Updated: Liverpool stun United 4-1
Liverpool rekindled the title race on Saturday with a 4-1 mauling of bitter rivals and Premier League leaders Manchester United at Old Trafford.
After their midweek thrashing of Real Madrid in the Champions League, Liverpool responded to falling behind to a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty with another sensational display to seal a league double over the champions.
Fernando Torres and a Steven Gerrard spot kick edged Liverpool in front by halftime and then Fabio Aurelio curled in a 77th minute free kick to make it 3-1 after United defender Nemanja Vidic had been sent off.
Substitute Andrea Dossena lobbed a fourth in stoppage time to make it a humiliating afternoon for United who had been on an 11-match league winning streak and were unbeaten in 16.
United still lead the table by four points from Liverpool and have a game in hand but their poor performance will give their closest pursuers hope that they can be caught.
"It was a great team performance from back to front," Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard told Sky Sports. "It was a magnificent win. It's not very often you see Man United get beaten 4-1 at home.
"The important thing is the gap is smaller. We still need a bit of luck along the way but it may give the teams who still have to play United a bit of belief."
DREADFUL ERROR
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez had lost all four of his previous league games at United and a fifth, which would have ended his side's title hopes, looked on the cards until the game swung on defensive howler by Nemanja Vidic.
United appeared to be in control when Ronaldo converted a penalty after Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina had brought down Park Ji-sung on the edge of the area.
Five minutes later, an aimless long pass out of defence appeared to be comfortable for Vidic. The Serb, a rock at the heart of United's miserly defence this season, got caught in two minds and as he hesitated, Torres stole in to place a low finish past Edwin van der Sar.
Liverpool began playing fluently and they went ahead just before the break when Patrice Evra was caught by the pace of Gerrard's burst into the area and clipped the England midfielder's ankles as he tried to recover.
Gerrard got up to beat Van der Sar low to his left with the penalty and Liverpool did not look back.
United manager Alex Ferguson sent on Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Dimitar Berbatov, all rested after Wednesday's defeat of Inter Milan, with around 15 minutes to go but the home side's hopes of a fightback were ruined when Vidic bundled over the goalbound Gerrard and was red-carded.
Aurelio curled the free kick past a motionless Van der Sar and Liverpool's fans were euphoric when Dossena latched on to a huge Reina clearance to calmly lob into an empty net.
The following were today's results:
Arsenal 4 Blackburn Rovers 0Bolton Wanderers 1 Fulham 3
Everton 3 Stoke City 1
Hull City 1 Newcastle United 1
Manchester United 1 Liverpool 4
Middlesbrough 1 Portsmouth 1
Sunderland 1 Wigan Athletic 2
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Joe Boswell
Mar 15th 2009, 17:16
...and if anyone needs any reminder about the big result yesterday, have a look at:
http://www.anfield-online.co.uk/match-reports/premiership/2009/man-united-1-4-liverpool/
Joe Boswell
Mar 15th 2009, 16:58
And another thing - why all this criticism about the great tactician - Benitez? Ferguson nearly got utd relegated after taking over! This, when the English league was much less competitive than today! Benitez had to buy a few super players (alonso, mascherano, torres, skrytel), get the team to gel and start winning tophies - in the meantime, in 2005, Liverpool won the Champions league and nearly repeated the goal in 2007. And he also won the FA Cup. And yesterday he masterminded a historic double over utd.
Utd will match Liverpool's 18 leagues but it would have taken fergie yrs to "take Liverpool off their f****** perch)...
There you go again on local TV...who gives a flying banana about utd, so why are we forced to see this?! I'd prefer seeing a short clip about the wonderful achievments of Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest! - Quality TV pls!
mark gauci
Mar 15th 2009, 16:25
mr boswell if you might well know utd soon will equal liverpool s record ..1 league and 2 champions league left(winning so much cups recently contrarly of liverpool)...and by the way the world cup is nothin for liverpool ...the reason????they never won it!!!
Joe Boswell
Mar 15th 2009, 15:52
May I also question why utd fans keep on bragging about winning the "world cup"!! What on earth is this cup? Who did utd have to beat to claim such a coveted trophy?! Liverpool have won countless cups, but fans know and make it known that it's winning 18 leagues and 5 european cups that make the Reds a world-class football club + I've never seen utd score 3 goals in 6 minutes against a formidable side as ACMilan!
What about the fixture list?! So after beating Real in such hostile circumstances, Liverpool had only 2 days rest before playing Middlesbrough at home - an opponent fighting to stay in the top flight. We all know the result. Neighbours utd had a pathetic final to play for (on a Sunday!) after playing against a subdued Inter side a few days earlier!
