Back in January this year, I provided Rafael Benitez with a complimentary 5 step guide to follow, that guaranteed to revive Liverpool's stalling season and get them into the Champions League position that every club would happily sell there Grandmother for. Had Benitez chose not to shun the enlightening guide, he might have secured 4th spot, and not found himself extricated to the boredom of Italian football, with Internazionale.
Such is my willingness to offer the likes of Benitez with unrivaled wisdom, in a selfless act, I have this time provided Fabio Capello with 5 steps to save England's World Cup venture. All of the steps should be followed without question, to the letter and in the stated order. Failure to follow in this manner will void the guarantee of qualification for the second round. So without further delay......
As we have seen so often before, pre-match rants have a tendency to bite back you back. Rafael Benitez' random press conference, in which he proceeded to reel off a list of un-pleasantries aimed at counter part Alex Ferguson in January, coincided with Liverpool's dip in form, and United's healthy gap at the top of the Premier league table.
Today at Old Trafford, Rooney's (deleted) pre-match comments about his unsurprising hate for Liverpool, came back to haunt him in the most unpredictable fashion.
Even after going down 1-nil to a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty, Liverpool didn't look like buckling, and were playing with the confidence installed since the 4-nil demolition of Real Madrid.
So, it was no surprise that Liverpool levelled 6 minutes after Ronaldo's spot kick, with Steven Gerrard being awarded a penalty, which is as rare as rocking horse shit at Old Trafford. Patrice Evra, making the mistake, tripping Gerrard in the box.
Liverpool continued to play the better football, and the tireless Torres got the second before half time after a rare mistake by Vidic allowed him a one on one with Edwin VadderSar.
Man United started the second half with a real urgency, pinning Liverpool back deeper and deeper. Torres and Gerrard were looking very isolated and it was beginning to look like it was only a matter of time before Man United got back in the game. Which, after 60 minutes, left me surprised when Alex Ferguson made a triple substitution. I have never really been a fan of triple substitutions, unless your team is playing dreadfully then its worth a gamble, but in this instance Man United were in good shape and dominating proceedings.
The gamble to use the triple substitution, back fired only moments later when, Vidic brought down Gerrard who was clean through on goal. United will argue that Vidic was not the last man, but there was no way Ferdinand was going to catch Gerrard. Referee Rob Styles, held his bottle like he did when he awarded the Liverpool penalty, and gave Vidic his marching orders.
From the resulting freekick, Fabio Aurelio managed to do what Ronaldo had failed to do on numerous occasions, finding the net with a superb finish, that left keeper, Edwin Van derSar rooted to the spot to the deafening silence of the Old Trafford crowd.
That effectively ended the tie, as United, even with a fair amount of possession and being awarded freekick after freekick, never really looked like scoring, and individual errors became the theme of the day For Ferguson's troops.
To put the icing on the cake, Dossena finished off the rout, after a great lob over Van derSar making it 4-1 to Liverpool, leaving Old Trafford half empty, and turning it in to the theater of nightmares for United.
"Miss" might be a bit of harsh word to described Liverpool's domestic performance this season, given that they are currently placed 3rd in the Premier League, but why is it in such contrast to the European performances we now come to expect from Liverpool year in year out?
Real Madrid, who had less Spanish players in their starting 11 than Liverpool, were hammered 4-0, on another famous night at Anfield on Tuesday. And, it could have been far worse for Madrid, if it were not for their man of the match, but now dejected Goalkeeper, Iker Casillas.
I was some what nervous before the game, even though Liverpool were carrying the away goal and victory from the Bernabeu a week earlier, as I was expecting Real to come out all gun blazing. However, what ever tactical plan Juande Ramos had envisaged prior to kick off, was immediately devoured by Liverpool from the off. First Fernando Torres with an immense turn leaving World Cup winner Fabio Cannavaro flat footed and embarrassed before Casillas came to his aid.
Gerrard then tested Casillas again, just before the keeper tipped a rare 25 yard volley from Javier Mascherano, on to the bar. And all this before Liverpool eventually made the possession pay through Torres, who had a relatively simple finish after Kuyt squared. Pepe complained about a suspicion of offside or maybe it was being man handled, either of which hold little weight.
Liverpool's second came courtesy of a penalty, due to one time Liverpool target (and ex manc), Gabriel Heinze, who will have felt hard done by the handball given against him. He should take up the complaint with Liverpool's 12th man. Gerrard slotted the pen making it 3-nil on aggregate at half time.
If there were to be any sort of come back by Real Madrid, the idea was quickly diminished by another Gerrard goal at the start of the second half. A great half volley after being picked out by good work from Ryan Babel.
Unlikely goal scorer Dossena then capped off the outstanding Liverpool performance with his first goal for the club, completing the demolition.
Its hard to believe that this is the same Liverpool that were beat by Middlesbrough 2-nil last week in what I can only describe as one of the worst Liverpool performance I have witnessed, in recent memory. That defeat put a major dent in Liverpool's already dwindling Premier League title aspirations, which now makes the next encounter at Old Trafford this weekend, all or nothing.
Benitez proved he can beat Real Madrid, one of Europe's all time greats, away from home, but he now needs to transfer that European formula on to the domestic scene.
Until the weekend here are the highlights of the Liverpool's emphatic win over Real Madrid....
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