It’s fair to say that Xherdan Shaqiri loves a big game. His first ever foray in a Liverpool shirt came in a pre-season friendly against Manchester United, and he scored his first goal for the club in that game with a bicycle kick. Yesterday saw him carry on his run against the Old Trafford faithful, and the Reds were elated when he came off the bench.
70' #LFC substitution; Shaqiri on, Keita off. 20 minutes remain. COME ON LADS!!
[1-1]#LIVMUN
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 16, 2018
Manchester United’s usually shoddy and easy-to-breach defence was holding up yesterday after an hour and ten minutes of football. Jurgen Klopp had all three subs to use up, but he made the killer change with his first switch. The Anfield crowd stood up to applaud the departing Naby Keita, and there was a roar of excitement as Shaqiri took his place, as they all knew exactly what was coming next.
It would take the Swiss attacker just a matter of minutes to give the Kopites the lead for the second time in the game, and seven minutes later he doubled that lead, albeit with two deflected strikes. The Reds were in dreamland when the ex-Stoke man came on and fired them to victory, and he was exactly what the fans had all been calling for in the clash as they looked to find that bit of spark late on.
You can read what the Reds had to say as Shaqiri was being introduced here:
https://twitter.com/LucasThorne14/status/1074362519945428994
https://twitter.com/RozesCreations/status/1074355431840145410
The game changer
— (knee•y'all) 👾 Crumbles (@Neyalz) December 16, 2018
And the rest was history…
— Devin (@bathke33) December 16, 2018
https://twitter.com/vinvinstin/status/1074359365711396865
This substitution has been the savior, all thanks to our coach
— Samantha (@Samantha_N99) December 16, 2018
The game winner
— Ilyas (@iilllyass) December 16, 2018
https://twitter.com/TrippyDrew69/status/1074355948028862466
The Kopites will enjoy their bragging rights over Manchester United until they next face each other, and they have the inspired substitute showing of Xherdan Shaqiri to thank for that.
