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Liverpool 2-0 Manchester United
Match Reports, 17:00, October 25, 2009 ,
Both sides finished with ten men as Liverpool picked up a huge 2-0 win over their fiercest rivals Manchester United at Anfield.
All the build up to the game had focused on the poor form of Rafael Benitez's side and the return of Michael Owen to Anfield with a Manchester United badge across his chest, but it was a current Liverpool hitman that really decided the game.
There were beach balls, beach balls and yet more beach balls on the field before kick-off and another man on the field when the game got underway was Wayne Rooney as he recovered from a calf strain to start. The England man thought he had scored the opening goal too inside three minutes only to see the assistant's flag in the air.
The hosts soon took control of the game and began to create the better of the chances with Edwin Van Der Sar having to be at his best to deny Fabio Aurelio and Dirk Kuyt. But Pepe Reina was not under worked himself though as the Spanish stopped prevented Dimitar Berbatov sliding United into the lead.
The second period followed much the same pattern with the men from Anfield looking the more dangerous of the two sides and they finally grabbed their reward in the 65th minute as Fernando Torres latched onto Benayoun's through ball to hold off Rio Ferdinand's tame challenge and power the ball through Van Der Sar.
United began to press and Michael Owen was introduced to a chorus of boos and 'Judas' from his former followers and he looked to have made a decisive contribution as he crept in behind Jamie Carragher only to be hauled down by the Liverpool captain who inexplicably escaped a straight red card.
Sir Alex Ferguson was furious at that moment and it only got worse minutes later as Nemanja Vidic got his marching orders for a second booking for a similar offence on Dirk Kuyt.
Javier Mascherano followed him down the tunnel soon after as he committed a second bookable offence by slicing Edwin Van Der Sar to the floor and the Argentine could have no complaints about the decision.
With United pressing for the equaliser, gaps were appearing at the back and David Ngog escaped clear in the sixth minute of added time to put the icing on the cake for Benitez and Liverpool.