Liverpool’s last visit to Old Trafford will never be forgotten.
The Reds humiliated Manchester United in front of a stunned home crowd and inflicted further pressure on then-boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Mohamed Salah scored a hat-trick and Paul Pogba was sent off less than 10 minutes after coming on as Liverpool ran out emphatic 5-0 winners.
United's performance was nothing short of a shambles and Liverpool supporters inside Old Trafford took great pleasure in mocking their rivals once Naby Keita gave their side an early lead.
Gary Neville, on co-commentary for Sky Sports, claimed his old side were 'kidding themselves' by pressing Liverpool and took aim at United’s players during and after the game.
But it wasn’t the first time Liverpool have rocked up at Old Trafford and run riot in the Premier League, as on this day 13 years ago the Reds did just that to leave Sir Alex Ferguson dazed.
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Back at this point in March 2009, Manchester United had not been beaten in the Premier League since a defeat to Arsenal in the previous November.
While United were also without a loss in the top-flight at Old Trafford going on more than a year and looked to be closing in on another title.
And things couldn’t have got off to a better start for the hosts when Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring from the penalty spot.
But Liverpool responded in emphatic fashion. First, and just like he always seemed to do back then, Fernando Torres hounded Nemanja Vidic into a mistake.
And after pouncing on the loose ball, the forward raced clear before finishing coolly past Edwin van der Sar in the United goal.
Then, a minute before the break, Torres slipped in Steven Gerrard, who was chopped down as he entered the box by Patrice Evra, with referee Alan Wiley having no hesitation in pointing to the spot.
Gerrard coolly dispatched the penalty before Vidic’s afternoon would go from bad to worse when he was given his marching orders when he brought down the midfielder.
Fabio Aurelio made it 3-1 from the ensuing free-kick before Liverpool added a fourth in stoppage time when substitute Andrea Dossena showed the composure of a veteran striker to lift the ball over Van der Sar after latching onto Pepe Reina’s goal kick.
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Speaking afterwards, Gerrard couldn’t resist but take aim at United’s supporters following years of Old Trafford hurt.
He said: “It’s great to score at Old Trafford after all the stick I’ve taken from United fans over the years. It was nice to rub it in.”
But one man who didn’t have anything to say was United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who decided to send assistant Mike Phelan out to conduct the post-match interviews.
The move prompted the ECHO’s then Liverpool correspondent Tony Barrett to reflect in his match report on how Benitez would be treated if he did the same thing.
“Imagine for a terrible second that Liverpool were on the receiving end of a humiliating home defeat to their biggest rivals at lunchtime on Saturday,” he wrote in his verdict, which was titled 'Bad loser Alex Ferguson goes missing'.
“Picture – if you can bear to do so - Manchester United tearing hole after hole in the Reds porous back line and inflicting upon them their biggest league defeat in 17 years.
“Then envisage Rafa Benitez swerving the obligatory post-match press conference after such an emphatic humiliation, choosing only to deliver his logic defying verdict that his team were the better of the two to an in-house TV channel, leaving his deputy to face all other rolling cameras.
“The “Rafa’s Cracking Up” headlines would be written with more speed than Fernando Torres chasing a Steven Gerrard through ball.
“So what then are we to make of Alex Ferguson’s reaction to being on the receiving end of that same scenario at the hands of Liverpool? Could it be that it is the United boss who is now feeling the pressure?
“Fergie’s irrational initial response to seeing his team ripped to bits by a rampant Liverpool certainly suggests he is – and so he should be.
“This was his very own nightmare in the self-styled “Theatre of Dreams” and it came just 24 hours after he’d suggested only a psychiatrist could work out his opposite number at Anfield – that’s what you call a Freudian slip.”
As pointed out in Barrett’s report, the United manager would eventually appear to conduct an interview with the club’s in-house TV channel in which he bizarrely claimed his side were the better team.
The Scot said: “It’s hard to take. I thought we were the better team but the score doesn’t reflect that and unfortunately that’s the name of the game. Quite rightly when you win 4-1 at Old Trafford you deserve all the plaudits.”
Unfortunately for Liverpool, despite doing the double over United that season, the title would still end up at Old Trafford and in the hands of Sir Alex Ferguson.
But while the game was clearly one Sir Alex would like to forget, there is no doubt that it is one that lives long in the memory of Liverpool supporters just like their last visit to Old Trafford does.
And it was also quite the way for Rafa Benitez to clock up his 100th league win as Reds boss.
