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It is a “schoolboy error” when a journalist allows a mobile phone to ring in David Moyes’s company, but there was only one loaded question to ask when the roles were reversed and the Everton manager scrambled for the silent button on Saturday. “Was that Rooney?”

Moyes dismissed the query as the joke it was intended to be, but the finest compliment to the Scot is that the Manchester United striker had cause for envy on his latest return to Goodison Park.

Emerging young talent, a balanced team of footballers in the truest sense, impactful substitutions and a resolute, organised defence; all the qualities that inspired Everton to a comfortable ­victory were conspicuously absent from the reigning champions on Merseyside. It was stretching it to extremes to infer Rooney was following up the apology to Moyes for allegations in his autobiography with a request to re-sign for his boyhood club, but the weight of carrying this United team took its toll here.

On Saturday the antagonism towards Rooney was audible, albeit from a minority. Evertonians are moving on, not thanks to the conciliatory noises from their former idol and Moyes towards each other or the passage of time, but because they have reason to look forward. This summer can be a watershed for Everton if they keep their squad intact and add a top-draw forward to share the load with Louis Saha. But this confirmed they are equipped to prey on the champions’ vulnerabilities now. Moyes dressed up his game plan as tactfully as a respectful admirer of Sir Alex Ferguson would, although the team talk he delivered on Friday evening said every­thing about the defensive weaknesses that cost United badly in the title race.

“We had a meeting with the players at the hotel and told them that we were going after Man United and we were going to try and win the game,” said Moyes. “We always go into games with that approach but there was an added emphasis this time. It’s because of where we are rather than anything about United. I think mentally we are in that position. This was the right time for us.”

Just how ordinary United can be when their one world-class forward is subdued, and how weak their central defence is without Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, was apparent at Goodison.

“Well beaten,” was Ferguson’s forthright assessment of United’s first league defeat since December. Patrice Evra, one of the few visiting players to produce, concurred. “Everyone was talking about how tired they were [after the ­Champions League win in Milan] but I don’t want to use that as an excuse. I don’t think we believed enough. The feeling was if we could win here, we could win the title. We didn’t do it, so it is more difficult than we think to win the league.”

Once Moyes had reacted to nullify the threat of Antonio Valencia, the source of Dimitar Berbatov’s opening goal from close range in the 16th minute, Everton’s authority grew around the inspired Leon Osman. Diniyar Bilyaletdinov’s exquisite curler from 25 yards vindicated his manager’s decision to play the left-footed Russian on the right and the pacy Landon Donovan against the creaking Gary Neville on the opposite flank.

The mood at Goodison and the flow of the contest changed irrevocably. With the exception of a late Rooney free-kick that was bound for the top corner until Sylvain Distin intervened, Everton were rarely endangered and it was left to the young substitutes Dan Gosling and Jack Rodwell to provide the polish.

After Donovan and Steven Pienaar had again prised open United’s right flank, leaving Gary Neville to berate Antonio Valencia for ­failing to track the South African’s run, Gosling’s fine knack of being in the right place in the penalty area put Everton ahead. And this time a Tic-Tac advertisement did not spoil his moment.

Rodwell, a potential United transfer target this summer, then sauntered through an empty midfield in injury time, twisted Jonny Evans inside and out, and stroked a superb finish into the far corner. Inside 10 days Everton have beaten United and Chelsea, coming from behind on both occasions to do so. It is hypothetical to ask where Moyes’s team would be but for the injuries that derailed the first half of this season, but on this form they have nobody above them to fear.

Moyes added: “The club is certainly getting closer to the great days they had here in the 80s, but we know that it’s not just about having a good team and good players, you probably need something else now.

“Unfortunately that’s called cash. But we’re going to do it and a lot of people would like to be in Everton’s position right now and they’d also like to have a chairman like Everton have got because look at some other clubs who thought that foreign was all the rage. Now it’s back to booking your holidays at home.”

• Frenchman has regained his form and fitness at Goodison
• ‘He was always injured for us,’ reflects United manager

Sir Alex Ferguson never doubted the ability that cost Manchester United £12.8m plus a fortune in medical bills but must have suspected a Premier League talent had gone for good when cutting his losses with Louis Saha. It illustrates the Frenchman’s rehabilitation that, 15 months on, he is giving Everton more concern over a new contract than his willingness to commit a fragile frame to the cause. Maybe, just maybe, he still has it in him to unearth in Ferguson a rare ounce of regret.

Saha has faced United twice since agreeing a pay-as-you-play deal with David Moyes in August 2008 but tonight marks his first appearance at Old Trafford since Ferguson accepted enough was enough. He will return as the joint-fourth highest goalscorer in the division, only Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba and Darren Bent have scored more, and savouring his most prolific start to a Premier League campaign. The fitness problems that plagued his four-and-a-half years at United have not gone away; he is carrying a calf injury and spent five days during the international break at a private clinic in France for further treatment. But he is willing, able and in demand to play. That is a transformation in itself.

“We took a gamble on Louis, undoubtedly,” admitted the Everton manager. “He had been injury-prone but we had a situation where we had to take a gamble because we didn’t have any money to buy a centre-forward. Louis at that time was available and it was a risk, not because of his ability but because of his injuries. We had to decide whether it was an on-going problem at this stage of his career and Louis convinced me that it wasn’t and he’s gone on to prove that. He’s a highly-strung athlete who wants to be at his best, wants to feel his best and because of that sometimes he doesn’t quite make it for games but he’s been very good for us.”

Saha has been among the most consistent performers in an Everton team that, once again, began the season with the strength and balance of a new-born foal. The 31-year-old has nine goals from 14 games in all competitions and has enjoyed a clean bill of health in comparison to many in Moyes’ squad. That productive combination has attracted interest from outside, with Besiktas linked, and Everton intend to open discussions on an extension – Saha signed a two-year contract with the option of a third – in the new year. “I don’t think we are ready to discuss that at the moment” is Moyes’ take on the contract situation.

The Everton manager was less circumspect on the talent at his disposal, however. “I don’t think he’s got anything to prove to United. I think everybody at Manchester United would probably admit that Louis Saha was a match for any player there with the talent and ability he’s got. I’m still relatively young but he’s certainly in the top two maybe three players I’ve worked with. He’s got some unbelievable ability as a football player, incredible.”

Moyes dismissed out of hand the suggestion that United allowed Saha to leave too quickly and the Old Trafford fanzine writers who christened the striker Balsa Man can vouch for Ferguson’s patience. Saha started only 52 league games for United and, had he stayed fit, he would still be at a club that is trying to replace the goals lost when Cristiano Ronaldo left for Real Madrid.

Ferguson admitted yesterday: “He is more consistently free of injury than he had been at Manchester United. We would not have sold him had he been a regular performer for us. Unfortunately, for Louis and for us, he was always injured. It happens that way sometimes. I remember we took Viv Anderson from Arsenal. I looked at his playing record and he hadn’t missed a game in four years, other than through suspension, but he was never fit at United. Then he left to go to Sheffield Wednesday at the tail-end of his career and he played for two-and-a-half years without injury. Sod’s law.”

Moyes is yet to win at Old Trafford as Everton manager and tonight’s encounter, while an opportunity for Saha to remind his former employers of his prowess, allows Ferguson a first-hand sight of Jack Rodwell, the 18-year-old midfielder he has admired since before he broke into the first team at Goodison Park. It is an added headache for the Everton manager, although he is livid at reports the club have received a bid for the England hopeful from Chelsea.

“We have had nothing, no calls, no inquiries, and there is certainly not a bid on the table. You can check my phones, you can come and sit at my desk and have a look, and there has been nothing,” Moyes said. “He has a five-year contract and he’s very level-headed. There’s no point in me turning round and saying he’s not for sale, because we said that with [Joleon] Lescott and had to sell in the end. But what I can tell you is – 100% – we have had nothing. I don’t doubt he is on other teams’ radars but he’s on ours and we have had nothing and that’s the end of the matter.”

• Ferguson says referee was influenced by Liverpool fans
• Liverpool’s gamble on Fernando Torres pays off

Rafael Benítez savoured “the perfect response” to the worst spell of his Liverpool reign today as victory over Manchester United rescued the Anfield club’s season and prompted another attack on a match official from Sir Alex Ferguson.

The United manager, charged by the Football Association for criticising Alan Wiley’s fitness against Sunderland, claimed home fans had influenced referee Andre Marriner at key moments of Liverpool’s 2-0 triumph. But not even Ferguson could deny that Liverpool merited a result that ended a damaging sequence of four successive defeats and lifted the pressure that had mounted on Benítez.

Defeat left United two points behind Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table and Ferguson bemoaning two incidents involving Jamie Carragher, the first when he challenged Michael Carrick inside the Liverpool area and then when he hauled former Anfield striker Michael Owen to the floor but was only booked.

• Kevin McCarra’s report: Liverpool 2-0 Man United
• Paul Hayward: Fernando Torres lifts Anfield gloom
• Read Barry Glendenning’s minute-by-minute report
• Andy Hunter’s player ratings

“It was a disappointing afternoon. It was a disappointing performance,” the United manager said. “Liverpool were the better team, they deserved to win the game, but there were so many controversial things that happened we have to feel aggrieved at some of them. Michael Carrick gets a clear penalty kick as far as I was concerned. Jamie Carragher has gone right over the top of the ball. If it is outside of the box it is a free-kick and maybe a yellow card. But it was inside the box and the referee was only six yards from it. It was a bad decision, I think.

“It is very difficult atmosphere here. There was a wounded animal aspect to the game and it was something we didn’t overcome. I think it affected our players and it affected the referee. Whether he had enough experience or not, I don’t know.

“The most controversial decision was Carragher bringing down Michael Owen. He was clear through. The laws of the game were altered to prevent professional fouls of that nature and if Jamie Carragher goes off, he is their best player and their captain. It would have been a different game. They would have been under pressure.”

Fernando Torres turned the game in the 65th minute with an outstanding finish that will raise fresh questions over Rio Ferdinand, after both Nemanja Vidic and Javier Mascherano had been dismissed, the Serbian for the third successive time in this fixture, before his replacement David Ngog sealed a precious triumph.

Benítez only decided to deploy Torres on the coach journey to the stadium, with the Spaniard still recovering from an adductor strain that kept him out of defeats to Sunderland and Lyon, and was rewarded with the latest rescue act of his tenure.

“We knew that we needed to change, we knew that we needed a little bit of luck and we needed to win,” said the Liverpool manager. “It is a fantastic result, and maybe it was the perfect game because we knew that we had to perform against a good team in front of our own fans. All the players wanted to win. They all showed character and today was the perfect response from them.”

On Torres, who tormented Vidic and Ferdinand once again to score his ninth league goal of the season, Benítez added: “There wasn’t a big difference between the two teams but Torres made the difference with his goal. It was a difficult decision [to start him] because Fernando had not been training like [Steven] Gerrard. I talked with Fernando on the coach on the way here and after this I spoke with my staff and we decided to play him from the beginning. You could see that he was not 100% and you could see that he was not fresh but still sometimes 80% of Fernando can make a difference.”

Liverpool’s victory came after another protest march by thousands of supporters against Tom Hicks and George Gillett, the club co-owners who were present at Anfield, and a renewed vote of confidence in Benítez, this time from the managing director Christian Purslow. “Liverpool Football Club is on a long-term journey and that journey is to be the most successful club, firstly in our country and secondly in the world, and you don’t do that by worrying about short-term results,” said Purslow. “You do that by having long-term plans centring on the people and the strategy. Rafa Benítez is absolutely central to that plan.”

After the game Gary Neville and Jonny Evans were involved in an altercation with Liverpool stewards who prevented them from warming down in front of the United fans. The pair eventually trained at the other end of the pitch.

