Gary Neville claims Thiago was ‘laughing’ and ‘taking the p***’ out of Manchester United’s players during their 4-0 defeat to Liverpool on Tuesday night.
United delivered another woeful performance as a double from , along with goals from Luis Diaz and sealed a comfortable win for ’s side at Anfield.
Thiago, meanwhile, registered another impressive display at the heart of Liverpool’s midfield, and Neville, who was working as a commentator for the game, believes the Spain international took a lot of joy in seeing United’s players struggle.
‘What Liverpool have done tonight is toyed with ,’ Neville said on the Gary Neville Podcast.
‘Thiago was laughing when he came off, he was laughing at them all game.
‘I don’t normally swear on the Gary Neville Podcast, but he took the f****** p*** out of Manchester United tonight.
‘That was so simple for the Liverpool players.’
Neville also praised Hannibal Mejbri for his combative cameo against Liverpool and claimed the 19-year-old was the only United player who showed ‘heart and soul’.
‘You find yourself being slightly unprofessional because he’s come on and started to top some of them, but the reality is I had to say it,’ said Neville.
‘Because the instinct in you, the 1980s, 1990s growing up through those periods, if you’re having the p*** taken out of you on a football pitch, and if Thiago is going around there rolling his foot on the ball, pipping it around the corner and laughing at you on the bench, you’ve got to come on and throw a few challenges out.
‘That’s what Norman Whiteside used to do, and Bryan Robson when they came here [to Anfield] and they knew they were playing against better players and a better team, they’d come and give it some.
‘And I watched a [Manchester United] team through the 80s who didn’t win the league, so this isn’t coming from a point of utopia, I came from a poor childhood because this club [Liverpool] were winning everything.
‘But those players out on the pitch never did that [United’s performance against Liverpool], they never, ever did that.
‘And that kid came on at the end and he showed something. And he reminded me of Nobby Stiles, and Eric Harrison, and the basic, basic principles of being a football player – compete, win your duels, fight for every ball.
‘There was only one kid, one kid who came on and demonstrated he had the heart and soul to play for Manchester United tonight.
‘And the players for Liverpool didn’t like it. By the way, Thiago tonight, he’s been unbelievable, but he’s gone around smashing everyone as well! He’s slid into tackles, he’s gone into people like you wouldn’t believe, that’s what the great players do.’
, .
,  and .
