Entertainment
Eric Bailly deserves a Ballon D’or for what he did to Thiago Alcantara

It might be a pre-season fixture, a no stakes attached game that won’t be written in the books but for some, it will be remembered as the day Liverpool’s Thiago Alcantara was humiliated by Man United’s Eric Bailly.
The sour taste of a 9-0 aggregate defeat last season stung deep in United’s minds and you wouldn’t expect same team to take it likely with Liverpool again, be it a friendly or not, especially when they have got a lot at stake.
Each player wants to prove something; they wanted in on new manager, Erik Ten Hag’s project, so it would be expected that every Man United player was going to take the fixture very seriously.
And like Jurgen Klopp said, there is no friendly between Liverpool and Manchester United be it competitive or not. Manchester United proved the point but for some reason, Liverpool lost the plot as they crumbled to a 4-0 defeat in a reverse score line as opposed to the Anfield game.
One man though, who had everything to prove, far more than the rest, was long forgotten United man, Eric Bailly.
He pulled out the best performance he had ever put in since wearing the Manchester badge, and one remarkable thing he did that grabbed attention was schooling Liverpool’s midfield maestro, Thiago Alcantara before sending the Red Devils side into a 4-0 lead.
It was as if the defender took what Alcantara did against United at Anfield last season personally that he had to come into the game with the need to show up the Spaniard.
The defender known for his unorthodox defending, made a run into Liverpool’s half to launch a counter attack, dropping a shoulder and dribbling past the former Bayern Munich midfielder before seeing out a pass to Facundo Pellistri.
Eric Bailly saw that the game finished 4-0 in revenge of the Anfield game last season.
The moment of brilliance saw the Man United fandom rave praises with some declaring he was world class while others felt he ought to be given the Ballon D’or for that performance alone.
The Bangkok pre-season fixture saw goals from Jadon Sancho, Fred and Anthony Martial in the first half to put the Manchester club 3-0 ahead.