United versus Liverpool
Manchester United crushed Liverpool 3-0 at Old Trafford in a hard fought north-west derby. Wes Brown opened the scoring, with his first goal of the season and only the third of his career, to give United control at the break, before Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani netted inside the last 11 minutes as Liverpool tired.
United had goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar and defender Rio Ferdinand back after groin and back injuries respectively, while Paul Scholes and skipper Ryan Giggs also returned. Liverpool were unchanged after seven straight victories.
The opening tackles were sharp and Mascherano was booked for cutting down Scholes, before Wayne Rooney twice went close. First the striker got behind Jamie Carragher, whose tackle could easily have produced a penalty had the former Everton man gone down. But the England striker kept his feet and forced Jose Reina into a save with his legs. Then Scholes' lofted pass fell behind the Liverpool defence, and Reina scooped the ball away from Rooney. Then Ronaldo's shot hit the foot of a post before Reina half-stopped a 33rd-minute Giggs effort and needed to claw it back from under the bar. The deadlock was broken a minute later when Rooney's curling cross into the box was met by the unlikely figure of Brown who headed it into the net.
The second half started with the Liverpool keeper Reina making a point-blank save to stop a Ronaldo effort. Then he produced another improbable save from Rooney. United sent on Carlos Tevez and Nani for Giggs and Anderson after 73 minutes, and it took another wonder save from Reina to stop Tevez making it 2-0. Reina denied Ronaldo with a block which hit the bar and went out for a corner, which proved decisive. Nani took the corner and Ronaldo headed it home and a couple of minutes later Nani blasted home the third from the edge of the box.
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was delighted with the victory on an important weekend in the title race.
'We started to get the breaks, Ronaldo could have had a hat-trick, Wayne Rooney could also have had a hat-trick, they both had one on one chances with the goalkeeper. In the end we should have finished them off earlier. On the day, once we had the second goal that was it. I feel that 3-0 was not a flattering score, we could have got more. It was good to play like that and beat our biggest rivals, we did our job and have three more points and a good goal difference.'
United had goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar and defender Rio Ferdinand back after groin and back injuries respectively, while Paul Scholes and skipper Ryan Giggs also returned. Liverpool were unchanged after seven straight victories.
The opening tackles were sharp and Mascherano was booked for cutting down Scholes, before Wayne Rooney twice went close. First the striker got behind Jamie Carragher, whose tackle could easily have produced a penalty had the former Everton man gone down. But the England striker kept his feet and forced Jose Reina into a save with his legs. Then Scholes' lofted pass fell behind the Liverpool defence, and Reina scooped the ball away from Rooney. Then Ronaldo's shot hit the foot of a post before Reina half-stopped a 33rd-minute Giggs effort and needed to claw it back from under the bar. The deadlock was broken a minute later when Rooney's curling cross into the box was met by the unlikely figure of Brown who headed it into the net.
The second half started with the Liverpool keeper Reina making a point-blank save to stop a Ronaldo effort. Then he produced another improbable save from Rooney. United sent on Carlos Tevez and Nani for Giggs and Anderson after 73 minutes, and it took another wonder save from Reina to stop Tevez making it 2-0. Reina denied Ronaldo with a block which hit the bar and went out for a corner, which proved decisive. Nani took the corner and Ronaldo headed it home and a couple of minutes later Nani blasted home the third from the edge of the box.
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was delighted with the victory on an important weekend in the title race.
'We started to get the breaks, Ronaldo could have had a hat-trick, Wayne Rooney could also have had a hat-trick, they both had one on one chances with the goalkeeper. In the end we should have finished them off earlier. On the day, once we had the second goal that was it. I feel that 3-0 was not a flattering score, we could have got more. It was good to play like that and beat our biggest rivals, we did our job and have three more points and a good goal difference.'
posted by Swanson Red at 11:19 am
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