Last Minute Victory for Man.Utd over Liverpool

Last Minute Victory for Man.Utd over Liverpool
Hard Fought Match Leaves United Nearer to Title

Even if Manchester United was 16 points ahead of Liverpool, it was still an important match that was played on March 03 at Anfield Road . These two teams are traditional rivals and also are two of the most successful in the English Premier League. On Oct 22,2006, playing in its home ground of Old Trafford, Manchester United had defeated Liverpool 2-0. Today at Anfield, the local fans were expecting their side to take revenge.
Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese international must surely be the most hated player in the Premier league since very time he touched the ball was insulted by the crowd, a legacy of England's elimination by Portugal in the last World Cup. The first scoring chance was for Liverpool as Daniel Agger took a good long range shot over the goal guarded by Erwin van der Sar. Chilean international player, Mark Gonzalez also appeared in the 15th minute as he sent a header towards goal that was caught by Van Der Sar. During the first half it was Liverpool that had the most scoring chances with shots by John Riise and Mark Gonzalez in the 26th and 36th minute. Manchester United made its first appearance in the 41st minute as C.Ronaldo made one of his usual long runs on the right wing but was well blocked near the Liverpool goal by Jamie Carragher. Apart from this chance, Man Utd´s attack appeared only with Wayne Rooney, a former Everton player that was constantly having arguments with the rival players or the referee, Martin Atkinson.
At the beginning of the second half in the 49th minute Craig Bellamy had a goal disallowed due to an apparent offside. Liverpool continued attacking but as usual the shots by its players went over or near the Manchester United goal. By now tempers were rising with several hard fouls being made by both teams, such as the one by Jamie Carragher on Wayne Rooney that ended with the striker having to be replaced since his right leg was bleeding too much. Also in the 86th minute Paul Scholes lost his temper, kicked Xabi Alonso and was sent off immediately by the referee.
Liverpool tried to take advantage of this situation and went on a total attack, but in the 90th minute, John O´Shea (that had replaced Rooney), scored after a low level free kick by Cristiano Ronaldo had rebounded off a Liverpool defender. In the end, Liverpool missed far too many scoring chances against a team like Manchester United that after this victory gets nearer to being the 2007 Premier League champions.

Starting Lineups :
Liverpool (0) : Jose Reina, Daniel Agger, Steve Finnan, Jamie Carragher, Xabi Alonso, Mohammed Sissoko, John Arne Riise, Steven Gerrard, Craig Bellamy, Dirk Kuyt, Mark Gonzalez.
Coach : Rafa Benitez.
Manchester United (1) : Erwin v. Der Sar, Michael Carrick, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Henrik Larsson.
Coach : Sir Alex Ferguson.