LIVERPOOL captain Virgil van Dijk said a dramatic 2-2 draw at Manchester United on Sunday felt like a defeat after throwing away two points in the Premier League title race.
The visitors dominated the majority of the game but needed a Mohamed Salah penalty six minutes from time to avoid defeat after spectacular strikes from Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo.
The draw leaves Liverpool behind leaders Arsenal on goal difference and just one point ahead of Manchester City with seven games remaining in the tightest of title races.
Despite United’s struggles this season, Liverpool have failed to beat Erik ten Hag’s men in three meetings this season.
United edged a thrilling FA Cup quarter-final 4-3 three weeks ago and emerged with a 0-0 draw at Anfield in December.
“It feels like a loss,” said Van Dijk. “It is our fault again.
“We had so many chances and we should finish the game off.”
Should the Reds fail to mark Jurgen Klopp’ final season in charge by winning a 20th English top-flight title, to match United’s record, they will look back on this day and wonder how they failed to win.
For Liverpool, it was a similar story from the FA Cup tie as they wasted a series of chances to extend their lead and ended up getting hit by the United sucker punch.
Liverpool finished the first half with 15 shots to United’s none.
Andre Onana produced one fine save to deny Dominik Szoboszlai but Liverpool were guilty of consistently letting the hosts off the hook.
Liverpool did lead 1-0 at half-time as Luis Diaz fired in Darwin Nunez’s header from a corner.
But Szoboszlai, Salah and Darwin Nunez were all wasteful in front of goal.
“Being 1-0 up at Old Trafford and having a 15-0 shooting stat is incredible,” said Klopp. “Besides that we could have been calmer or clearer in moments.
“Just stay calm. We are where we are and we keep giving it a proper go. Do I wish we had 10 points difference? Of course. We take what we got and keep going.”
Liverpool were stunned as the title race took another twist out of nowhere on 50 minutes.
Jarell Quansah’s slack pass went straight to Fernandes, who spotted Caoimhin Kelleher well off his line and lobbed the Irish goalkeeper from just inside the Liverpool half.
United suddenly had a fresh lease of life and went in front 23 minutes from time as Mainoo confirmed his status as a rising star of the Premier League.