Liverpool 0-1 Man Utd
Sir Alex Ferguson claimed Manchester United were lucky to
beat Liverpool - and admitted the referee was right to send off
Paul Scholes for violent conduct. The Manchester United manager
believes the last-gasp win over Liverpool at Anfield was a "massive
result" in the Barclays Premiership title race.
"Liverpool will feel very unlucky and they deserve to. It was a
fantastic result. We had a lot of narrow escapes and Liverpool
upset our rhythm. The Scot is still not ready to celebrate the
title however. "There is a 12-point difference but I don't think
anything is impossible in modern-day football.
United midfielder Scholes was sent off with four minutes left after
swinging an arm at Xabi Alonso and will miss three games. Ferguson
told MUTV: " I've seen it, he's lifted his hand and you can't do
that. I think the referee [Martin Atkinson] got one right in terms
of intent."
Striker Wayne Rooney hobbled off clutching his thigh after a high
tackle by Jamie Carragher. "We have to get him scanned but it's a
bad tackle around the knee. We will have to judge it with the game
[Lillle in the Champions League] coming up in midweek," said the
United boss.
Liverpool trudged away knowing they should have won but did not
have the firepower to turn dominance into goals. Gone is
Liverpool's 30-match unbeaten home league record, stretching back
to October 2005.
United fans were still contemplating missing Scholes for three
matches when O'Shea appeared in the box to fire home a rebound from
the arms of Jose Reina, following a curling Cristiano Ronaldo
free-kick.
Liverpool slowly took command of the first half, and in the second,
dominated for long spells. But they lacked the final touch and
United were always a danger on the break. That they had the
resilience to defend for so long, with Rio Ferdinand outstanding,
says much for their character and desire.
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez looked stunned by the defeat. He
said: "I would have trouble explaining how we lost that in Spanish;
in English I find it almost impossible. "We dominated the game,
were in control and had plenty of attacks. Sometimes football is
all about luck. When you have so much of the play and make chances
without scoring, you must be careful against a team as good as
United.
"United have a great defence and a fine goalkeeper. He stopped one
from Peter Crouch at the end everyone felt was going in. But
although we had so much of the game, we did not make too many
chances. "The decision to disallow Craig Bellamy's effort in the
first half for offside was right. It just was not our day."
He added: "United are really close to the title now. Chelsea are a
good team, but they cannot make mistakes now because United will
continue to win. "As for us, we are down now, but we will train
hard and be ready for Barcelona on Tuesday."