LIVERPOOL

JOSE REINA

Given more trouble by the “Yanks Out” beach balls that rained down from the Kop before kick-off than United, although had to remain alert as a sweeper. 6

GLEN JOHNSON

Clearly under orders to limit his forward forays with United fielding a two-man attack and defence more solid as a result. 7

JAMIE CARRAGHER

Lucky to escape a red card for hauling down his old mate Michael Owen but otherwise a display to silence the critics, dominant in the air and thunderous in the tackle. Man of the match. 8

DANIEL AGGER

Brought more composure and intelligence to the back-line than Skrtel has of late, the Dane’s awareness was the source of Berbatov’s frustration. 7

EMILIANO INSUA

Two early mistakes affected the young Argentinian’s confidence. Improved against Valencia as the game wore on but his distribution was often found wanting. 5

YOSSI BENAYOUN

Space was at a premium for the flair players in this game, but the Israeli left an indelible mark with the pass for Torres’s opener. Too elaborate at times, though. 7

JAVIER MASCHERANO

Beginning to recapture form after a poor start, and protected his defence diligently compared to the United midfield until his dismissal in stoppage time. 7

LUCAS LEIVA

Made his mark swiftly on the midfield scrap. Worked tirelessly in support of his defence and creatively, as illustrated by his part in Ngog’s winner. 8

FABIO AURELIO

His inclusion showed Benítez’s first task was to consolidate and stop the rot. Covered well for Insúa and his accurate deliveries unnerved United. 7

DIRK KUYT

Fully committed but lacked finesse in front of goal. Wasted two great chances to give Liverpool a first-half lead but his work-rate fuelled United’s defensive unease. 6

FERNANDO TORRES

Distracted at times, theatrical in part and not fully fit, yet still provided the game’s decisive moment with an outstanding finish. You get what you pay for. 8

LIVERPOOL SUBS: Ngog for Torres, 81; Skrtel for Benayoun, 90

MANCHESTER UNITED

EDWIN VAN DER SAR

A superb double-save from Aurélio and Kuyt showed why he is the only United keeper Ferguson can trust. Only beaten by a wonderful finish and a breakaway goal. 7

JOHN O’SHEA

Verbally and with the ball, the Irishman had no rapport with Valencia on the United right and an opportunity against Insúa was lost. 5

RIO FERDINAND

Not quick or strong enough to prevent Torres from scoring, but his biggest crime was taking no responsibility and leaving it all to Vidic throughout. 5

NEMANJA VIDIC

Another tortuous afternoon for the Serb against Liverpool. His third successive red card in this fixture followed a dominant aerial display, but several narrow escapes on the floor. 6

PATRICE EVRA

Compromised as a result of the game’s first yellow card, the French full-back was rarely seen in the final third but snuffed out several dangerous Liverpool counters. 6

ANTONIO VALENCIA

Suggested he would be United’s key threat with a strong, direct opening but, with Insúa under severe pressure, he disappeared from view. Lacked belief. 6

PAUL SCHOLES

His refusal to yield to Lucas and Mascherano made for a compelling midfield contest. Intelligent and clean in the tackle, honestly, before tiring. 7

MICHAEL CARRICK

The least effective of the four central midfielders on display. Never had the time he needs to dictate the flow of the game. 6

RYAN GIGGS

“Giggs 10, Gerrard 0″ read one banner in the United end in reference to league titles won, but the Welshman was isolated on the margins until moving into the middle late on. 6

DIMITAR BERBATOV

Days like this make you wonder what on earth compelled Ferguson to spend £32m on the Bulgarian. Completely ineffective, poor first touch and inevitably withdrawn. 4

WAYNE ROONEY

So starved of possession at times it seemed like last season’s Champions League final revisited. Worked hard but no joy against Carragher. 6

MANCHESTER UNITED SUBS: Owen for Berbatov, 74; Nani for Scholes, 74

• Manchester United fans plan to wear Eric Cantona masks
• Owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett will attend Anfield match

Manchester United supporters have a trick up their sleeves for tomorrow’s visit to Liverpool that does not involve hidden beach balls. Twelve years after the Kop proclaimed “Au revoir Cantona, come back when you’ve won 18″, their hated rivals and now equals as English champions intend to accept that invitation by donning Eric Cantona masks at Anfield. Should Liverpool fall to a fifth consecutive defeat for the first time since September 1953, Rafael Benítez may need one of his own.

A defining moment is upon Liverpool and their manager, and how Sir Alex Ferguson would love to be the man to send both into freefall. While United followers are torn between trying to smuggle beach balls or face masks past Liverpool stewards under instruction to confiscate inflatables, the dilemma facing the home support is of far greater significance.

Thousands of Liverpool fans are expected to demand regime change before kick-off in the latest protest march against the divided ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett. For the first time since he replaced Gérard Houllier as Liverpool manager in 2004, and certainly since it emerged the Americans had saddled the club with serious debts while offering the Spaniard’s job to Jürgen Klinsmann, Benítez is no longer immune to criticism from within.

This week, comprising a defeat at Sunderland wrought by an official Liverpool beach ball and a stoppage-time defeat to Lyon in the Champions League, has been “different”, according to Benítez. He is not yet fighting for survival at a club that could not afford a pay-off in excess of £20m, nor has the Madrileño lost the majority of the Anfield support or dressing room. But Benítez is battling to preserve a reputation that was always liable to be the first victim of the dysfunctional regime he works under, and he will not alter his view that his way is the only way forward.

“People have asked about the bigger picture and I have the big picture,” said the Liverpool manager, who spent Thursday relaxing with his young family before settling down to watch United games on DVD. “I think it will be better in the future. How can we do this? First we need to win some games to change the mood on the pitch. After we have to keep doing things in the right way. I have some ideas and I think it can be better.”

Hicks and Gillett will be in attendance tomorrow and asked whether it was fair that the manager should be the subject of such scrutiny, Benítez replied: “The only way to change things at this club is to concentrate on what I can control. What can I control now? I can work with the players, analyse what has gone wrong and try to do the right things on the pitch. I cannot talk about other things because they have no influence on the game. I have to concentrate on what I can do with the players. I will not use the [stalled plans to build a new] stadium now as an excuse. We know there is a massive difference in the money [generated at Anfield and Old Trafford] but we have better fans. So I am pleased.”

Tomorrow marks Benítez’s 200th league game as Liverpool manager and at any other time, against any other opponent and arguably at any other club it would be a moment for a proud declaration, not fear that the bicentennial could mark the unravelling of a regime.

Only Kenny Dalglish can boast a better win percentage after 200 league games than the Spaniard, who is level with Bob Paisley on 113 victories and will move ahead of the three-times European Cup- winning legend should Liverpool pull off another of their dramatic recoveries against the champions. For added perspective, Arsène Wenger won 110 of his first 200 at Arsenal while a pre-knighted Alex Ferguson is way back on 87. “The numbers are not bad,” reflected Benítez. “Maybe some people don’t see the big picture but we have to prepare for the game. We cannot change the vision of some people.”

What undermines Benítez in comparison with his illustrious Anfield forebears is league championships won in that period. Dalglish had collected three inside those 200 matches and Paisley two.

But they both inherited teams whose last league championship was 12 months previously, not 14 years, as Benítez did, although he still somehow made European champions of Djimi Traoré, Harry Kewell, Milan Baros, Josemi, Antonio Núñez and Igor Biscan by the end of his first season.

The protection afforded by that remarkable Champions League victory of 2005 has been threatened by a start to a season that brought exalted expectations, but has so far witnessed mediocrity in Europe and the Premier League. Defeat to United would leave Liverpool 10 points behind their Old Trafford rivals and sick at the thought it may be Ferguson, not Benítez, who gets to 19 titles first.

“It’s an important game because it’s United but also because of our position,” admitted the Liverpool manager, who will give fitness tests to Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and Glen Johnson today but is expected to be without his captain tomorrow. “We know we have to win and then we will be four points behind. We have to think about the positives. If we beat United, after everyone talking about Liverpool for the last two weeks, we will be just four points behind.

“We need to do the right things at the right moment, it doesn’t matter whether that’s on or off the pitch. At this moment the right thing is to prepare for this game because, 11 against 11, we can beat anyone.”

Benítez has sought advice from his coaches, Sammy Lee and Mauricio Pellegrino, as he attempts to resurrect Liverpool’s season, as well as “friends who played football with you in the past”. Wisely, he has paid less attention to the airwaves or the column inches that have called for his head. “The supporters are important but you have too many,” insisted Benítez. “There are 60 million managers in England so you cannot listen to everyone. It is important to know which people can give you advice but I can guarantee you that in the last two days the fans have been very supportive and positive. I was in a big store the other day and four or five came up and no one asked me about substitutions against Lyon. They just told me to beat United.”

Gillett shrewdly kept the wolves from the door after the Lyon defeat by assuring Benítez that his job was safe. Arguably the words that mattered most to the Spaniard, however, came yesterday from Dalglish, brought back to the club in the summer in a dual role as ambassador and youth academy adviser and the last Liverpool manager to preside over a run of four successive defeats.

“Everyone within the upper echelons of this club has no doubt whatsoever about Rafa – I know that for a fact,” insisted the Liverpool legend. “Everybody at Liverpool Football Club knows Rafa is the right man to get the club through this. No one is pumped up and panicking in any way, shape or form. Everyone is being as helpful and supportive as they possibly can be to the manager.

“Everybody is hurting – everybody wants the same thing – to get a victory on the board. The best way to do that is to stick together and have nobody pointing fingers or going round corners and having sneaky conversations. Yes there’s criticism, but there’s no way Liverpool Football Club and the majority of people would want Rafa to go anywhere.”

• Co-owner says Benítez is ‘as good as there is in the business’
• Paying up manager’s contract would cost over £20m

George Gillett last night responded to growing pressure on Rafael Benítez by assuring the Liverpool manager that he retains the unequivocal support of the club’s American owners.

Benítez is experiencing the most fraught on-field period of his six seasons in charge of Liverpool after a run of four successive defeats, the club’s first since 1987, left them seven points behind Manchester United in the Premier League and under serious threat of elimination from the Champions League group stage.

Gillett was at Anfield on Tuesday as Lyon inflicted a stoppage-time defeat on Liverpool and faced angry remonstrations from several fans after César Delgado’s winner. His co-owner, Tom Hicks, is expected to run a similar gauntlet on Sunday when Sir Alex Ferguson’s champions arrive at Anfield. Despite the despondency around Liverpool and the first serious stirrings of discontent towards Benítez among the club’s support, Gillett, who once sought to replace the Spaniard with Jürgen Klinsmann, insists there is no question of the manager’s position being under threat.

• Andy Hunter on 10 mistakes that have cost Liverpool
• Big debate: Should Benítez stay or go?
• David Conn on the cost of failure for Liverpool

Asked if his support for Benítez remained intact, Gillett said: “Absolutely. We have just entered into a long-term agreement with Rafa. Our family is extraordinarily pleased with him, we think he is absolutely as good as there is in the business and I am sure the Hicks [family] feel the same way. We just extended his contract.”

Benítez signed an improved contract in March that committed him to Liverpool until 2014 and, though Gillett insists his backing is based purely on coaching ability, it would cost the club over £20m to pay up the remaining four and a half years of the manager’s deal. Hicks and Gillett are also unlikely to risk fresh instability at Anfield at a time when they are independently seeking to attract new investors.

“I think the run of results disappoints everybody,” Gillett added. “Certainly, it disappoints the fans and it disappoints Rafa. I know he is disappointed. We are all disappointed but we are in this together. I think we all saw the same thing [that Benítez looked downbeat following the Lyon defeat] but that’s not something I am going to comment on publicly.”

Gillett claimed he and Hicks are allowing for improvement through “being supportive. Which I am and which Tom is.” He refused, though, to indicate whether new investment is on its way to assist Benítez in the January transfer window. “I don’t think that is something I am prepared to comment on at the moment,” the Liverpool co-owner said.

Benítez’s preparations for the United game have also been undermined by a succession of injuries to key players, with Fernando Torres, Glen Johnson and Albert Riera all missing the Lyon game through groin and hamstring problems and Steven Gerrard limping out after 25 minutes having aggravated an adductor strain. All four will continue to receive intensive treatment ahead of Sunday with Gerrard and Riera the main doubts.

“I think I will be all right for Sunday,” said Johnson. “We haven’t tested it today, just soft tissue work and massage, but it seems a lot freer than it did.” The England defender added: “I think Nando [Torres] might be all right for Sunday but I am not too sure about Stevie.”

There was one important injury breakthrough for Benítez last night, however, when Alberto Aquilani made his first appearance in a Liverpool shirt since his £20m summer move from Roma. The Italian midfielder, signed to compensate for the loss of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid, has not made a senior start as a result of ankle surgery in May. He last made a competitive appearance for Roma in March.

Aquilani came off the bench for Liverpool’s reserves in the 75th minute of their 2–0 win against Sunderland reserves at Prenton Park, but is unlikely to feature on Sunday. The midfielder’s rehabilitation may continue with a first senior appearance next week when Liverpool face Arsenal in the Carling Cup fourth round.

• Manager’s explanation of remarks due to FA by Friday
• Referee’s union calls for Uefa-style match-day ban

Sir Alex Ferguson is to offer a second apology over his controversial comments about Alan Wiley’s fitness, this time to the Football Association, in an attempt to avoid a misconduct charge.

Manchester United’s manager has until Friday to explain to the FA the personal attack on Wiley that followed his team’s draw with Sunderland on 3 October, when he publicly questioned the official’s fitness for Premier League games.

Ferguson sought to defuse the subsequent furore at the weekend when he issued an apology on the club’s website for “any personal embarrassment” his remarks may have caused Wiley and he is expected to offer a similar but more detailed apology – again stopping short of an unreserved one – in his submission to the FA. A letter is understood to have been drafted by United for his approval on return from a holiday in New York.

