Liverpool are back on top of the Premier League after a satisfying night at Anfield on Tuesday.
Goals from Luis Diaz, Sadio Mane and a brace from Mohamed Salah were enough to see the Reds breeze to a 4-0 win over an awful Manchester United outfit. In doing so, the pressure has been heaped back on Manchester City, who can retake top spot with a victory on Wednesday at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.
While the red half of Merseyside were understandably revelling in their team's performance come full time on Tuesday, across the nation media the focus was split. Jurgen Klopp and his players rightly received praise for their excellent display, but the pathetic efforts of United have also taken up plenty of column inches too.
Here is some of the best of the reaction.
PAUL GORST VERDICT: What Paul Scholes did when Thiago left the pitch sums up Liverpool masterclass
LFC RATINGS: Thiago Alcantara perfect and five others superb against Manchester United
YOUR SHOUT: Rate the Liverpool players after 4-0 win over Manchester United at Anfield
'Slicker and simply in a different class'
Phil McNulty of wrote BBC Sport : "Liverpool are on an ominous roll and, as against Manchester City in Saturday's FA Cup semi-final, the game was effectively won by half-time following a blistering first 45 minutes.
"United were on the rack from the first whistle as United were swept away by wave after wave of Liverpool attacks, all conducted from midfield by the master orchestrator Thiago Alcantara.
"Urged on by an exultant Kop, Liverpool simply overwhelmed United as they were quicker, slicker and simply in a different class to their fallen rivals.
"Liverpool have thrown down the gauntlet to reigning champions City before their next game and it is hard to see who will find a way to beat them in this type of form.
"They have won the Carabao Cup, will face Chelsea in the FA Cup final, are breathing down City's neck in the league and are favourites to progress against Villarreal in the Champions League semi-final.
"And the way Liverpool are approaching the decisive stage of the season in such prime condition, nothing looks beyond them."
'United were a shambles'
David Hytner of The Guardian wrote: "With the second-half restart delayed, bizarrely, while the referee, Martin Atkinson, had his microphone refitted, Manchester United’s players tried to stay on their toes by passing a ball about. The Kop responded with olés. It was a typically caustic judgement but one that felt entirely appropriate.
"To borrow another line from the Liverpool support, their arch rivals hardly touched the ball during what was another chastening defeat. After the 5-0 humbling from last October, this was another occasion that showed Liverpool to be on an altogether different plane.
"United were a shambles, their defeat grimly inevitable from the moment that Luis Diaz gave Liverpool an early lead and they were in disarray when Mohamed Salah ran onto a pass from the substitute, Diogo Jota, to chip home the fourth."
'A match that was so predictable'
Miguel Delaney of wrote The Independent : "A match that was so predictable, and yet the reality of it was utterly astounding.
"So much for a tense title run-in game. So much for a challenge for a Champions League place. So much for any sense of Manchester United pride at stopping Liverpool from matching their 20 titles or incredibly improving on their treble.
"The fact that these are the two most successful sides in English football was reduced to mere historical quirk, as if United were a bygone force from the past, as Liverpool instead inflicted them to their worst aggregate score of the entire Premier League era.
"Even worse, this 4-0, which followed on from October’s 5-0 to make it 9-0, only got so high because Liverpool just decided to get back into the mood. The truth was a contest between these two sides again looked as good as over by the fifth minute.
"It was just left to Liverpool to try things, to see what they could do, to add to the goals."
'The greatest insult on the night'
Martin Samuel of the Daily Mail wrote: "Liverpool 9 Manchester United 0. Not on the night, obviously. That's an aggregate score, over two league games, another rewriting of the record books, both good and bad.
"Good for Liverpool, naturally, having never beaten a club called Manchester United by this margin in one season. They defeated Newton Heath this way in 1895-96, and that club evolved to become the modern Manchester United so, again, it depends on how one views history.
"Still, green and gold is increasingly popular around Old Trafford these days, so maybe this was the United's players own tribute to it. As for the modern era, no team has ever put eight past United in two Premier League matches, let alone nine - and that includes the Manchester City team that won 6-1 at Old Trafford in 2011-12. They only won 1-0 in the return.
"So five away, four at home, and we all know it could have been more. The greatest insult on the night was that Liverpool handled United like lower table inferiors for much of the game, having gone two goals clear with less than a quarter of the match gone.
"Had United pulled one back, and there was very little chance of that, there was the feeling Liverpool could have scored again to plump up their cushion. That was certainly how it looked for the third, after 68 minutes."
'Not just another humiliation'
Andy Dunn of the Daily Mirror wrote: "As the last great manager of the once-proud team that now masquerades as Manchester United said, now it really is squeaky bum time.
"This was not just another humiliation of old enemies who no longer occupy the same footballing space as Liverpool, this was an emphatic message to Manchester City and Pep Guardiola.
"The City manager said he would be watching events at Anfield avidly and what he saw must have worried him. What he saw was the exciting Luis Diaz, scorer of the first, terrifying United’s back line.
"What he saw was Sadio Mane, the man who tormented City at Wembley on Saturday, in his glorious pomp, assisting and scoring. What he saw was Mohamed Salah returning to goalscoring form at the double.
"What he saw was Thiago running the show. What he saw was a fully-fit supporting Liverpool cast treating a supposed Big Six rival with something verging on contempt."
'There can be no sweeter success'
Paul Gorst of the Liverpool ECHO wrote: " This 4-0 win was the most convincing against United since, well, the very last one in October when they battered their rivals out of sight at Old Trafford. It's now nine without reply for those keeping count. The Red Devils had never conceded more than seven to the same team in a season before Tuesday night.
"Not since Chelsea in 2007 has a team gone this far into a campaign still in contention of an unprecedented quadruple and Jurgen Klopp and his players will surpass the Londoners' end date of May 1 when they take part in a Champions League semi-final in Villarreal on the 3rd of next month. But rather than be burdened by the weight of history that is clearly against them, the Reds have been energised and invigorated by it.
"For Liverpool, there can be no sweeter success than this because it was a victory that inflicted damage to both sides in Manchester. After ending Pep Guardiola's treble dreams at Wembley, they leapfrogged their title rivals by overwhelming United in another remarkably lopsided affair between these two giants of the sport."
