Twitter explodes as Manchester United suffer embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Liverpool in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo

In the absence of talismanic forward Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United were dismantled by arch-rivals Liverpool during their 4-0 defeat in the Premier League on Tuesday.

The Portuguese superstar missed the game after he revealed that his newborn son had died the previous day. Both Manchester United and Liverpool sported black armbands in solidarity with Cristiano Ronaldo and his family during such a difficult time for them.

The Anfield crowd also joined in by acknowledging the mourining in the seventh minute. However, Liverpool had already given them the opening goal by then. The Reds exposed a high line deployed by Manchester United to edge themselves ahead in the contest as early as the fourth minute.

Harry Maguire was caught out of position and allowed Mohamed Salah with space to run in behind the visitors' defense. The Egyptian eventually squared the ball to Luis Diaz from the right flank and the forward made no mistake from close range.

In the aftermath, Trent Alexander-Arnold and David de Gea had a go at each other after the former had smashed the ball at the Manchester United custodian while celebrating. The situation was quickly extinguished, but it only got worse for the Red Devils.

Paul Pogba limped off with what seemed like an injury in the 10th minute, with Jesse Lingard replacing him. The Reds then extended their lead in the 22nd minute through Salah, who put an end to his six-game goal drought. There was plenty to admire about the move that culminated with Salah getting on the end of an exquisite first-time pass from Sadio Mane.

Jurgen Klopp's side were clearly superior and continued to dominate the rest of the half. Ralf Rangnick responded at the interval by withdrawing Phil Jones in favor of Jadon Sancho. But Liverpool then added their third goal in the 68th minute through Mane, who produced a delightful finish with his left foot from the edge of the area after a pass from Diaz.

Salah then completed the rout in the 85th minute with a clever dink over De Gea to put the icing on the cake for the Reds.

Manchester United looked toothless in attack without Cristiano Ronaldo against Liverpool

The Red Devils did not offer any significant threat going forward during their defeat at Anfield. Understandably, Cristiano Ronaldo was missed as the hosts ran riot. So often, the 37-year-old has rescued Manchester United. But his personal loss kept him out of the clash and robbed him of the opportunity to make amends for a disappointing outing against Liverpool in the reverse fixture. The Reds had subjected United to an embarrassing 5-0 defeat at Old Trafford in October.

With Manchester United surrendering to a defeat in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo, several fans on Twitter expressed their thoughts. Here are some of the best tweets:

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