchester United’s short king stood tall.