The FA will not be swayed by Ferguson’s initial apology and will only decide whether to charge him once it has received his written explanation for the outburst. It is expected that the United manager will be charged, particularly as the governing body wrote to every Premier League manager at the start of the season to instruct them not to comment about match officials.

The initial apology was dismissed as “half-hearted” by the professionals’ union, Prospect, today. The union has called for Ferguson to be severely sanctioned for his comments with a charge of defamation also under consideration. The FA has declined to comment on the demands or the Scot’s apology, and insists its response will come only after its Disciplinary and Governance Unit has considered Ferguson’s explanation.

“I think it’s a half-hearted apology at best really, and it probably exacerbates the position, rather than resolving it,” Alan Leighton, the national secretary of Prospect, said. “He clearly hasn’t retracted the statement about Alan being unfit so it’s not an apology for the main offence caused, and then he widens it to question the fitness of other referees, so he seems to be opening another can of worms which I don’t think is very helpful at all.

“Referees are very fit. They have sports scientists who test them regularly throughout the season. They don’t just pass a fitness test at the start of the season. Their body fats and BMI are regularly monitored, there are get-togethers every two or three weeks where they are put through extensive training and testing.”

Ferguson is facing a possible fine or touchline ban for comments that reportedly led Wiley to consider his future in the game. Prospect, however, believes the United manager should be banned from having any contact with his players on match-days.

Leighton added: “I think the punishment should be a Uefa-type coaching ban, which is rather more than a touchline ban. Referees always accept decisions are going to be pored over. They have no problem with legitimate criticism. What’s problematic is when the integrity and key components of refereeing are being questioned in a totally unwarranted and unfounded way, and we will defend our members when they are.”

Ferguson is said to be furious at what he sees as both a media witch-hunt against him and a campaign by the refereeing fraternity to strike at him. Official ProZone statics showed that Wiley ran further than all but four United players in the match against Sunderland.

Wiley is set to take charge of Wigan’s high-profile game at home to Manchester City on Sunday, in a sign of backing from the referees’ manager, Keith Hackett.

• Craig Bellamy, Gary Neville escape FA censure
• ‘Players must use their emotion’ says Eastlands manager

Mark Hughes has insisted he has no intention of demanding restraint from Manchester City’s volatile players after Craig Bellamy, along with Gary Neville and Manchester United, escaped with a warning from the Football Association for his contribution to Sunday’s explosive derby at Old Trafford.

Bellamy had been under threat of a three-match ban for striking a pitch invader towards the end of United’s controversial 4-3 victory, and Neville also risked an improper conduct charge for goading City supporters following Michael Owen’s 96th-minute winner. Both, however, received warnings as to their future conduct instead.

“In relation to Craig Bellamy the match referee has confirmed that he would not have sent the player off had he seen the incident with the fan at the time,” confirmed the FA. “Craig Bellamy will be contacted by the FA and warned as to his future conduct. Gary Neville has been reminded of his responsibilities following his actions after Manchester United’s final goal deep into injury time.”

Poll: Should the FA have elected to give Bellamy a ban?
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Sheikh Mansour buys total control of Manchester City
The Knowledge: Football players who have attacked supporters

Neville’s slap on the wrist comes despite the United club captain receiving a £5,000 fine and an identical warning for taunting Liverpool fans in 2006. United also escaped a charge of failing to control their supporters after the City substitute Javier Garrido was struck on the head by a coin as he headed down the tunnel at half-time. The FA statement added: “The FA fully expects the club to use all available means to identify and deal with the culprit appropriately and, along with the fan who entered the field of play, look to issue bans on attending future matches.”

The FA’s decision on Bellamy represents a major relief to Hughes, who last week lost Emmanuel Adebayor to a three-match ban for violent conduct against a former Arsenal colleague, Robin van Persie. Despite the successive incidents, however, the City manager sees no reason to order his players to improve their behaviour.

“You can’t take emotion out of football or any sport for that matter because that is fundamental to what you are trying to create,” insisted Hughes. “That passion from the players’ point of view is fundamental to how they develop as a top player. Every player who plays for Manchester City has passion but there will be varying degrees of it, because all players and personalities are different. You have to have it.”

Hughes also issued a staunch defence of Bellamy’s actions in the Manchester derby and believes the FA had to take the pitch invasion into account. “The guy should not have been on the pitch,” he added. “Craig went over to tell him to get off the pitch as quickly as he could, the guy made an aggressive move towards him and Craig has instinctively put his hand up in a defensive manner and pushed the lad away. That is the top and bottom of it and I think people will see that for what it is.”

The City manager would not elaborate on Neville’s provocative celebrations in front of the City supporters, despite accusing his former team-mate of behaving “like a lunatic” immediately after the derby. He will, however, demand a similar punishment for Adebayor after the Togo international was charged with improper conduct for running at Arsenal supporters following his goal at Eastlands on 12 September. “There is a lot of hysteria surrounding everything we do at the moment,” Hughes said. “All we ask is that if we have to answer to the FA [regarding Adebayor’s celebrations] then we will be looking for that balance.”

Hughes was content with Sir Alex Ferguson’s post-match description of City as a “noisy neighbour” or, to be more precise, the idea that the United manager is more venomous in his criticism of his local rivals now that he perceives them as a genuine threat.

“In terms of the amount of noise our fans made on Sunday you could possibly say we are a noisy neighbour, although I don’t think we made as much noise as is being made out,” added the City manager. “If that is people’s perception [of Ferguson’s agenda] then yes, we are quite comfortable with that. After our performance against Arsenal and the character we showed at Old Trafford, they know we are not going to go away. We are going to have an influence on who wins the Premier League in the seasons to come.”

• ‘Van der Sar is the right guy for the team at the moment’
• Sir Alex Ferguson criticises Ben Foster’s effort against Arsenal

Peter Schmeichel has claimed Ben Foster’s attempt to oust Edwin van der Sar at Old Trafford will be on hold as soon as the Dutch veteran regains fitness, with the England hopeful’s form under scrutiny even before his high-profile mistakes in Sunday’s Manchester derby.

The Manchester United goalkeeper was punished twice in the 4-3 victory, first when caught in possession by Carlos Tevez for Gareth Barry’s equaliser and then when Craig Bellamy evaded his suspect positioning to score City’s 90th-minute leveller.

Schmeichel, United’s former goalkeeping great, has been equivocal in his support for Foster and insists the player Sir Alex Ferguson championed as England’s No1 at the next World Cup will be dropped once Van der Sar recovers from a broken finger. “He’s getting a good run of games now but I’m sure Edwin will be back in when he’s fit because the manager knows he’s the right guy for the team at the moment,” said the Dane. “Ben will have to make the most of his chances but what he has done so far has been promising.”

Foster’s performance in United’s previous home game, the 2-1 defeat of Arsenal, came in for some rare public criticism by Ferguson, when the United manager queried the merits of Andrey Arshavin’s long-range opener. “I thought Ben Foster could have done better,” wrote Ferguson in his programme notes on Sunday. “With the way a ball swerves these days it was difficult, but saving it was not beyond Ben’s capabilities.”

The 38-year-old Van der Sar has been on the sidelines since breaking a finger and a bone in his left hand while saving a penalty against Bayern Munich in a pre-season tournament. He is expected to be available for the home game against Bolton Wanderers on 17 October. Tomasz Kuszczak, meanwhile, is expected to receive a run-out against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Carling Cup tomorrow night.

Owen Hargreaves is due back in training tomorrow having undergone surgery in the US on tendinitis in both knees. Ferguson has stated he expects the England midfielder to be available for United’s final three group games in the Champions League, meaning he will return against CSKA Moscow on 3 November if that estimate proves correct, although Hargreaves will not be rushed given he last appeared for United at Chelsea on 21 September last year.

• Defender targets United return against Spurs next month
• Ferguson tells Anderson to up his game or leave

Rio Ferdinand has said his recovery from a thigh injury is ahead of schedule with the Manchester United and England defender hoping to return to action inside three weeks.

While Ferdinand will miss England’s World Cup qualifier against Croatia on 9 September, he is targeting United’s match three days later at Premier League leaders Tottenham for a comeback.

The 30-year-old Ferdinand sustained a slight thigh muscle tear during training ahead of the Premier League opener against Birmingham City.

“It’s improving, I’m a bit ahead of schedule,” Ferdinand said. “I’ve been training really hard the last few days. I’m not where I want to be obviously on the pitch, but in a couple of weeks I’ll be back on the pitch playing again. Hopefully the match after the internationals I will be fit so that’s what I’ll be aiming for.”

His manager Sir Alex Ferguson hopes that another England defender Wes Brown may return for Saturday’s meeting with Arsenal at Old Trafford.

Ferguson, meanwhile, has told his midfielder Anderson that he must raise his game or risk being off-loaded as a £19m failure. The Brazilian midfielder has made just one league appearance for the champions this season, in the defeat at Burnley last week, and was reportedly involved in an argument with the United manager after being left out of the squad that faced Chelsea in the Community Shield. Both Anderson and Nani, who joined United from Porto and Sporting Lisbon respectively in 2007, were told this summer that more was expected of them following Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure to Real Madrid, and only Nani has responded positively so far.

Anderson’s performance in last season’s Champions League final defeat to Barcelona is believed to have increased Ferguson’s concerns over his credentials as an eventual successor to Paul Scholes in the heart of the United midfield. Despite suggestions the Brazilian could be sold before next week’s transfer deadline Ferguson is understood to want to give Anderson this season to prove his worth at Old Trafford.

• Foster is ‘one of the best’ keepers in England, says Ferguson
• Manchester United close to signing Bordeaux’s Gabriel Obertan

Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed the injury-prone Ben Foster will succeed Edwin van der Sar as first-choice goalkeeper at Manchester United and is close to making the Bordeaux winger Gabriel Obertan his third summer signing in a £3m deal.

Foster has made only 10 senior appearances for United since arriving from Stoke City in July 2005, having spent two seasons on loan at Watford and also enduring several fitness problems, but today signed a new four-year contract that will keep him at Old Trafford until 2013.

The deal represents relief for a keeper who is 26 and missed last season’s Champions League final with a ruptured ligament in his right thumb, and it gives him a chance to press his credentials at United ahead of next summer’s World Cup.

The twice-capped England international also missed last month’s World Cup qualifiers due to surgery on his thumb and he remains keen to secure a place in Fabio Capello’s squad for South Africa.

Van der Sar is contracted for one more season at Old Trafford, and the United manager claimed there is no pressure to find a proven replacement for the veteran Dutchman next year. “We are delighted Ben has signed a four-year deal,” said Ferguson. “Ben is seen as one of the best young keepers in England and we genuinely see him as a successor to Edwin.”

Ferguson, meanwhile, has agreed a deal with Bordeaux for the 20-year-old Obertan. The France Under-21 international has also been coveted by Chelsea, Arsenal, Milan and Internazionale.

Obertan, who can operate in midfield or across the forward line, underwent a medical today and will become United’s third arrival this summer following the £16m capture of Antonio Valencia from Wigan Athletic and the shock free transfer of the former Liverpool forward Michael Owen. He has agreed a four year-contract.

Ferguson’s friendship with the Bordeaux coach and former United defender Laurent Blanc may have influenced United as the preferred destination for Obertan, who, despite being named most valuable player at the Toulon International youth tournament last month, remains unproven in France. He spent the second half of last season on loan at Lorient, where he scored once in 15 appearances.

Blanc said he was “surprised” by United’s move for Obertan. “It is an unexpected chance for him to play with one of the best clubs in the world. Manchester United have been tracking him for a long time. They certainly hope to advance him, something that Bordeaux and Lorient have failed to do. He has the potential. But he must overcome psychological and mental challenges so he can express his true value.”

• United embark on four-game Asian tour next week
• Bordeaux say United favourites to sign winger Obertan

Michael Owen officially started work as a Manchester United player today when the 29-year-old trained with the Premier League champions for the first time since his shock free transfer from Newcastle United.

The former Liverpool striker was introduced to his new team-mates at Carrington before taking part in the opening session of the club’s pre-season training programme, which involved gym work plus a 30-minute run. It will be later this week, however, before Owen is reunited with his former England strike partner Wayne Rooney who, along with several players involved in World Cup qualifiers at the end of last season, has been given an extended break by the manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. Luis Antonio Valencia, United’s recent £16m purchase from Wigan Athletic, is on holiday in his native Ecuador but is expected to be officially unveiled alongside Owen before United embark on a four-game tour of east Asia next week.

The Bordeaux president, Jean-Louis Triaud, has claimed United are favourites to sign his club’s highly rated winger, Gabriel Obertan. The 20-year-old is regarded as one of the finest young prospects in France and has been linked in recent seasons with a move to Chelsea, Internazionale, Milan and Arsenal, as well as United. Ferguson is known to be keen on the winger and Triaud admits the Premier League champions are close to completing a deal. “It’s actually a great possibility,” the Bordeaux president told L’Equipe. “United want him and we would be delighted to see Gabriel develop in such a club. We will make it official when the moment comes.”

