Liverpool hero Xherdan Shaqiri: How I plotted Man Utd goals from the bench

Hero | Shaqiri came off the bench to score twice as Liverpool down Man Utd 3-1
REUTERS
David Lynch17 December 2018

Liverpool forward Xherdan Shaqiri has revealed how his initial watching brief inspired a match-winning cameo against Man Utd on Sunday.

First-half goals from Sadio Mane and Jesse Lingard saw the sides level going into the final 20 minutes at Anfield, with the hosts having found themselves unable to capitalise on their dominance of possession and the chances.

But Shaqiri wasted little time in becoming the hero following his introduction as a replacement for Naby Keita, grabbing a quickfire deflected double to send the Reds back to the summit of the Premier League courtesy of a win over their arch-rivals.

And the Swiss has explained how he spent the preceding minutes readying himself to make such a vital impact from bench and complete a 'perfect day'.

He said: "I tried to be direct in the game and you can see also I prepared myself very [well].

Photo: EPA
EPA

"I watched the game from outside also, so you can see the spaces - and there were a lot of spaces between the lines.

"I am very good between the lines and try to stay there and pick the ball up to have an impact and stay in the game.

"In the end I scored two goals and we won the game, that’s a perfect day for us."

In Pictures | Liverpool vs Man Utd | 16/12/2018

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Having started last weekend's 4-0 win over Bournemouth, Shaqiri was named on the bench for both Tuesday's decisive Champions League win over Napoli and yesterday's clash with Jose Mourinho's team.

The summer signing from Stoke City could not hide his disappointment over being left out of two such crucial fixtures, but insisted his focus remains on contributing whenever called upon.

He continued: "Obviously I’d be lying if I said you are not disappointed when you are on the bench - every player is disappointed when he’s on the bench.

"But I always stay positive and try to help the team when I come on and you saw today when I came on I tried to help the team and to have an impact.

"In the end, I scored two goals and we won the game and that’s, for me, the most important thing in the end."

Aside from the scoreline, Liverpool's superiority was perhaps best underlined by the 36 shots they took to United's six across a one-sided 90 minutes on Merseyside.

But that came as no shock to Shaqiri, whose only regret was that the Reds didn't convert more of their opportunities.

He added: "I’m not surprised. We know Manchester United plays defensively, they aren’t going to have a lot of ball possession and it was important today to play with high intensity, to press them high, to have the second balls and play forward fast to try and create a lot of chances.

"We did that today but obviously in the second half much better, and we scored in the end another two goals.

Photo: REUTERS
REUTERS

"We need to maybe do that better before, take the chances to score, because against big teams you have to take chances because the big teams can have only one chance and score. We managed that very well."

After Liverpool once again leapfrogged Manchester City into top spot, Shaqiri was asked if he and his teammates believe they can stay there, and replied: "Obviously! We try to stay there as long as we can.

"If you win games you can stay there, and if you don’t win you go below.

"We know difficult it is in the Premier League to win games and we need every game to have a high level of performance. If we keep going like this, we don’t know what will happen in the end but I hope we can have a nice end of the season."

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