Game : Manchester United (1st) vs Liverpool (3rd)
Competition : English Premier League
Date : Saturday, March 14, 2009
Final score : Manchester United 1-4 Liverpool
( Goal scorers:- Ronaldo 23′ pen/ Fernando Torres 28′, Steven Gerrard 44’pen, Fabio Aurelio 77′, Andrea Dossena 90+1′)
Liverpool scored four goals for the second time in a week as they completed a rare double over Manchester United at Old Trafford. Goals from Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, Fabio Aurelio and Andrea Dossena gave the Reds a 4-1 win and kept their Premier League title hopes alive.
Manchester United were given an early penalty by Alan Wiley after Pepe Reina fouled Park Ji Sung. Carlos Tevez played a through ball, and although Reina kept his hands away, his momentum ensured that Park was brought down by him, and Wiley pointed to the spot. Although Reina guessed rightly, Ronaldo still sent his penalty in.
Five minutes later, an uncharacteristic error from Nemanja Vidic saw Torres equalise for Liverpool. The normally reliable Serbian defender misjudged a long ball and paid the price for not heading it away immediately. Torres latched on to the ball, saw off Vidic’s desperate attempt to stop him and send Edwin Van der Sar the wrong way to level the scores. It was the first goal scored at Old Trafford in a Premier League game since November 2008. If it was Wes Brown at Anfield last year, this time it was Vidic’s turn to have a bad day at Old Trafford.
Ronaldo stung Reina’s palms with a well taken free kick that the Spanish keeper fumbled, but Reina got to the rebound just before Carlos Tevez.
Patrice Evra hacked Gerrard down in the box just before half time as the Liverpool skipper chased down a pass. Like Reina before him, Van der Sar guessed right, but could not stop it from going in.
United came out in the second half with an intention to equalise, and to their credit, they did dominate the initial stages of the second half. Tevez had a couple of half chances, and Rooney did look threatening from time to time. Ferguson made a triple substitution in order to get the equaliser, but the game swung Liverpool’s way after Riley gave Vidic the marching orders for pulling Gerrard down. It was the end of a miserable afternoon for Vidic, and Fabio Aurelio curled the resulting freekick over the wall to make it 3-1.
Gerrard missed a simple chance to make it four in the 85th minute, his shot going horribly wrong after he had just Van der Sar to beat. However Liverpool did get their fourth goal, and it was another shoddy piece of defending from United that lead to it. They did not deal with Pepe Reina’s goal kick, and Andrea Dossena took the ball on the bounce and lofted it over the head of Van der Sar to make it 4-1.
Dossena’s second goal in as many games!!!!
It throws the title race open, and Liverpool ( 61 points) are now four points behind Manchester United (65 points)
Video highlights- Sapo.pt
Manchester United lineup:- Van der Sar, Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, John O’Shea, Anderson ( Paul Scholes 73′), Park Ji Sung ( Dimitar Berbatov 74′), Michael Carrick ( Ryan Giggs 74′), Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney
Booked ( Yellow Cards):- Rio Ferdinand, Edwin Van der Sar.
Sent off ( Red Cards) : Nemanja Vidic
Liverpool lineup:- Reina, Jamie Carragher, Martin Skrtel, Sami Hyypia, Fabio Aurelio, Albert Riera ( Andrea Dossena 67′), Javier Mascherano, Lucas Leiva, Steven Gerrard ( Nabil El Zhar 90′), Dirk Kuyt, Fernando Torres ( Ryan Babel 80′)
Booked ( Yellow Cards):- Jamie Carragher, Javier Mascherano, Martin Skrtel.
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