Obertan spent the second half of last season on loan at Lorient and is a regular in the France Under-21 side, scoring against England Under-21s in March. He was awarded the Most Valuable Player award at last month’s Toulon international youth tournament.

• Argentine rejects Manchester United’s five-year offer
• Chelsea and Manchester City will battle for his signature

Roman Abramovich has sanctioned a lucrative offer for Carlos Tevez as Chelsea attempt to beat Manchester City to the signature of the Argentina international and flex their financial prowess for new manager Carlo Ancelotti. Tevez’s future became a straight fight between Eastlands and Stamford Bridge yesterday when it was confirmed he had rejected a £25.5m move to Manchester United and would be following Cristiano Ronaldo out of Old Trafford.

City remain favourites to sign Tevez on an estimated £150,000 a week but have yet to finalise an agreement with Kia Joorabchian, the head of the ­consortium who own the 25-year-old’s economic rights. City are also acutely aware of Chelsea’s determination to provide Ancelotti with marquee signings this summer.

Chelsea have missed out on several stellar names in the past year, including Kaka and Robinho, who joined City for a British record £32.5m transfer fee last summer having been close to ­moving to Stamford Bridge. Glen Johnson and Franck Ribery, two targets for this close season, are expected to join Liverpool and Real Madrid respectively. Tevez, therefore, has emerged as a test of ­Chelsea’s pulling power under Abramovich.

United yesterday announced that Tevez had rejected their offer of a permanent five-year contract following a further round of talks between Joorabchian and David Gill, the club’s chief executive, on Friday night.

The deal would have been worth £110,000 a week, placing the striker alongside Rio Ferdinand and Dimitar Berbatov as the club’s highest earners. United set a deadline of midnight on Friday, having finally agreed to pay the option price on 3 June, only for ­Joorabchian to announce last night: “I think it was a little bit too late and there wasn’t enough time for Carlos to think about it.”

Old Trafford officials, however, believe 16 days was sufficient time for Tevez to decide whether to remain with a club he has known for two years and claim Joorabchian told Gill the player would be leaving on Friday. “The Club agreed to pay the option price of £25.5m and offered Carlos a five-year contract,” announced United. “Disappointingly, however, his advisers informed the club that he does not wish to continue playing for Manchester United.”

Despite their initial reluctance to meet the option price agreed when Tevez joined the club on loan in 2007 the Argentinian’s exit represents a significant setback for Sir Alex Ferguson, who rang the forward frequently during his holiday in the south of France in an attempt to convince him to stay. With Ronaldo expected to complete his world record £80m transfer to Real Madrid next week, Tevez’s decision means United have lost the source of 40 of their 119 goals in all competitions last season. United will now intensify efforts to entice the Lyon forward Karim ­Benzema to Old Trafford.

Joorabchian blamed procrastination by United for the player’s departure. “I think Carlos is a little bit sad,” he said. “He’s enjoyed two great years at the club. They’ve won two Premier League titles, one Champions League title, one Carling Cup in his time but they didn’t really give him any offers. Over the duration of two years there was a lot of talk about signing him but we never actually got to the point of actually receiving any offers for him.

If it was, let’s say, Wayne Rooney’s contract finishing six months before, or Cristiano Ronaldo’s contract finishing six months before, would they have tried to secure their services a bit sooner? He has that little bit of a feeling that maybe he wasn’t the most wanted person at United. Rightly or wrongly, that’s how he feels.”

• City ready to move for Tevez if United fail to agree deal
• Eto’o to be sold unless he signs an extension with Barcelona

Mark Hughes has confirmed Manchester City are ready to move for Carlos Tevez should Manchester United fail to agree a permanent £25.5m deal for the Argentina striker, with the world’s wealthiest club also keen to exploit uncertainty surrounding Samuel Eto’o’s future at Barcelona.

Kia Joorabchian, the head of the consortium that owns Tevez’s economic rights, held a two-hour meeting yesterday with the United chief executive, David Gill, aware that City are waiting in the wings should he decide to invite rival offers for the 25-year-old. The talks were described as “cordial” and ended with Joorabchian returning to London to consider United’s long-awaited offer. The club had previously asked Joorabchian to reduce the £25.5m fee that was agreed when the Argentinian moved to Old ­Trafford on loan in 2007, a request that left the striker, according to a representative, feeling “humiliated”.

Joorabchian will now put United’s proposal to Tevez before informing Gill whether they have a deal, although a final decision is not expected until after Argentina’s forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Colombia on Saturday and Ecuador next Wednesday. The striker is currently in Argentina preparing for Saturday’s game in Buenos Aires and is known to want to remain in England, and preferably the north-west, if the United deal collapses.

City will lead a host of clubs keen to sign Tevez should the opportunity arise and Hughes, has revealed his club is ready to follow their surprise capture of Gareth Barry with the Old Trafford forward. “Carlos Tevez is a good player. If good players become available then obviously every manager is interested,” he said.

Hughes’ wealthy employers are also believed to be interested in luring the European champion Eto’o to Eastlands, with the Cameroon striker yesterday given an ultimatum by the Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola, to end his contractual stand-off with Barcelona. Eto’o enters the final 12 months of his current deal this summer and is likely to be sold if an extension cannot be agreed. The Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, said: “Samuel has a contract and we’re very happy with him. We want him to continue with us and for him to retire in the Barça shirt. But the market is very dynamic and there could be surprises. He’s a wanted man and we know he’ll receive offers.” Everton defender Joleon Lescott is another target for City, although Goodison Park officials will resist any bid for the England international.

City have shown they will not be held to ransom despite their resources by rejecting Daniel Sturridge’s demands for approximately £70,000 a week to sign a new contract at City. The 19-year-old forward is out of contract this summer and expected to join Chelsea for a compensation fee.

“We have offered Daniel a deal that we think is at the level he should be at,” said Hughes. “He is in a strong position because he is in the last year of his contract. He is keeping his options open, which he has done for quite some time, we just have to wait and see. Obviously I have made my intentions very clear to him I would like him to stay but it may be out of our hands.”

Barry’s arrival in a £12m, £100,000-a-week deal from Aston Villa is expected to hasten Elano’s exit from City, with the Brazilian midfielder currently talking up a move to join Jose Mourinho at Internazionale. The 27-year-old’s popularity with supporters at Eastlands is in contrast to his standing under Hughes, who views Elano as a disruptive influence in the City dressing room and used him mainly as a substitute until the latter stages of last season. “There are ongoing negotiations and I hope the Inter directors will go right to the end,” Elano told Gazzetta dello Sport. “I want to wear the Inter shirt.” City are looking to recoup the £8m fee paid to Shakhtar Donetsk for Elano in 2007.

Hughes, meanwhile, is deliberating whether to allow goalkeeper Joe Hart to leave City for a season-long loan next season. Hart was first choice at City until Shay Given arrived from Newcastle United in February and, with aspirations of playing in next summer’s World Cup, the England Under-21 international is anxious to remain in Fabio Capello’s thinking for South Africa. Newly-promoted Birmingham City are among those believed to be interested in taking Hart on loan.

“Joe is frustrated and obviously wants to play,” confirmed the City manager. “We will look at his situation in the coming weeks and it might be to both Joe’s and the club’s benefit if he did go out on loan. He’d be playing on a regular basis and, given his ability, he would no doubt improve his standing in the game and help his development.”

Meanwhile Manchester United confirmed that they have secured the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in football, believed to be a £20m-a-season, four-year partnership with the American financial giant, Aon Corp.United have been scouring the globe for a new sponsorship deal since their current sponsor, AIG, the American insurance company, announced it would not be renewing its £14m-a-year deal when it expires at the end of the 2009-10 season.

AIG’s decision followed massive losses suffered during the current economic crisis but, despite the downturn, United are understood to have eclipsed that deal – and the lucrative sponsorships of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Chelsea – with an £80m agreement with Chicago-based Aon.

Old Trafford officials have held negotiations with several global companies about replacing AIG in recent months, including Sahara, the Indian financial services corporation, and Saudi Telecom. However, Aon, despite its profits plummeting during the recession, are expected to be announced as United’s new shirt sponsor for 2010-11 today.

David Gill, the United chief executive, said of the Aon deal: “Today’s announcement clearly strengthens our position as one of the biggest clubs in world football.

“We look forward to being closely aligned with the world leader in risk management, a firm which shares our values and is an exciting partner for Manchester United.”

• Aon Corp agree four-year deal to replace AIG
• Agreement is football’s most lucrative shirt sponsorship

Manchester United confirmed today that they have secured the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in football, believed to be a £20m-per-season, four-year partnership with the American financial giant, Aon Corp.

United have been scouring the globe for a new sponsorship deal since their current sponsor, AIG, the American insurance company, announced it would not be renewing its £14m-a-year deal when it expires at the end of the 2009-10 season.

AIG’s decision followed massive losses suffered during the current economic crisis but, despite the downturn, United are understood to have eclipsed that deal – and the lucrative sponsorships of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Chelsea – with an £80m agreement with Chicago-based Aon.

Old Trafford officials have held negotiations with several companies about replacing AIG in recent months, including Sahara, the Indian financial services corporation, and Saudi Telecom.

David Gill, the United chief executive, said of the Aon deal: “Today’s announcement clearly strengthens our position as one of the biggest clubs in world football.

“We look forward to being closely aligned with the world leader in risk management, a firm which shares our values and is an exciting partner for Manchester United.”

• Spaniard is expected to have around £30m to spend
• Transfer budget control removes well-worn excuse

Rafael Benítez has prepared for his first summer in full control of Liverpool’s transfer budget by admitting he has no margin for error with the major signings he requires to overhaul Manchester United next season.

The Liverpool manager intends to fine-tune rather than overhaul his squad following a season in which the Anfield club emerged as the strongest challengers to United’s recent supremacy in the Premier League. Established talent such as the Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry will be a priority but, having taken that route and failed with Robbie Keane last summer, Benítez admits there are no guarantees of success and that his main acquisitions will be exposed to far greater scrutiny than they receive at Old Trafford.

“If you spend big money on one player and he’s not successful for you, it’s worse for us than it is for United,” the Liverpool manager said. “If they make one or two mistakes, because of the difference in money they can spend £40m-£50m on other players. That’s why I am so proud of our team this year, because we are closer than before with the same problems, the same differences between the teams but money is the most important thing.”

Benítez will have between £20m and £30m to spend this summer plus whatever he can raise through player sales, as has been roughly the case throughout his Anfield tenure. This pre-season will see the Liverpool manager assume far greater control for his recruitment under the terms of his new five-year contract, which allows him to set the valuations on players he signs and sells. He still requires the blessing of the owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, for major purchases.

Transfer fees and player contracts were previously under the domain of Rick Parry, the Liverpool chief executive, who will relinquish his post at the end of this season and may not be replaced for several months. Liverpool’s owners have appointed a firm of head-hunters to identify Parry’s successor only in the last few weeks and, unless the candidate is an internal appointment – and the commercial director Ian Ayre is in the running – the process of interviews and notice periods could leave the position unfilled until next season.

All of which leaves Benítez with more responsibility for this summer’s transfers than he has enjoyed at Anfield before but, despite the need to sell to satisfy all his squad needs and the salutary lesson of Keane, the Liverpool manager is confident that he can ease the burden on Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres next season.

Benítez, who made a potential £3.5m loss in six months on Keane and will encounter the Tottenham Hotspur striker in the season’s finale at Anfield on Sunday, added: “If you have more money you can sign players with more quality, like United have. It doesn’t matter if they play Rooney, Berbatov, Tevez or Ronaldo. They can play with two and rest two but keep the same level.

“We’ve been talking of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres for the whole season. We have good players in the squad but the experience of fighting for titles and the quality of players makes a difference. Sometimes that means money and it is easier if you have it. If not, you have to work harder and I do have a lot of confidence that we can improve.”

The Liverpool manager has also paid tribute to the performances of the goalkeeper José Reina this season, who could draw level with Edwin van der Sar on 21 clean sheets should he thwart Spurs on Sunday and the Dutchman, as anticipated, misses United’s trip to Hull City. “In England people talked about Petr Cech and now Van der Sar but Pepe for three or four years now has been at a really good level,” said Benítez. “This consistency makes him a top-class goalkeeper. I would say he is one of the best keepers in the world now.”

• Summer sales set to break up Steve Bruce’s side
• Scharner admits he wants to move

Steve Bruce’s rebuilding work at Wigan Athletic could be more extensive than he feared this summer after Antonio Valencia’s agent claimed Real Madrid had made their first move to sign the winger and Paul Scharner declared a desire to leave the JJB Stadium.

