Xherdan Shaqiri reveals people are blaming him for Manchester United sacking Jose Mourinho

Xherdan Shaqiri has revealed that his mobile phone was flooded with messages from friends after his match-winning cameo for Liverpool last weekend, in which they blamed him for getting Jose Mourinho sacked as Manchester United manager.

The Swiss midfielder was introduced at the perfect time by Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp as he struck twice to secure the 3-1 victory over United that not only returned the Reds to the top of the Premier League, but also proved to be the last draw for Mourinho as he was sacked two days later.

Shaqiri’s double means Liverpool head into Friday’s clash with Wolves with a 19-point advantage over sixth-place United, but it also provided plenty of joy at the Liverpool Christmas party, which followed the Anfield triumph.

“We had the Christmas party that night and it seemed everybody was coming over to me to say thank you,” Shaqiri told The Guardian. “I was quite surprised. Everybody was saying: ‘Thank you, thank you, you’re a legend already!’

“That was nice to hear, and it was a nice feeling that day, but I’m a guy who closes each day and looks forward. In the end it was a Premier League game with three points and now I am looking forward to the next one on Friday.”

History will show though that last Sunday was one of the most talked-about days in English football, when the dream partnership between the country’s biggest club and the self-professed ‘special’ manager finally fell apart permanently.

Shaqiri’s goals will be at the centre of that discussion, as had United not suffered defeat to their arch-rivals, Mourinho could easily have been taking them to Cardiff this Saturday.

But as it was, Shaqiri will forever be known as the man who hammered the final nail into Mourinho’s coffin, and his friends will not be letting him forget it anytime soon.

“I had a lot of messages from my friends when it happened,” Shaqiri added. “There were a lot of good messages about the United game at first and then, when the news came out about Mourinho, I had messages saying: ‘That’s your fault!’ But this is football sometimes. I don’t think it was just because we won that game that United wanted to change their manager. There were other reasons but it means the game goes down in history. It will always be in my history too.

“I’m very glad I helped the team win. That is the most important thing and I was delighted to have an impact on such an important game. I knew before that there was a big rivalry between Liverpool and Man United but to score two goals was very beautiful. I will never forget this game. It was a special day not only for me but for the club, too, and to be back on top of the table is always a nice look.”