Benitez tabs along the sentence 'dive'23: 52 21/03/2010, Daniel Taylor, football, guardian.co.uk, Liverpool, Manchester United, News, Premier League,

Benitez tabs along the sentence 'dive'23: 52 21/03/2010, Daniel Taylor, football, guardian.co.uk, Liverpool, Manchester United, News, Premier League, Rafael Benitez, Sir Alex Ferguson, the sport, Guardian Unlimited

Referee was influenced, says the director of Liverpool
Kingdom of Valencia denies cheating to win penalty

Rafa Benitez likes of Sir Alex Ferguson said tonight in the Liverpool manager in response to another damaging setback for the aspirations of his team qualify for the Champions League, showing more bitterness toward the man who has become his nemesis in English football.

Benitez was hurt by the penalty set Manchester United on the way to a 2-1 victory, accusing diving Antonio Valencia, and referred to his earlier accusations that referees Ferguson placed under pressure. "We know the influence of Sir Alex at all," he said. "I've seen three repetitions [from different angles] and the last one was suspicious. See repeated himself and how he fell." He asked if he was saying it was a jump, he replied: "Yes, I think so. There is no contact, but the way they fell - strange."

Television footage showed the first contact of Javier Mascherano had been outside the penalty area and Benitez was asked if Ferguson had been trying to get into the mind of the referee, Howard Webb, spoke Friday when the Anfield club to get preferential treatment . "Only on Friday, said something?" was interrupted with a voice full of sarcasm. "What Friday? This Friday and every Friday? Or every Friday of the year?"

Ferguson had written in his program notes that he was "a hint of sympathy" for the current plight of Benitez, but the sense of bad blood between the two managers led to a confrontation in the band shortly after Wayne Rooney scored 33rd session of the season, turning in the rebound after Pepe Reina had saved his penalty.

Rooney, little concerned about a left knee injury Old Trafford with a pronounced limp. His header disallowed goal in the fifth minute Fernando Torres for Liverpool, with Park Ji-sung, of scoring the goal in the second half. "When you have different views they have of expressing different opinions," Benitez said of this argument. "As you know, he [Ferguson] has his own opinion about everything."

Ferguson's argument is that Mascherano should have been expelled. "I thought the penalty was a red card," he said. "There was no way [Jamie] Carragher could be transmitted to stop shooting Valencia, absolutely no way. He [Valencia] is too fast for Carragher to cross. It's a shame, but the law of the game is that if you stop a player of a scoring opportunity which is a red card, but today was not. "

The United manager did not know at the time that Benitez had spoken of Valencia, being creative in its fall. "He [Mascherano] pulled him and obviously I think the referee was right," said Ferguson. "It has the advantage of playing [after first contact] because it was right across goal and it was not until I was inside the box that brought him down. So I think that is correct."

Benitez, however, was infuriated by what he perceived as several crucial decisions, will favor U.S. and said he was sufficiently concerned at halftime to tell Torres to maintain their focus on the game. It was not "easy" Torres, the director reflected, and there was heavy irony when Gary Neville watched tacos had been connected with Maxi Rodriguez, leaving the Argentine with a bloodied head. "I think it must have been a bird from the sky," he said.

Park needs one point for a facial cut, caused by the boot of Glen Johnson. "A game like that, it has always been a fighter," Ferguson said. "Both teams, with their pride and history, will compete. I do not think it got to a serious point at any time.

While Liverpool are consumed in the sixth, 18 points behind United at the top of the table, Ferguson's men have their sights on a fourth consecutive title, two points ahead of Arsenal and four ahead of Chelsea and have the additional motivation to reach their Merseyside rivals with a championship, 19 in total.

"We've been very consistent over the past two or three months," said Ferguson. "For the periods of the game we played very well and other times we had to dig and concentrate.'s Always hard to lose a goal and come back and win is a great quality that Manchester United and it was that quality that won us the game again today. "

Premier League
Manchester United
Sir Alex Ferguson
Liverpool
Rafael Benitez
Daniel Taylor


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