Ferguson happy after Liverpool 'morale booster'
MANCHESTER: Sir Alex Ferguson acclaimed a 3-0 victory over Liverpool as an ideal "morale booster" after his Manchester United side strengthened its bid for a second successive Premier League title with a resounding victory here at Old Trafford.
United's win left it five points clear of Chelsea, which later Sunday leapfrogged Arsenal into second place by beating the Gunners 2-1, with seven games of the league season remaining.
Goals from Wes Brown, Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani saw off Liverpool, which had to play most of the match a man down after Javier Mascherano was sent off in controversial fashion just before halftime.
The one possible cloud on the horizon for United, which has to play Arsenal in the run-in, was a knee injury sustained by Wayne Rooney.
Ferguson will hope it is not severe enough to keep the England striker sidelined at a time when United is also bidding to win the Champions League having, like Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea, reached the quarterfinals of European club football's leading competition.
"The title race will go right to the end of the season," Ferguson said. "We've beaten a really strong Liverpool side and we did it with some really good football.
"That it was 3-0 against Liverpool, our biggest rivals, is good for the goal difference. We've done our job with three points but we won't get carried away," the Scot added. "It's a morale booster and a good confidence booster."
While United mulls over what is now required to lift a tenth English title since 1993, Liverpool now awaits the result of Steve Bennett's report into Mascherano's red card.
The Argentinian midfielder would normally be banned for just one match after being shown two yellow cards, but that may be increased depending on how the Football Association views his furious reaction to being sent off for dissent as he attempted to speak to Bennett about his decision to book Fernando Torres.
Mascherano had to be dragged away by Xabi Alonso and the Liverpool coach Alex Miller before Reds manager Rafael Benitez tried to calm him.
Benitez refused to attempt to second guess what fate is in store for Mascherano, saying: "The player was asking. I don't think that to ask is a big problem. He doesn't know the referees."
Following the debate that has raged since Ashley Cole's dissent in Chelsea's 4-4 draw with Tottenham in midweek, Benitez acknowledged that Mascherano was wrong to attempt to discuss anything with a referee in the current climate.
The Spaniard added: "The player told me that he was asking what happened and to get sent off for that made him really, really surprised.
"He could not understand why. The player knows he made a mistake but in this kind of game it is wrong to leave a team with just 10 players because one of them asked 'why?'.
"It is clear that he knows he made a mistake. I talked to him in Spanish on the line and he told me he didn't say anything and that he was just acting.
"Mascherano is a fantastic professional and has been playing at the maximum level for years and I was trying to tell him 'it's finished'.
"All of my people are disappointed and no one is more disappointed than me. We had our chances but with 10 players it's just 'forget it'," Benitez added. "I think that when you are a professional and play a big game like this you are surprised and want to know why you are sent off.
"Mascherano was trying to work really hard, like everyone else, and we are disappointed with what happened."
AFP
(China Daily 03/25/2008 page22)
