Manchester United is the only Big Four club that Liverpool, under the leadership of Rafa Benitez, have never beaten in the Premier League for three seasons. Having lost their last two home matches in the championship to a sworn opponent and tied one in a row, the Merseysides were never able to hit the Red Devils gates once, although on Saturday they were closer to this than ever.
But the prerequisites for the fact that Liverpool will interrupt the protracted series of unsuccessful matches against Manchester this very Saturday were. Both teams won the last two matches (in the Premier League and the Champions League), but if Liverpool had an excellent match in Barcelona and then confidently outplayed Sheffield United at home, Manchester defeated Lille only thanks to a controversial goal. Giggs free kick. And the away victory of the Mankunians over Fulham will not turn anyone's tongue into convincing. But in the confrontation, most pre-match hands often go by the wayside - in whatever form, in whatever place in the table, the teams approach the derby. In which not the least part is played by a not entirely sporting concept - luck.
The hosts didn’t lose because of the already rotten parable in their languages, professed by their head coach (the same magnificent ten and goalkeeper appeared on the field as in the victory match with Barcelona, with only one change - Mark Gonzalez came out instead of Arbeloa, and Riise fell to the left flank of the defense), not because of tactical misses or fatal goalkeeper errors. It’s just time to pay the bills. Manchester beat Liverpool in the Liverpool corporate identity of the times of Gerard Houlier. Then the Merseysides defeated Manchester United three times with a score 1: 0 at Old Trafford (it is interesting that all three winning goals were scored from the standards, and Danny Murphy became their author). The recipe for those victories was simple in concept, but by no means in execution - Liverpool, giving the initiative, heroically fought off the hosts' attacks, but still took away three points, carefully using the few chances to score a goal.
To say that on Saturday at Manfield Manchester the whole match “heroically fought off” would, of course, be an exaggeration. But the fact that Liverpool created much more scoring chances is undeniable (the Reds hit three times as many shots on goal, eight times on target, and twelve corner kicks against two of the guests). A particularly successful illustration of the hosts' advantage was the end of the first and the beginning of the second half - the Liverpool players firmly seized both the initiative and the territory, besieging the gates of van der Sarah. The guests goalkeeper rescued the team after a weak but unpleasant blow by Bellamy in the 48th minute, but was powerless two minutes later, when the Welshman hit the net with a shot from outside the goalkeeper - the ball was canceled due to a rather controversial offside. The third spike in Liverpool’s attacks came in the final ten minutes, and van der Sar once again showed an excellent response after a dangerous close-range strike by Peter Crouch who replaced.
If we analyze the Saturday meeting in terms of local duels, then the advantage will again remain with Liverpool. On the flanks, where the maximum danger for Manchester rivals usually comes, Cristiano Ronaldo and Giggs were tightly covered by Finnan and Riise, and the Liverpool defenders also found time to actively join in the attacks. Paul Scholes, who spent the 300th match in the starting lineup of Manchester, was tightly shut off by oxygen by a pair of Liverpool oporniks - Xabi Alonso and Sissoko. The frustration of the red midfielder turned out to be so high that in the 86th minute the nerves could not stand it. Scholes was removed for trying to hit Alonso in the face. Forced to leave the field at the end of the second half and Rooney - due to an injury caused to him by Jamie Carragher, who took care of Wayne the whole match and did not give him the opportunity to really hit the gates of Reina. Ironically, it was John O'Shea, who replaced Rooney in the 74th minute, who brought Manchester a victory already in the added time - the Irishman successfully played in finishing off after a cross from the free kick performed by Cristiano Ronaldo.
This victory reinforced the comfortable separation of Manchester United from Chelsea for nine rounds before the end of the championship of England. And although Alex Ferguson said after the match that the championship had not been won, his team has more rights to optimism in anticipation of the meeting of leaders on April 15 at Stamford Bridge.
LIVERPOOL - MANCHESTER UNITED - 0: 1 (0: 0)
Goal: 0: 1 - O'Shea (90 + 2).
LIVERPOOL: Reina, Finnan, Carragher, Agger, Riise, Gonzalez (Fabio Aurelio, 60), Sissoko (Crouch, 79), Xabi Alonso, Gerrard, Bellamy (Pennant, 69), Kate.
MANCHESTER UNITED: van der Sar, G. Neville, Vidic, R. Ferdinand, Evra (Sylvester, 63), Giggs, Carrick, Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney (O'Shea, 73), Larsson (Saa, 67).
Removal: Scholes (86).
Warnings: Xabi Alonso (41), Carrick (43), Carragher (72).
March 3rd . Anfield Road, 15.45.
Judge : Martin Atkinson (Yorkshire).