Wigan’s manager had his hopes of qualifying for Europe undermined in January by the departures of Emile Heskey, Wilson Palacios and Ryan Taylor and is resigned to losing Valencia at the end of this season.

Diego Herrera, the winger’s agent, said: “Wigan revealed last week that there has been an offer from Real Madrid but they haven’t told me any details about it. I don’t know how much the offer is and I haven’t yet talked to anyone from Madrid about details of a contract, so I don’t know how long they would want him for. Wigan have not confirmed anything to me about Manchester United’s interest.

“I know there are other clubs interested but as far as I know there’s nothing official. I have yet to sit down with Antonio and see what he wants.

“We’ve not yet talked about which club he would prefer. Honestly I think it’s really difficult that he remains at Wigan. I would anticipate that he leaves this summer. We have to see what will happen in the next few weeks. We’re not in any rush.”

The threat of Scharner’s departure, however, will be of major concern to Bruce as the fine Wigan team he established continues to unravel. “I feel this summer is the time for me to make the next step in my career,” said Scharner, the versatile Austrian who has attracted widespread interest since joining the club for £2m from Brann in 2006. “I’m looking towards getting a regular starting place in the Austria national side. My absolute aim would be to play in the Champions League.”

Wigan will at least have money to spend this summer, having banked over £15m from the January sales of Heskey and Palacios to Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur respectively, and will be keen to encourage an auction for Valencia given the interest from Madrid and possibly Manchester United. But Bruce has confirmed that he will not turn Amr Zaki’s loan spell into a permanent deal following a dramatic dip in the Egyptian striker’s form and discipline in the second half of the season. He is also yet to make a decision on Mido, Zaki’s fellow Egyptian who is now in the final week of his loan move from Middlesbrough.

• ‘We’ve shown we can challenge for title next season’
• Liverpool’s 13 away victories equals club record set in 1905

Dirk Kuyt has admitted Liverpool’s home form undermined their title challenge even before they defeated Manchester United in March and that Rafael Benítez’s team “were not quite good enough” to stop their fierce rivals drawing level on 18 league championships this season.

Liverpool have dropped only two points from a possible 30 since losing to Middlesbrough in February to deliver their strongest title challenge of the Premier League era and elevate expectations for next season. Their one slip in that sequence was the 4-4 draw with Arsenal at Anfield, but Kuyt believes the six stalemates at home before then – against the likes of Stoke City, Hull City and Manchester City – had left Benítez’s men with an insurmountable task ahead of their 4-1 victory at Old Trafford on 14 March.

“It’s a shame that the season is ending now,” said the Dutch international, whose goal at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday ensured his highest return – 15 – as a Liverpool player. “The performances we have shown in the last couple of months have been very good. If the season had gone on for another month then maybe we could have been even closer to United. The problem was when we went into the game against United the gap was basically 10 points [seven points plus a game in hand]. We beat them and pushed them really, really hard but that was a very big gap for us to try and make up. If the gap had been closer then, the run-in might have been even more interesting but United won all their games anyway.”

Liverpool’s victory at The Hawthorns was their 13th away from home in the league this season, equalling a club record set in 1905. “That shows the strength of the team,” added Kuyt. “We’ve done really well away from home. I think the only area in which we can blame ourselves is that we have drawn too many games at home but, having said that, we haven’t lost a home game in the league this season.

“People might look back to the defeat at Middlesbrough, but the season always has moments like that. United dropped some points, we scored some last-minute goals, United did the same, but you get what you deserve and we weren’t quite good enough. But we’ve shown that we can challenge for the title next season and push harder than we have done this time.”

Liverpool, meanwhile, have announced that José Segura will be the new technical director at their youth academy as Benítez continues his overhaul of the club. The Liverpool manager has greater control at youth level under the terms of his five-year contract extension and recently brought Piet Hamberg’s spell as academy director to a close. Segura, 48, was formerly the technical director of Barcelona’s successful youth academy and has been available since leaving Olympiakos, whose first team he led to a league and cup double last season.

Benítez said: “There’s a lot to do at the academy but we’ve worked hard to bring in the best people and José is a great appointment. He’s worked with some of the top young talent in Spain and knows the challenges faced in bringing through players to the first team set-up.”

• ‘It just means United have more points,’ says Liverpool manager
• Benítez says Ferguson benefited from greater resources

Rafael Benítez has confronted the unpalatable prospect of Manchester United equalling Liverpool’s record of 18 league titles by refusing to recognise the ­champions-elect as the finest team in the country. In a begrudging assessment of his fiercest rivals, he also claimed Sir Alex Ferguson is on course for a third successive Premier League crown thanks only to the financial advantage he enjoys over Liverpool.

There was an element of pragmatism in Benítez’s modest appraisal of United yesterday, with Liverpool able to take the title race to the final day should Arsenal triumph at Old Trafford this afternoon and West Bromwich Albion be defeated at The Hawthorns tomorrow. His refusal to concede defeat was secondary to a refusal to offer any credit to Ferguson, however, following a campaign that has fractured the once respectful relationship between the managers at Anfield and Old Trafford.

Liverpool will become the first team to lose only two matches and not win the title should they remain undefeated for the rest of the season and United gain the point they require. Asked if the best team always wins the league, Benítez responded: “It just means they have more points.

“If United win the league it means they will have more points, clearly, but there are some very good teams in different positions in the table. It depends on the time of the season. I don’t think I ever said we were playing the best out of everyone, maybe just at certain moments. I do have a lot of respect for the other teams, but to say who is the best at one moment is not easy.”

The Liverpool manager added: “There are a lot of good teams in the Premier League. Without putting them in any order, I’d say Chelsea, United, Liverpool and Arsenal are the best. This year we have shown we are improving and that we are a better team than before. We can still get better but we are in this position because we are winning a lot, have played good football, scored a lot of goals and not conceded many. Eighty points is good, 86 could be much better, and we will try to get there and see what happens. If United have more points, it only means they have more points, that’s all, nothing else.”

Benítez insisted the only difference this season between Liverpool and United, whom they have beaten home and away, lies not on the pitch but on the balance sheet, with Old Trafford’s greater resources providing Ferguson with a deeper and more experienced squad.

“For me, United have a bigger squad with top-class players, but always they spend more than we can spend,” said the Liverpool manager. “If they make mistakes they can use different players, but the level of the two teams is more or less the same. Maybe we have to bring in some young players without the experience at this level, and that could be the difference. United are a top side that is spending big money every year on improving its squad and that is the main difference between them and the other teams.”

While Benítez takes pride in Liverpool’s creditable pursuit of United, the club’s Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso has insisted the season cannot be classed a success should it end without a trophy. “In terms of the Premier League it has been better than it has before but if you don’t win anything you can’t consider it to be a good season,” said Alonso, who is likely to be the subject of several transfer enquiries this summer.

“We have to be disappointed with ourselves, try to be critics and try to analyse the things that we haven’t done properly. Of course you also have to think that we have made progress in the Premier League and we have to keep working on this basis, but you also know that success means winning trophies for Liverpool. It’s very painful to look back and think of the draws that we had and the two defeats we have had also.”

Benítez again revisited a disallowed goal in the opening minutes of the home game against Stoke City as an example of the fine margins that have worked against Liverpool this season. “It’s only natural to think where would we be if we had managed to get another good result?” admitted Alonso. “But then all the teams in the Premier League can say the same thing.”

• Tevez inspires comeback victory against Wigan
• Joorabchian denies Manchester United have made offer

Sir Alex Ferguson revived Carlos Tevez’s prospects of staying at Manchester United last night after the Argentinian proved the catalyst in a comeback that left the Old Trafford club on the brink of the Premier League title.

Tevez equalised three minutes after his introduction against Wigan Athletic as United came from behind to triumph through Michael Carrick’s 86th-minute winner at the JJB Stadium. Ferguson, who now requires one point against Arsenal or Hull City to secure a record-equalling 18th league championship, claimed United had made a contract offer to Tevez before kick-off and were making progress on a permanent £22m deal for the striker, despite the 15-goal forward declaring last Sunday his intention to leave.

Ferguson’s revelations were immediately denied by the player’s representative, Kia Joorabchian, who confirmed talks had taken place with the United chief executive, David Gill, but discounted the offer of a contract.

The United manager, however, said: “The situation has not affected Carlos at all. He is a fantastic little player and he knows I want him to stay. I had another chat with him today about it and David Gill also had some more meetings today and I’m sure it has progressed further. The situation has never changed. The problem is we are not negotiating with a football club. The terms we have offered Carlos are very good, so we’ll see.”

A spokesman for Joorabchian then issued a statement that read: “It is true David Gill came to see Mr Joorabchian and they had a cordial meeting. It is categorically untrue that Manchester United made an offer to try to persuade Carlos Tevez to stay at the club. In 2007 Manchester United agreed a two-year loan deal for Carlos Tevez and at the same time agreed the terms that would make the transfer permanent. They have not taken up that option.”

As for events at the JJB, Ferguson believed United had shown their championship credentials in recovering from Hugo Rodallega’s opening goal for Wigan and staging a recovery to keep ahead of Liverpool in the title race. “We had to show the resolve of champions against a very determined Wigan side,” he said. “This was a really tough hurdle but we got there with a fantastic second-half performance. We were determined, we never gave in, kept going and got a little bit of luck in the second half, but we were fantastic.”

Ferguson added: “We were the better side and I thought we should have had a penalty too but we weren’t getting anything from the referee tonight but we’ve done it ourselves with a fantastic goal by Michael Carrick and a fantastic performance. We will aim to win against Arsenal now. I don’t listen to the criticism they’ve had recently. We know what a good team they are.”

While Cristiano Ronaldo’s petulance again raised his manager’s ire, United’s other dissenting star made a more positive impact

It was the most patronising of put-downs from Sir Alex Ferguson and the fact it was directed at a Manchester United player merely embellished the insult. “Fans love a trier,” said the Scot of Carlos Tevez following the Argentine’s cupped-ear ­celebration against Manchester City on Sunday, as the debate continued whether he is worth the £22m United must pay to make him a permanent employee this summer. Even Ferguson may learn to love Tevez after this, however.

There are triers in the sense of talentless workaholics and triers of the patience such as Cristiano Ronaldo, who responded to the diva-strop he threw when substituted in the Manchester derby with another theatrical, self-interested display against Wigan Athletic. And there are triers like Tevez who, with an exquisite back-heeled flick only three minutes after entering a desperate predicament for United at the JJB Stadium, may well have rescued the club’s record-equalling 18th league championship.

Make no mistake about it, the ­Premier League leaders were threatening to extend yet another reprieve to Liverpool in this fine title race when Tevez replaced Anderson in the 58th minute. Struggling to offer service to their three-pronged attack, running short on ideas and appearing increasingly anxious against a robust Wigan defence, the visit of Arsenal to Old Trafford on Saturday was taking the shape of an ordeal rather than a chance for celebration. Wigan had been “on easy street” since reaching 41 points against Hull City in March, according to their manager, Steve Bruce, but they took United down a dark alley until Tevez commenced their latest fightback with a touch of ingenuity.

It was instructive that, for once, Ronaldo was on the receiving end of Ferguson’s ire. Like Tevez, he too had challenged his manager’s authority against City and here he invited censure from the Scot with two wild finishes that invited scorn from the touchline. Ronaldo glanced back at Ferguson following his first shot over, and was met with a ­withering rebuke.

Wigan’s own exhilarating manicured winger, Antonio Valencia, has been touted as a possible replacement for Ronaldo if the Portuguese international is party to a pre-arranged agreement to finally take him off to Real Madrid this summer. “It is an inevitable that he will be leaving now,” admitted Steve Bruce beforehand, with Real and Bayern Munich allegedly among his suitors. The JJB Stadium to Old ­Trafford would appear a transfer based on an agent’s optimistic imagination.

Valencia has been a fine acquisition for Wigan since Paul Jewell returned from a scouting mission to the 2006 World Cup and identified the Ecuador international as one of the few affordable unknowns in Germany. The former Latics manager was present to witness a productive display from his purchase, one that stretched a surprisingly fragile United defence, though whether it would qualify as a successful audition to fill the huge vacuum at Old Trafford should Ronaldo depart is questionable.

The 23-year-old has the pace and ­distribution that would appeal to ­Ferguson, and would hardly break the bank at around £15m-£18m, but not the versatility or finishing skills of his would-be predecessor. That much was emphasised glaringly in the second minute when, clean through following a slip by the suspect Jonny Evans, he chipped abysmally wide of Edwin van der Sar’s goal under pressure from Nemanja Vidic. However, at least he would spare United from the guaranteed histrionics of Ronaldo, who prompted withering looks from his own team-mates, Wayne Rooney chief among them, by carping at any misplaced pass or referee Rob Styles’ refusal to grant his every wish.