Let us just hope that teams take courage from Liverpool's victory and challenge utd for points rather than throwing in the towel. And pls, can some local sport program presenters refrain from making it blatantly obvious who they support? It's already bad having foreign media worship the utd herd, we could do without local copy cats.
matthew gauci
Mar 15th 2009, 14:50
is it worth it to have a good week??? or is it worth it you win cups???liverpool must be realistic and put their feet on the ground!!!
Joe Boswell
Mar 15th 2009, 13:13
"United were still the better team during most of the match until they started playing with 10 men."
What a load of bull and sour grapes! May I remind Utd fans that Liverpool's third goal came from a rightly-awarded freekick which also saw Vidic sent off! One can hardly say that Utd were feeling the absence of Vidic just as Aurelio placed a perfect 25 yard freekick in the left corner of Utd's goal!
And may I remind Utd fans that for most of the 2nd half Torres was evidently low-key due to his persisting ankle injury! And may I also remind arrogant Utd fans that Liverpool had to do without Mr Alonso and Mr Arbeloa, both struck by injury before the game!
May I also add that Liverpool must have been awarded a penalty on Torres in the first half after the latter was pulled down by (I believe) Ferdinand. All in all, however, referee had a great game - not an easy feat given the mafia-style pressures characteristic of Fergie and co.!
Utd and their fans have come back crashing down to earth with a huge thump! Just accept defeat for once without complaining!
Charles Micallef
Mar 15th 2009, 11:57
Vidic has got a lot to answer for this disaster, if he thought that he was getting away with grabbing Gerrard's goolies infront of 75000 supporters, TV Cameras a referee and two linesman then he is very arrogant and Sir Alex should throw a pair of booths at him, (unless he already did)
Louis Schembri
Mar 15th 2009, 09:49
United were still the better team during most of the match until they started playing with 10 men. And they're still Champions of England, Champions of Europe and Champions of the World, in case any Liverpool fan forgets. But honestly I'm also glad Liverpool fans were given something to cheer about for a change. Komplu ghixu bit-tama.
Michael Harrison
Mar 15th 2009, 09:45
You must be joking, M. Agius. Stoke's main priority is of just beating Man Utd?!?!? Pull my other one. I can tell you what Stoke's main priority is - keeping afloat (albeit with limited resources) in the cash cow called the English Premier League. So obviously, positive results against teams in or around the relegation zone (the so-called six-pointers) are more vital for clubs such as Stoke. However, in the case of my beloved Potters, we've had some very nice surprising results along the way (two nil-nil draws against the mighty Liverpool, a win against Arsenal, four points off Aston Villa) and all this, I reiterate, on a shoestring budget.
Peter Galea
Mar 14th 2009, 20:08
Someone a few weeks ago during an interview in a maltese language newspaper said that Manchester United are there "biex ipaxxu lid-dinja". At least today "paxxew" every Lioverpool supoorter in the world.
mario agius
Mar 14th 2009, 19:07
the difference between United and L'pool these days is while the main priorities of Man.Utd are to win major trophies , that of Pool is of just beating Man.Utd !....same as Hull , Stoke and co........at the end it still be Fergie who's gonna equal L'pool league wins !!
Matthew Azzopardi
Mar 14th 2009, 18:10
Goes to prove just how poor Inter are...
philip pace
Mar 14th 2009, 18:04
A great win and even if United can still win the league, the current Premier League Champions, Champions of Europe and the world have lost twice to Liverpool now.
Maybe if lady luck smiles on Liverpool now it would be refreshing if Liverpool won the title as that would be a vital injection to the Premier League.
Hats off for the referee Wiley who had the guts to award a penalty against United at Old Trafford as his collegues shamefully turned a blind eye on previous matches when opposing teams received no favours when they played United at The Theatres of Dreams.
Well done Liverpool!
Christopher Briffa
Mar 14th 2009, 17:56
What a performance by Liverpool, after trashing the mighty Real Madrid at Anfield on Tuesday the scoucers gave another football lesson to none other then the current European and World club champions and silenced the arrogant Old Trafford crowd. Once again Rafa Benitez just showed the whole world what a master tactician he is, and what about the performance of Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, undoubtely they are the best fottballers on the planet at the moment, had they both been fit throughout the whole season Liverppol would have been home and dry by now.
Mario Gauci
Mar 14th 2009, 16:23
But they will still not win the Premier League. United will bounce back.
Joe Boswell
Mar 14th 2009, 15:58
Liverpool may have drawn too many games to win the league, but this week has been simply awesome for the red half of merseyside. Liverpool have my full admiration - extremely proud to be a liverpool fan. I re-iterate, Torres and Stevie G should be joint favourites for the player of the year award.
What a game of football. Seeing Dossena score was the absolute icing!