GARY NEVILLE’S hilarious reaction to Aston Villa’s equaliser against Liverpool has gone viral – and fans are begging to “meme” it.
The Manchester United legend, 49, joined Reds icon Jamie Carragher in the Monday Night Football studio last night on Sky Sports.
And the pair enjoyed a thriller as Aston Villa drew 3-3 with Liverpool after a late comeback.
Jurgen Klopp looked set to win his final away game in the Premier League before his Anfield exit as they led 3-1 from the 48th-minute.
They held that two-goal advantage until the dying stages as Jhon Duran snatched an unlikely draw.
The Villa substitute’s low shot beat Alisson with five minutes left to set-up a grandstand finish.
And then Villa Park went wild as Moussa Diaby’s shot deflected off the striker on 88 minutes and sailed straight into the net to make it 3-3.
But it was not only those supporters at the stadium that lost it when the goal went in – Neville did also.
Sky Sports showed footage from the studio afterwards of Neville and Carragher both watching the drama unfold on the big screen.
But Carragher stopped dead in his tracks in disbelief after the deflected effort sailed in.
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But Neville started sprinting off with his arm aloft and screaming in delight as he ran around celebrating while Carragher turned away from him laughing.
After the clip was shown on the show, host David Jones asked: “You really enjoyed that didn’t you Gary?”
That brought huge laughter from the studio, and it did not take long for social media to light up.
One fan replied: “Meme that!!!”
“Things you love to see,” wrote a fellow viewer as a third added: “Hilarious this to be fair.”
A fourth said it was “brilliant” as a fifth declared: “Gotta love the passion.”
Regarding Klopp’s departure, die-hard United fan Neville did concede afterwards: “The Liverpool fans will miss him in more ways than one, but what they’ll miss is the electricity in Liverpool games.
“You know I’m not a Liverpool fan, but when you watch a Jurgen Klopp Liverpool team play, you’re usually watching a good game of football.
“It’s easy to see teams close games out, be a lot more solid, go five at the back. Honestly, I played for a manager who was exactly the same as him — they always took risks, they always played with courage, they always played on the front foot and they didn’t stop at any part during the game.
“And I have to say that it’s quite unique in this modern day to have a manager like that. I was actually begging him to carry on playing at the end.”
However, Liverpool legend Carragher was less happy about the way his old side finished the game.
He said: “I think that’s Jurgen Klopp football. You even go back to last week, Liverpool were hanging on after being I think three or four nil up against Tottenham. At 3-1 up you never felt safe.
“It’s exciting for the neutral and he’s given us so many memories, not just as Liverpool, but if you’re a fan of Premier League football he plays right into the heart of that. But I do wish sometimes Liverpool would just shut up shop, be a little bit tighter, and maybe that’s something that the new manager can take to certainly improve this Liverpool team right now.
“But listen, it’s Jurgen Klopp football. The game is end to end, the goals, great advert again.”
By Dave Kidd
NOW we know Jurgen Klopp’s final major trophy haul at Liverpool — one Champions League, one Premier League, one FA Cup, two League Cups and (if you must) a World Club Cup.
But where does his reign stand among the greatest of the Premier League era?
In black-and-white terms, Klopp is way behind Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola, the only two men to have won multiple Premier Leagues and a Champions League at the same club.
Those two sit alongside Brian Clough, Bob Paisley and Sir Matt Busby as the undoubted all-time managerial greats of the English game.
But Klopp ranks in the next tier down — with Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho (the Chelsea version), Bill Shankly and Don Revie.
These were all men with the strength of character to transform their clubs in their own image and enjoy success but who did not win as much as they might have done.
Had Klopp managed to keep his intentions under wraps and ended up with another title, perhaps even a treble or quadruple, he’d have edged himself up into that highest echelon with Ferguson, Guardiola, Clough, Paisley and Busby.
But deciding the timing and the manner of your exit is one of the toughest calls for any manager or sportsman.
Klopp got it wrong.
Read Dave Kidd’s take on Klopp’s demise in full here.
Or click here to check out all of Dave Kidd’s articles.
