Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool
Last Updated: Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:05
Manchester United kept their cool in difficult circumstances to beat a toothless Liverpool side at Old Trafford.
With all the talk pre kick-off focussing upon the Patrice Evra/Luis Suarez saga, it was disappointing to see the Liverpool striker refuse Evra's handshake before the game. That foolish decision from Suarez set the tone for a game that, although not particularly ill-tempered on the pitch, threatened to boil over and ruin what should have been a fine footballing spectacle.
A low early shot from Glen Johnson, Liverpool's best attacking outlet throughout the 90 minutes, forced David De Gea into a simple low save, while his defensive duties were called into action moments later, the defender heading the ball away from a United free kick to prevent Wayne Rooney nodding into the net.
The momentum soon swung in United's favour, though, Rafael coming close to opening the scoring with a swerving shot that forced a diving save from Pepe Reina.
Paul Scholes came close moments later, setting up the best chance of the game before almost scoring it himself. The midfield maestro sprayed a sublime pass out to Giggs on the left before running into the box to receive the return pass from the Welshman, Scholes directing a header on target and forcing an instinctive save from Reina.
The second half, starting after rumours emerged of a dressing room bust-up between the players at half time, provided elements of the spectacle both sets of fans had been hoping for before the game, with Rooney lighting up the game with a fine volleyed finsih just after the restart. Giggs played the ball into him from a corner and the striker made no mistake adjusting his body shape before firing past Reina.
Minutes later, Rooney doubled United's lead, receiving the ball from Antonio Valencia before slotting calmly past Reina in the Liverpool goal.
Liverpool, bringing on Andy Carroll and Craig Bellamy in reaction to those two goals, grabbed a goal back ten minutes from full time, Suarez making the most of an unlucky deflection off the leg of Rio Ferdinand to slot past De Gea, but that was as far as their attempted comeback went, United holding on to take all three points and top position in the league.