With United struggling to find their feet on the wet surface – a problem that rarely afflicted their opponents – they could ill-afford Ronaldo to lose his head too. The World Player of the Year was fortunate not to be booked for twice shooting on goal long after the whistle had gone for offside, while one slip when in possession prompted a reckless pursuit of any Wigan player in the vicinity and ended with a slight tap on Michael Brown. It was a first-half performance that must have prompted despair in the visiting ­dug-out.

An added headache for Ferguson was the latest show of vulnerability in the one area of the team he does not rotate, the United defence. Not for the first time, Vidic lost his commanding aura and perceptiveness without Rio Ferdinand alongside to guide him. There was some justification for the Serbian losing his footing when Hugo Rodallega put Wigan ahead with a goal that sent tremors along the M58 into Liverpool, but losing the aerial challenge to the Colombian spread dismay throughout the United ranks. It was Evans, however, frequently dragged out of position and providing insufficient cover for Vidic, who offered Bruce and Rafael Benítez greater optimism on the night.

Vidic appeared to have little confidence in his defensive partner and to be distracted by the extra workload he took upon himself as a result. Wigan’s five-man midfield, exemplary in workrate and closing down the supply to Ronaldo, Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov, only had one outlet in Rodallega yet capitalised on the uncertainty in the visiting rearguard whenever the opportunity arose. It required the introduction of Tevez to turn the tide so convincingly towards the title.

• Life after Manchester United is a ’step down’
• Tevez and Ronaldo would find it hard to adjust

Steve Bruce, the Wigan Athletic manager, has warned Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez they would be making a huge mistake by leaving a Manchester United team that may continue to dominate at home and abroad under Sir Alex Ferguson for several years.

The ex-United captain, who left Old Trafford for Birmingham City after nine successful years in 1996, intends to interrupt Ferguson’s pursuit of a third successive Premier League title tonight when the leaders visit the JJB Stadium. The Champions League holders and finalists require four points from their remaining three league games to secure the championship, yet doubts persist over the futures of Ronaldo and Tevez at the club. Tevez openly challenged the United hierarchy to finalise his permanent transfer to Old Trafford on Sunday while the Portuguese newspaper Record, a paper with close links to Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes, yesterday reinforced the idea that Real Madrid have a deal in place with the United winger for this summer.

Bruce believes both will be jeopardising their future prospects by quitting Old Trafford now. “Once you leave Old Trafford you find it very difficult. It’s a step down,” he said. “Not many have gone on to do well elsewhere and that applies whether you have been a reserve, a kid or have been in the first team for 10 years. It is very, very difficult to adjust.

“The modern player must accept that to be involved at the top – especially when they have been involved in five competitions and can win four this season – you don’t have to play 60 games a year like we did. It takes about 18 games to win the Champions League so you need a squad of players capable of handling big games.”

The Wigan manager denied Ferguson would be concerned with Ronaldo’s diva strop when substituted against Manchester City on Sunday. “It won’t bother him a jot,” he said. “The kid was desperate to stay on the field and that’s refreshing. I’ve had a few who have been desperate to come off”

Bruce believes his former manager will remain at the Old Trafford helm for the foreseeable future regardless of what he achieves this season. “With the team he has got he will want to finish above Liverpool in terms of league titles and, while Real Madrid may be out of reach in the Champions League with their nine titles, he will want to be up there with the likes of Ajax, Bayern Munich and Liverpool. I don’t think he has any intention of quitting at all. He will be looking at that team and thinking ‘Why should I?’”

Bruce’s chairman Dave Whelan, meanwhile, has reiterated his call for club debts to become a percentage of takeover and believes there is a growing momentum within the game – and even within the Premier League – to prevent the likes of the Glazers at United and Tom Hicks and George Gillett at Liverpool from loading borrowing on to a club rather than their personal finances.

Whelan, speaking at the launch of Wigan’s new two-year sponsorship deal with the online gaming company 188BET, said: “The lads at Manchester United and Liverpool have bought the football club and put the debt in the name of the club. The debt should be in their name and that’s what wrong and that is what has to change. We must have some control on debt.

“I have constantly argued at Premier League meetings that we should only be allowed to have 20% or 25% of our turnover in debt. You could give the likes of United three or four years to put their house in order. Everyone knows in their hearts that it has to happen. Richard Scudamore [the chief executive of the Premier League] and others know in their hearts that it has to happen. It will come, there is no doubt about it. It is a matter of when. The government and Europe is looking into it now but it should be the Premier League who guide us. I don’t want the politicians involved. Whenever politicians intervene everything gets cocked up and we’d all be claiming expenses that we are not entitled to.”

• It’s a step down to leave Manchester United, says Bruce
• Wigan manager tells pair to accept rotation policy

The Wigan Athletic manager, Steve Bruce, has warned Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez they would be making a huge mistake by leaving a Manchester United team that may dominate at home and in Europe for years.

Bruce, who intends to interrupt Sir Alex Ferguson’s pursuit of a third successive Premier League title tonight when the leaders visit the JJB Stadium, believes both will jeopardise their prospects by quitting Old Trafford.

‘Once you leave Old Trafford you find it very difficult. It’s a step down,’ he said. ‘Not many have gone on to do well elsewhere and that applies whether you have been a reserve or have been in the first team for 10 years. It is very, very difficult to adjust.

‘The modern player must accept that to be involved at the top – especially when they have been involved in five competitions and can win four this season – you don’t have to play 60 games a year like we did.

‘It takes about 18 games to win the Champions League so you need a squad of players capable of handling the big games.’

• United submit report over midfielder’s sending-off at Arsenal
• Chelsea-Barcelona furore may hinder Alex Ferguson’s case

Manchester United have asked Uefa to consider whether the Italian referee Roberto Rosetti erred with the red card that will suspend Darren Fletcher from their Champions League final against Barcelona on 27 May.

United submitted a report to European football’s governing body yesterday in a final attempt to overturn the midfielder’s controversial dismissal against Arsenal in the semi-final second leg. The move follows advice given to Sir Alex Ferguson by the Uefa general secretary, David Taylor, as they left the Emirates stadium together on Tuesday night and represents their only chance of freeing Fletcher to play in Rome. The report does not urge the organisation to consider Fletcher’s case on compassionate grounds, contrary to reports.

The Old Trafford club accept there are no formal grounds to appeal the 25-year-old’s dismissal, given for a professional foul on Cesc Fábregas when replays showed the Scotland international had played the ball first, and their faint hope of overturning the decision has not been helped by the controversy surrounding Tom Henning Ovrebo’s subsequent performance in the Chelsea-Barcelona tie at Stamford Bridge. The Norwegian referee has been hounded since refusing Chelsea four penalty appeals and Uefa may not be inclined to accept that both their appointments for the semi-finals were culpable of major mistakes.

United, nevertheless, are duty-bound to pursue Fletcher’s case and their report outlines the club’s version of the challenge on Fábregas and asks Uefa whether it believes Rosetti made the correct call. “The ref may take the view a mistake has been made and include that in his report but that wouldn’t be in any way decisive,” said Taylor. “It’s an entirely discretionary thing, whether or not the [disciplinary] committee feels there is reason to intervene. That’s the position. Strictly speaking there’s no appeal process but representation can be made and looked at.”

The Uefa general secretary added: “I have spoken with Alex Ferguson personally on this – as fate would have it we shared a car after the match. We were rather thrown together but had an interesting discussion. I tried to give Alex as much advice as I could with regards to the procedure in these circumstances.”

• Defensive mistakes led to draw with Arsenal
• Point gained in 4–4 thriller could yet prove vital

The Liverpool striker, Dirk Kuyt, has conceded his team require “a bit of a miracle” to pip Manchester United to the Premier League title as a consequence of last night’s remarkable 4–4 draw with Arsenal.

United could move three points clear of Rafael Benítez’s team with victory over Portsmouth at Old Trafford tonight, one of two games in hand for Sir Alex Ferguson’s men, after Liverpool’s classic – yet costly – encounter with Arsène Wenger’s side at Anfield. Kuyt has echoed Benítez’s defiant warning to United that Liverpool will fight until the final day of the season to claim the club’s first league championship since 1990 and to prevent United drawing level with their record of 18 titles. But the Dutch international admitted Liverpool’s task appears formidable after dropping two points and with just five matches to go.

“It is harder after last night because we knew before the game that we needed to win to keep the pressure on,” said Kuyt. “But at least we got a draw and didn’t lose and we have to keep fighting until the very end.

“We have to hope for a bit of a miracle now because it has become more difficult than it already was, but in the last couple of weeks you have seen a team that has not given up and we will never give up. So let’s hope that a miracle can happen but we have to make sure we win our own remaining games and then we will see what happens.”

Wenger promised Liverpool after the game that Arsenal would show the same commitment at Old Trafford in the league on 16 May as they did at Anfield. That approach, believes Kuyt, is inherent throughout the Premier League and the reason the title is not a foregone conclusion for United or Liverpool.

“I am sure that all the teams will show passion and give their best like Arsenal did because that is what happens in the Premier League,” added the striker. “Like I said, we need a miracle but stranger things have happened in football and our mission is not to give up. It will be difficult but as long as we keep winning our own games then maybe they will struggle. They have two games in hand so they could take a six-point lead at the top so they will have to lose twice but that can happen. The point we took is an important one because otherwise we could have ended up seven points behind and that would have made it almost impossible.”

Kuyt is under no illusions, however, as to the improvements that have to be made in the Liverpool defence for Benítez’s team to capitalise on any slips United make in the final weeks. All four of Andrey Arshavin’s goals for Arsenal on Tuesday came from uncharacteristic errors by Liverpool, a fact that left their manager incandescent afterwards. And Kuyt admitted: “We played a good game and we only made four mistakes in the 90 minutes but they cost us two points. All of their goals came from our own mistakes and this is something we have to change but we need to keep our focus on our next game.”

• Sir Alex Ferguson says he does not understand Rafael Benítez
• Sammy Lee describes the whole episode as ’sad’

Sir Alex Ferguson has said he is unrepentant over his calculated attack on Rafael Benítez despite the Manchester United manager, and his Liverpool adversary, attempting to draw a line under their bitter fall-out yesterday. claims that he is arrogant, lacks humility and showed “absolute contempt” against Allardyce’s Blackburn Rovers at Anfield 10 days ago, a match Liverpool won 4-0.

Ferguson did not further the spat yesterday, although neither did he back down on his complaint that Benítez had gestured that Blackburn were beaten as soon as Liverpool scored their second goal last weekend. The overwhelming evidence from Anfield that day was that the Spaniard had merely gestured to Xabi Alonso over the free-kick routine that produced Fernando Torres’ second goal. “I made my point about it. I don’t understand why he did it,” he said. “I don’t want to go on about it anymore. I made my point. There is no point carrying it on. It’s plain for everybody to see now. I have made my issue about it.” As for Liverpool’s explanation about the that Benítez gesture, the Scot added: “They are hurt by it.

Lee launched a staunch defence of Benitez’s character in his manager’s absence and revealed how the now delicate topic of the gesture was not even raised by Allardyce when they had a drink after Rovers’ 4-0 defeat. “I think the whole thing is quite sad really, I really do,” said Allardyce’s successor as Bolton manager. “We all knew what the gesture was about on the day. Any gestures that are made from the side of the pitch are only ever intended for our players only, no-one else. I was surprised by what was said. I had a drink with Sam after the match and nothing was said about it. We had a good working relationship so I am sure if he felt that strongly about it he would have said something to me.”

The Liverpool assistant manager added: “This is not Britain’s Got Talent; you don’t win anything for being popular, but our manager is not arrogant. He is astute, learned, educated and his attention to detail is fantastic. We are all a bit sensitive to criticism but he knows what he is doing, why he is doing it and who he is gesticulating at!”

Liverpool will again be without their captain, Steven Gerrard, tonight as the midfielder recovers from the adductor strain he aggravated ahead of the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Chelsea.

• Midfielder’s last penalty was in 2004, for Millwall
• Kenwright praises Moyes for transforming Everton

Tim Cahill has promised to make amends for his penalty miss in the FA Cup semi-final by inspiring Everton to their first ­trophy for 14 years against Chelsea at Wembley next month.

The Australia international was the only Everton player to miss in their shoot-out victory over Manchester United on Sunday but was spared any lasting anxiety by Tim Howard’s saves from Dimitar Berbatov and Rio Ferdinand, plus Phil Jagielka’s decisive kick. Cahill had not taken a penalty at club level since firing a similar effort high over West Ham’s goal when playing for Millwall in 2004. But Cahill, who featured for Millwall against United in the 2004 final, is adamant he will redeem himself when he confronts Guus Hiddink, his former Australia, and now Chelsea, manager, on 30 May.

