Dimitar Berbatov scored his first United hat-trick and Nemenja Vidic gave a top class defending master-class as Manchester United beat Liverpool 3-2 at Old Trafford. iSporter Ankit Sharma shares his perspective on the game.
United started the match positively with Paul Scholes and Darrren Fletcher anchoring the mid-field. Liverpool started the match with Torres alone upfront with Christian Poulsen behind him and Gerrard and Meireles in deeper lying roles. The tactic was aimed to stop Paul Scholes from pulling the strings from his of late traditional quarter-back position.
It however, was hardly effective as Nani, Scholes, Berbatov and Rooney combined to great effect to make inroads consistently into the Liverpool half. On the other hand Liverpool were offering little while going forward and Vidic not allowing Torres to even breathe around the United box. Just three minutes before half-time, United took the lead as Berbatov headed in a Ryan Giggs corner. His marker, Torres was so ineffective that Berbatov didn’t even have to leap to head the ball into the net.
The second half started with Liverpool showing a little more intent. But they were stunned when Berbatov scored what could be the goal of the season. Positioned at the edge of the box, Berbatov controlled Nani’s cross with his knee and with his back towards the goal, executed a perfect overhead kick that thundered the cross-bar before going in. Pepe Reina rooted at his spot, too stunned to react. The crowd at Old Trafford erupted and Sir Alex exchanged high-fives with his support staff as Berbatov finally announced his arrival.
Just when it seemed that United would stroll to an easy win, Torres used his experience and Johny Evans’ lack of it to bring Liverpool back into the game. Torres lured Evans into a needless sliding tackle after the Northern Ireland international had covered the ground to stop Torres. Howard Webb had no hesitation in awarding the penalty which Gerrard converted with a glee. And then, as it is fast becoming the trend, United threw away the lead when John O’Shea fouled Torres on the edge of the box and Gerrard scored again from the resulting free kick.
However, Berbatov was not going to let Gerrad spoil his most special day in the United shirt. With six minutes left to play, Berbatov raised abover Carragher to head in John O’Shea’s cross from the right. After that it was all about holding the lead for the remaining minutes and United made no mistakes this time. When Berbatov was subbed towards the end of the game, the United fans stood up to applaud the man they had criticized for two years. The transformation was completed!
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