Liverpool 1 Manchester United 2: Rodgers claims referee caused ‘the best team’ to lose at Anfield

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers insisted the best team lost and claimed referee Mark Halsey contributed to their first defeat to Manchester United at Anfield since 2007.

The game was Liverpool’s first at Anfield since the publication of the Hillsborough Independent Panel’s report, which exonerated fans in relation to the 1989 disaster.

The Reds dominated for the majority of the match, even after Jonjo Shelvey’s 39th-minute red card for a two-footed lunge on Jonny Evans, but lost.

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Steven Gerrard’s volley gave his side the lead seconds after the interval but Rafael curled in an exquisite equaliser before Robin van Persie scored United’s first goal from a penalty this season after Glen Johnson was adjudged to have brought down Antonio Valencia.

Rodgers took issue with the sending-off, the penalty and Halsey’s decision not to award Liverpool a spot-kick when Luis Suarez was felled in the second half.

“We are bitterly disappointed with the result, I thought the best team lost,” he said.

“Of what we could control I thought the players and performance level was outstanding; what we couldn’t control were decisions by the referee.

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“If Shelvey gets sent off for having both feet off the ground then Evans has to get sent off for that as well if you watch the replays.

“Jonjo is coming in from the side, it is a tackle the player has to go for and one the United player has to go for but the Liverpool player can’t get sent off and the United one stay on the field.

“I thought it was very harsh and that was how it was throughout the game as a number of poor decisions went against us.

“The penalty was never a penalty. Johnson has made a fantastic recovery back in and I have no idea why Valencia goes down.

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“Up the other end Suarez gets a toe on the ball, gets contact, goes down and doesn’t get the penalty.

“It was one of the those days where we never got any decision which could have helped us at all and when you lose a man you need some help.”

As Shelvey departed the field he had an angry exchange with United manager Sir Alex Ferguson but Rodgers insisted he did not see it.

The midfielder apologised for the tackle but not for his reaction afterwards.

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“I apologise to the fans for getting sent off but no way was I pulling out of that tackle in a game of that importance. I’m sorry,” he wrote on Twitter.

Ferguson was bemused by the 20-year-old’s reaction. “He blamed me. But he is young and he will realise the stupidity of it,” said the Scot.

“Jonny Evans went for the ball but Shelvey was nowhere near and could have given Jonny Evans a really bad injury – he was very lucky actually.”

Ferguson almost agreed with Rodgers in his assessment of the match, although not over the United penalty.

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“I thought we were poor. Over the last four years we have allowed the (Anfield) crowd to get at us a little bit,” he added.

“They gave fantastic support to their team and they dominated.

“We played better in the second half but it was against 10 men and Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs’s experience got us through.

“No doubts about the penalty though, it was reckless.

“We haven’t played well here for the past four years and we can do better but at least we got a result. It is a turning point for us.”

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Ferguson was also pleased his side had broken their duck from the spot after three misses in consecutive matches – one from van Persie himself – this season so far.

“It wasn’t easy for Robin. He took it well. It was the way he envisaged he would,” added the United boss.

Liverpool finished the match with nine men as Martin Kelly hobbled off with a knee problem to give Rodgers more injury problems after defender Daniel Agger sustained possible medial ligament damage and forward Fabio Borini was withdrawn with a swollen ankle.

Giggs conceded Manchester United were not at their best despite emerging from the emotionally-charged encounter with a hard-earned victory.

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The hosts played 51 minutes with 10 men after Shelvey’s sending-off but still managed to take the lead through Gerrard’s volley seconds after the interval.

“Over the last three or four years we’ve come here and played a lot better and not got anything – that’s how it goes sometimes,” Giggs said.

“It’s always tough against a team like Liverpool who keep the ball well.

“Even if they go down to 10 men they don’t change, they keep the ball, and that’s always tough.”

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Giggs admitted, however, that it was his side’s equaliser rather than Shelvey’s dismissal that finally injected some belief into the United players.

“The crowd got up and we didn’t play well, we didn’t keep the ball well enough, so it was great to see Rafa’s goal go in – that probably lifted us,” he said.

Giggs and Gerrard released 96 red balloons in memory of the Hillsborough victims before the match as part of a number of tributes, but the former Wales international did not feel the emotion of the occasion got to his team-mates.

“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “It’s just a tough place to come and Liverpool obviously wanted to put on a performance because of the occasion, and they did that.”