“It’s so disheartening when you miss a penalty but when you play with so many great players, you know they will get you out of it,” said the midfielder. “I have been a long time at Everton and am someone who calls themselves a Blue. I’m very passionate about the club. I felt confident when I stepped up to take the penalty but sometimes things go wrong. Mentally I feel fine now but hopefully when it comes around to the Cup final, I’ll score the ­winner and make up for it.”

Everton arrived at Wembley with Rafael Benítez’s “small club” accusation put back into the public domain by Sir Alex Ferguson, but Cahill denied the FA Cup is an opportunity to step out of Liverpool’s shadow. “We’re not bothered what Liverpool do. This is all about us,” he said. “We don’t worry what they’re doing. They’re a great team but we’re only bothered about Everton and what we do.”

Meanwhile Everton’s chairman, Bill Kenwright, has praised David Moyes for transforming the club. “When David arrived I never looked at the first game of the season, I looked at the last to see who we had to beat to avoid the R [relegation] word. We’ve had Wayne Rooney leaving and no money every season – but now we’re up there and I think you can truly say we are a top-six club again.”

Manchester United

Ben Foster Lucky to escape when he tried to beat Saha inside his own area but was rarely tested by the Everton attack 6

Rafael Provided a sweeping cross Lescott almost deflected into his own net. Dealt with exchanges between Baines and Pienaar 7

Ferdinand Brought resilience as well as composure to the United defence and offered Saha little space with which to trouble Foster 8

Vidic Looks more relaxed alongside Ferdinand and dominated in his duel against Saha while also coping with the threat of Fellaini 8

Fabio Does not attract the eulogies of his twin, Rafael, but was a diligent performer against Osman and helped stifle Everton 7

Ji-Sung Park Bright and dangerous, he and Tevez carried the main threat for United before fading out of the game in the second half 6

Darren Gibson Left his mark early on with shuddering tackles while his neat distribution showed there is far more to his game than strength 7

Anderson Did not stamp his authority on the midfield battle but was composed and disciplined in his task of keeping Cahill quiet 6

Danny Welbeck Should have had a penalty for a trip by Jagielka, and arguably would have done had he not thrown himself to the ground 7

Carlos Tevez The most creative outlet in United’s starting XI. Caused Everton problems with his movement and link-up play 7

Federico Macheda Brought Welback into the game with several fine passes and his pace kept Jagielka and Lescott on the back foot throughout 6

Substitutes

Evra for Fabio Da Silva (63); Scholes for Park (67); Berbatov for Macheda (91)

Everton

Tim Howard Has been struggling with form and a thigh strain of late but, after a quiet 120 minutes, made critical saves in the penalty shoot-out 8

Tony Hibbert Made countless vital tackles inside his area, none more so than on Macheda with 12 minutes to go. Injured in the process 7

Phil Jagielka Could so easily have conceded a penalty with his trip on Welbeck but that was his only error in a robust display 7

Joleon Lescott Showed good pace to deal with several breaks by Macheda and his reading of the game was key to thwarting United 8

Leighton Baines Looked heavy-legged on Wembley’s pitch and wasted several openings to supply forwards, but improved in extra time 6

Leon Osman Caught by Gibson in first minute and did not impose himself on the contest. Like Baines, appeared slow on the Wembley surface 5

Phil Neville One of the few Everton players not lost to the occasion, he fought a gruelling tussle with Gibson while trying to shackle Tevez 7

Tim Cahill Worked hard with Neville in central midfield but had one chance to test Foster as his adventure was sacrificed for the team 7

Steven Pienaar Struggled to escape the clutches of Rafael Da Silva or provide the ingenuity that his forwards needed, but worked hard 6

Marouane Fellaini Won many headers but received no support. Was a booking waiting to happen given his use of the arms against Ferdinand and Vidic 6

Louis Saha Had the ominous task of carrying Everton’s threat to Ferdinand and Vidic while short of match fitness, and it showed 5

Substitutes

Rodwell for Saha (70); Vaughan for Fellaini (102)

• Phil Jagielka scores decisive penalty to reach final
• Sir Alex Ferguson blames pitch for fielding weakened team

David Moyes revealed he persuaded Phil Jagielka to take the decisive penalty that swept Everton into their first FA Cup final for 14 years at Wembley and shattered Manchester United’s ambitions of winning an unprecedented quintuple.

The England international emerged the reluctant hero of Everton’s passage to a final with Chelsea on 30 May, having harboured reservations over taking part in a dramatic penalty shoot-out ­following his ordeal in the Uefa Cup last season. Everton exited against Fiorentina as a consequence of Jagielka’s penalty miss in a shoot-out at Goodison Park. However, after Dimitar Berbatov and Rio Ferdinand had their spot-kicks saved by the former United goalkeeper Tim Howard, the defender stepped forward to beat Ben Foster and a side weakened by, what Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager, admitted, was a direct result of the Wembley pitch.

“I don’t think Phil was entirely keen on taking one, but he had scored in training this week and that stuck in my mind,” Moyes said. “I asked who wanted one and there were a few heads nodding. I looked at him and said, ‘You all right for one Jags?’ I think if he’d got his way he might not have taken one, but I didn’t have too many takers on the day.

“James Vaughan went up and he’s not played for four months, and Jags missed his last one against Fiorentina. There weren’t many to pick from to be honest and then when Tim [Cahill] missed the first against United, who are probably the world’s best at shoot-outs because they have done it so many times and won the European Cup on one, you fear the worst. But good on our goalkeeper, he made two excellent saves. It took great courage for James to go up – and Jags after what happened to him in the Uefa Cup last year. Jags has grown as a player and to take that pen shows how much he has come on in recent years.”

Jagielka was also the key figure in an otherwise drab semi-final’s major talking point, when he tripped the United forward Danny Welbeck inside the penalty area only for the referee, Mike Riley, whose appointment Moyes had questioned before kick-off, to wave play on. “I did touch him,” the Everton defender admitted. “I don’t know how much that contributed to him going down. Maybe I got lucky, but we’ll take that luck.”

The Everton manager had asked the Football Association to review Riley’s appointment last week, alluding to an alleged leniency on the part of the ­referee towards United. Ferguson said Moyes’s “mind game” might have influenced Riley’s decision, but insisted he had no regrets over ­resting several main ­players for an FA Cup semi-final.

Ferguson, who insisted Wayne Rooney should recover from an ankle injury in time to face Portsmouth at Old Trafford on Wednesday, argued: “It might have had an effect. You can’t be certain, but all that nonsense about [Riley] being a Manchester United supporter is just ridiculous stuff. Someone put that in David’s head at a press conference. You never know if it influenced him or not. All I would say is he’s got to be 100% certain to give a penalty in a big game like this. If he sees it again he’ll know he’s made a mistake but why would the lad [Welbeck] go down when he’s gone around the goalkeeper and left him stranded? It was a clear penalty.”

The United manager left Cristiano Ronaldo, Edwin van der Sar and Michael Carrick out of his squad and revealed he would have started with Berbatov, Paul Scholes and possibly Patrice Evra, who were all substitutes, had it not been for the state of the Wembley pitch. “When I saw the pitch in the semi-final yesterday I decided I didn’t want to go to extra time with my strongest squad and that we had to be bold with young players with fresh legs. This club is built on giving young players a chance and they didn’t let me down today. I now know that I can use any of them in the important games we’ve got left this season.”

The Everton captain, Phil Neville, who scored against his former club in the shoot-out, admitted the FA Cup final would represent one of the high points of his career. “It’s one of the proudest moments of my career – to lead the team out at Wembley in the FA Cup final,” he said. “They say your next achievement is the best and that is certainly how it feels. We’ve beaten the best side in the world – it’s just a really proud moment. We’ve done it the hard way.”

The defeat was Ferguson’s first in an FA Cup semi-final as United manager and Moyes dedicated the victory to the club’s raucous support. “They were incredible and they willed us on to victory.”

• Everton ready to win trophy, says manager
• Manchester United cause no apprehension

David Moyes was standing on the Kop this week when he discovered he may have overcome yet another obstacle as Everton manager. The strained relationship between the Scot and Rafael Benítez was forgotten at the end of the Hillsborough memorial service when the Liverpool manager approached and offered genuine well-wishes for tomorrow’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson may have influenced Benítez’s thoughts, of course, but Moyes knows he has earned the respect of his Merseyside rival this season, however grudging. He can now ensure that “small club” is never mentioned within earshot again.

The Everton manager has won the majority of his challenges since arriving at Goodison Park seven years ago, changing the perception of a club whose grandeur had vanished, travelled to Europe only in pre-season and could not satisfy home-grown talents; all as a result of former managers’ mistakes and a conservative board failing to capitalise on the Premier League gravy train in the early 1990s. Wayne Rooney wearing red at Wembley will be evidence of an occasionally turbulent journey for Moyes but the fact his depleted team can face United without apprehension is testament to his success. Yet that does not suffice for the 45-year-old. Only when silverware is back at Goodison will Moyes even hint at satisfaction.

Moyes began this season speaking of a squad that “could not cope” with what lay ahead given that, until £15m Marouane Fellaini and several free transfers arrived in the final week of the summer transfer window, he had not made one new signing. Now he stands one victory shy of leading Everton into their first FA Cup final since 1995 and has European qualification in his grasp for the fourth time in five seasons through the Premier League. It is no wonder Bill Kenwright, his chairman and steadfast supporter, has made Moyes the highest-paid employee in Everton’s history with a contract worth £65,000 a week until 2013.

“Everton will win a trophy soon, that is for sure,” Moyes says, although he is aware that the FA Cup alone cannot put the club’s finances in the same league as his neighbours across Stanley Park. “The Champions League would give you the higher revenue to try and add more players, which in turn would hopefully mean that you would get to more cup finals. But as a football man I feel the players at Everton will win a trophy soon and I’m looking forward to that happening.

“The group we’ve built together is growing all of the time, and as the team is growing the performances are growing, too. I hope it is this time, but if it is not it is going to be soon. We want to win a cup. Last season we got to the semi-final of the League Cup, had a good run in the Uefa Cup, so we are getting better as a cup side. The pedigree is getting better.”

Moyes has spent every season at Goodison maximising limited resources, a demand that has often necessitated a negative approach at the homes of the “Big Four” and prompted Benítez’s “small club” criticism following a goalless draw at Anfield in February 2007. This season, however, has tested that ability on a weekly basis. Moyes lost his entire strike force to injury at one stage of the campaign before Mikel Arteta, then in the form of his Everton career, ruptured a cruciate ligament at Newcastle in February to join Yakubu Ayegbeni, Louis Saha, James Vaughan and Victor Anichebe on the sidelines.

The manager responded by acquiring Jo on loan from Manchester City and the Brazilian has repaid his faith with five goals in eight appearances. In keeping with the season, Jo is ineligible for the FA Cup and Moyes’ forward options are limited to Saha, who has started one game this year and has missed training through illness this week, and Vaughan, the gifted but fragile 20-year-old who last appeared for the first team in November.

“I’ve had to find other ways of playing this year because of the injuries and I’ve actually found that Everton need the football in Europe. We need it for the development of our players,” Moyes says. “We want to be doing it regularly. Manchester United have that experience. They’ll be used to games like semi-finals. We are relatively new to it.”

Absences have given opportunity to youngsters, with Dan Gosling entering the Everton annals for the late winner against Liverpool in the fourth round and Jack Rodwell signing a new five-year contract with his boyhood club. However, it is the unsung veteran of the team, Phil Neville, whom Moyes credits with turning Everton’s season with a crunching tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo during October’s 1-1 draw against United at Goodison.

“That was someone trying to take ownership and leadership of the team and taking the responsibility to make something happen,” insists the Everton manager, whose captain could lead out the team alongside his brother, United’s Gary, at Wembley. “That can be with a tackle, it can be with a pass or someone scoring. But Phil Neville did it for us with a tackle that day. He’s tried to take a lot of ownership for what goes on and he deserves a lot of praise for that. I think if you asked Phil Neville, he’ll probably say that he’s as much at home here, if not more so, than he ever was at Manchester United.”

Victory in the FA Cup plus qualification for the Europa League would rank alongside Moyes’ achievement of reaching the Champions League qualifying stage in 2005. But until it is an achievement, and United plus either Chelsea or Arsenal are defeated at Wembley, he will curb the enthusiasm that has gripped his club’s support. “I think we all want to beat United at a final,” Moyes says. “This is a big day out to Wembley, two big teams with big support coming down. But we want more. This isn’t our final.I’m saying it to our supporters. This is our semi-final.”

• Anfield man downbeat over title chances
• Force is still with United, he says

Xabi Alonso has admitted a Champions League exit holds no positives for Liverpool in their quest to win the Premier League and that Rafael Benítez’s team face a formidable challenge to wrestle the title from Manchester United.

