Jose Mourinho has been sacked after Manchester United’s loss to Liverpool.
Old Trafford chiefs took the decision to end Mourinho’s two-and-a-half year tenure on Tuesday, barely 48 hours after he oversaw a 3-1 defeat at Anfield.
The Portuguese coach leaves United with the club languishing 19 points adrift of the Reds, who remain atop the Premier League table this season.
“Manchester United announces that manager Jose Mourinho has left the club with immediate effect,” confirmed a club statement.
“The club would like to thank Jose for his work during his time at Manchester United and to wish him success in the future.
“A new caretaker manager will be appointed until the end of the current season, while the club conducts a thorough recruitment process for a new, full-time manager.”
Prior to Sunday’s result, Mourinho had not lost at Anfield since 2007 but admitted that his side could not handle Liverpool’s intensity in the game.
“They [Liverpool] are fast, they are intense, they are aggressive, they are physical, they are objective,” he said at the time.
“They play 200 miles per hour with and without the ball. I am still tired just looking at (Andy) Robertson. He makes 100-metre sprints every minute, absolutely incredible, and these are qualities.
“When the game was really intense in the first 20-25 minutes it was difficult for us to cope. If you tell me in the first 25 minutes we are going to lose, I would say yes, it looks so.
“But the moment we lost the game was the moment we didn’t believe we would lose.”