While Benítez took a manager’s prerogative and extolled the virtues of a remarkable quarter-final tie at Chelsea on Tuesday evening, claiming Liverpool’s second-leg recovery had restored pride and renewed belief ahead of the title run-in, his compatriot could not identify any advantages in the 7-5 aggregate defeat.

The Premier League, the club’s priority all season, now stands as Liverpool’s only hope of a trophy but even though they are only a point behind United and in superior form to Sir Alex Ferguson’s champions, Alonso admits the impetus remains at Old Trafford.

“It is going to be very difficult to win the league but we have to have a go and try to win all our games,” said the Spain international, whose side’s next fixture is at home to Arsenal on Tuesday. Ferguson triggered another riposte from Benítez with his suggestion that United’s main Premier League rivals will be the losers in the Liverpool-Chelsea Champions League encounter, owing to the increased preparation time between each league game, but even that fact offered little consolation for Alonso.

“You never know what the impact might be,” he continued. “Logically, we should have more time to rest now but sometimes you prefer to keep playing games. It can help you to keep playing. We are not happy because we are out of the Champions League.”

Stamford Bridge did at least provide evidence of Liverpool’s defiance against the odds, not that any more was required from Benítez’s team. In many respects their position in the Premier League is similar to the predicament that confronted the Anfield club prior to the second leg in west London, having arrived with a 3-1 deficit and the weight of Champions League history against them. Ajax remain the only side to have overturned a first-leg home defeat in the Champions League yet Alonso, for all his acute frustration against Chelsea, believes Liverpool’s character guarantees they will also take United to the limit in the coming weeks.

“Character is a big part of this team. We keep fighting when in difficult situations and we showed that against Chelsea,” he said. “We don’t do it to show anything to people, we do it because we want to show ourselves, we want to keep alive and have chances to win things. We tried to get over a very difficult situation at Stamford Bridge but we lost the tie at Anfield. I believed we would go through against Chelsea, absolutely. After the great first half we played we had reasons to believe.

“We can take pride in our performance. Everyone kept fighting to the end. At certain moments things were difficult, especially after going 3–2 [down], but we scored two more goals and with 10 minutes left we had a good chance to go through if we scored another goal. But there were chances for both sides and in the end we were not able to go through and we are very disappointed.”

Benítez claimed Liverpool’s four goals at Stamford Bridge, having also scored four against United and Real Madrid plus five against Aston Villa in recent weeks, should ensure there is no shortage of confidence for the remaining six games of the season. Liverpool have now scored 25 in the past eight matches in all competitions, compared to only nine in the previous eight. “We are in a good moment in the Premier League and we have to try and keep that moment,” Alonso added. “It is good to score so many goals, but against Chelsea we conceded a lot as well.”

The Liverpool goalkeeper, José Reina, has taken responsibility for allowing Didier Drogba’s faint touch to sneak inside his near post and effectively turn the second leg in Chelsea’s favour on Tuesday. “It was bad positioning by me,” he admitted. “I was too in the middle of the goal. I should have been closer to the near post. It was my mistake. I have to recognise it. That’s the life of a goalkeeper.”

Reina, however, believes that Liverpool will not be distracted from the challenge of trying to win the club’s first league championship since 1990. “There are six games remaining and we have to win them all,” he said. “It’s in United’s hands. We must try to win them and wait. We will never give up. We are Liverpool. That’s our character and the way we are. We will continue to fight until the end.”

• Ferguson ‘talks too much’, says Liverpool manager
• Spaniard respects Chelsea more with Mourinho gone

Rafael Benítez reopened his feuds with Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho yesterday when he accused the Manchester United manager of being scared of Liverpool and claimed to have more respect for Chelsea now that Mourinho has left.

The Liverpool manager was in combative mood ahead of tonight’s Champions League quarter-final with Chelsea. He confirmed that his dislike of Mourinho survives by alleging that the Portuguese’s style is bad for the game and that his successors, Avram Grant, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Guus Hiddink, have repaired the club’s reputation.

Yet Benítez’s major criticism was reserved for Ferguson, who he believes is feeling the pressure of Liverpool’s resurgence in the Premier League. Ferguson had again irked Benítez by suggesting the biggest threat to United’s domestic crown this season will come from the loser of the Liverpool-Chelsea quarter-final.

But Benítez said: “Clearly one of us, Chelsea or Liverpool, will be focused on the league after this game. United will have a problem with that. It will be worse for them. [Ferguson] will be supporting Liverpool because we are the biggest threat now. If we continue in the competition we may be tired but if we are not in it he knows we will be a threat.

“If Chelsea are not in the competition they will be a threat [in the Premier League]. So he will lose anyway. We have to concentrate on our team but he likes to talk too much about other teams. It is not mind games; he is a little bit scared. Clearly you can see they are not playing well and so they feel the pressure.”

Benítez blames Ferguson for the breakdown in their relationship, despite having launched a detailed attack on his Old Trafford counterpart in January. “I had a very good relationship with him,” Benítez said, emphasising the past tense before explaining that “something changed”.

“Maybe it was because we started winning,” the Spaniard continued. “He wrote to me after Istanbul [where Liverpool won the Champions League in 2005] and was very polite, saying well done and talking about the tactics. He was very good. I think I wrote to him after Moscow [when United won the European title last year]. Normally we write to say congratulations, and I think I did.”

Benítez then suggested the antipathy that exists between Liverpool and Chelsea is solely down to Mourinho. “Scolari was doing a very good job, Avram Grant was doing a very good job, Guus Hiddink is a great manager and Mourinho is a good manager, but each one decides how to approach the games and I like the styles of Grant, Scolari and Hiddink,” Benítez said. “Their styles are right for the game … Chelsea is a fantastic club. It was before and it is now.”

• We are contenders again, says Benítez
• Ferdinand: Defeat will make us more focused

Rafael Benítez and Sir Alex Ferguson shared only a brief handshake at Old Trafford but the Liverpool manager believes the impact of their encounter will linger at Manchester United. While Rio Ferdinand claimed Saturday’s emphatic defeat would remove any complacency from the champions, Benítez insisted Liverpool’s resurgent form could take United to the wire in their pursuit of a record-equalling 18th league title.

Ferguson refused to share his thoughts on United’s humbling with Sky television after the game on Saturday, apparently in protest at kicking off at 12.45pm at the end of a Champions League week. His team captain, however, sought to accentuate the positives as United shipped four league goals at Old Trafford for the first time since 1992 and lost a 12-game winning run at home in the Premier League in spectacular fashion.

“Losing any game is disappointing, but losing to your big rivals is even worse and the scoreline compounds that,” said Ferdinand. “But we have to turn this into a positive. This game will have torn out any sub-conscious complacency. We now have time to dust ourselves down and get our minds on the game against Fulham next week.”

The victory concluded a momentous week for Liverpool who, having recorded a 5-0 aggregate win over Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday night, registered four more goals against the reigning champions. Liverpool remain four points adrift of United having played a game more but Benítez believes current form can sustain their challenge until the season’s end.

“At least now we are in a position where we can try and put them under pressure if we continue to win games,” said the Liverpool manager. “The mentality of our club is to win, to win everything and I think United have the same mentality. So how can you win? I think in modern football the money makes a massive difference and you could see that in their substitutes. Tell me the value of these players? The money is a massive difference and if you have these [resources] sometimes it’s easier.

“They have four or five players on their own who can change games and we have one or two. If you cannot spend big money on players you have to work hard as a team. This is the mentality we have now. If we can add some good players in the future we will improve and maybe we can get closer.”

Benítez denied there is any “bad blood” with Ferguson following his detailed attack on the United manager in January, and suggested he has irritated the Scot by returning Liverpool to title contention first and foremost. “I don’t have any problems with him. I respect him, I think he is a great manager but I have to defend my club,” said the Spaniard, following his 100th league win in 181 games as Liverpool manager and his first at Old Trafford. “I can guarantee you that I was calm and I am calm. He’s a fantastic manager with a very good team and we will try to improve and be as close as possible. Hopefully he will see Liverpool as a new contender. That will be good.”

Benítez made no grand boasts about this season’s title following Liverpool’s biggest win at Old Trafford since November 1936, and there was regret among his players at their failure to produce such form against the lesser lights of the Premier League.

“The problem is we have dropped a lot of very important points at home,” said Javier Mascherano, the Argentine who made amends for last season’s red card at Old Trafford with a dominant midfield display. “We have spoken about this in the dressing room. When you lose points at Anfield to Hull and Man City and other teams like that then you have to be disappointed, but even more so now that we have gone to Old Trafford and won so well. All we can do now is keep going. There are still nine games to go and we need to win every single one to have a chance of catching United.

“I don’t know if we can win the league. We don’t need to think about the title race right now, we just need to keep this form going. It would be wrong of us to start talking about being in the title race again. United still have a good lead over us and we need to keep winning. If United don’t lose then it will be really difficult to catch them but we need to win all our games. We have to take it step by step.”

• Manager on verge of century of league wins
• Only Dalglish and Paisley will head Spaniard

Rafael Benítez will replace Bill Shankly as the third fastest Liverpool manager to reach 100 league wins should he triumph in forthcoming games against Aston Villa, Fulham or, as the last hopes of a title ­challenge demand, at Manchester United this afternoon. It is an impressive feat by any standards, but remarkable given how often the Spaniard has stood accused of sending his team ambling out of the blocks.

There was, also remarkably, a tinge of regret amid the euphoria of Liverpool’s 4–0 destruction of Real Madrid on Tuesday. Here was a team that lost the initiative in the title race through too many sterile draws at Anfield tearing into the Spanish giants with intensity and imagination. And from the word go, not having fallen behind or with only a Steven Gerrard miracle to save them. The good news for Liverpool supporters who crave more of the same in the Premier League is that Benítez has promised an ­identical ­mental approach at Old Trafford. The issue, however, is his insistence that it has been present all season – even in the damaging, pedestrian draws against Hull City and Stoke City. The performance against Real was not Benítez instructing his ­players to express themselves, therefore, but a glorious illustration of his two-game plan coming to fruition.

“We played against a top side and Real Madrid are a team that historically always attacks, so this game was different,” he explained. “We started the game really well and because we scored two early goals everything changed for them. They needed to attack and we had more space. We’ve done the same against a lot of teams but the difference is other teams put 10 men behind the ball.

“Real Madrid had to attack and they were not expecting our intensity. Other teams come to Anfield and wait and see if they can score from a free-kick or corner. It is not a frustration for me. It is something we need to analyse. We have to score first against teams more often because then the game will change and there are more spaces, like against Sunderland.”

Benítez has 99 victories from his 180 league games in charge of Liverpool, while Kenny Dalglish reached his ton in 167 games, Bob Paisley in 179 and Shankly in 184. It will take an improvement in ­Liverpool’s playing staff, their manager suggested, for him to join his illustrious forebears in bringing the title back to ­Liverpool. “We know the situation we face at Anfield but how can you penetrate it? You have to be very precise,” Benítez added. “It’s not just a question of determination and high tempo. You can keep your high tempo if you can keep your space and pass the ball. If you don’t have the space you have to make sure you don’t give the ball away. It’s not the same situation. At Old Trafford we will try to play with the same intensity and determination. It will be different without our supporters behind us but we will try to start the game in the same way.”

For others, the explanation for ­Liverpool’s contrasting Champions League and Premier League form is not as straightforward as Benítez’s philosophy or the quality of his personnel. There is a revealing passage in Jamie Carragher’s autobiography that suggests Benítez’s differing prowess at home and abroad is reflected in the psychology of the entire club. “As a side we have been accused of failing to reproduce our European form in the league but the allegation is fairer applied to the whole club,” wrote ­Carragher, whose 114 European appearances for Liverpool is a club record.

“If most English sides had to endure the Anfield European atmosphere we’d probably blow them away and we must all take responsibility for that. It is up to us players to get the crowd going as much as it’s up to the Kop to perform every week. There seems to be a different mindset on and off the pitch. The Kop has had 20 years heading to league games with a feeling of trepidation, having seen us struggle so often, yet the same fans have supreme confidence and self-belief whenever they watch us in Europe based largely on Rafa’s recent success. We also benefit from our knowledge of the European game.”

How to break that cycle when Liverpool enter the unknown whenever they lead the Premier League down the final straight, as Sir Alex Ferguson provocatively observed, remains Benítez’s outstanding challenge at Anfield.

• Confidence high at Anfield after demolition of Real Madrid
• ‘Most important things is to win at Old Trafford,’ says midfielder

Javier Mascherano has illustrated the belief coursing through Liverpool by saying they will claim another prized scalp at Old Trafford on Saturday if they reproduce the form that devastated Real Madrid in the Champions League.

Confidence is plentiful at Liverpool following Tuesday’s rout of Real and the complete team performance that secured a fourth appearance in the Champions League quarter-finals in five seasons under Rafael Benítez. While Manchester United remain in the ascendancy in the Premier League, seven points clear of their nearest rivals with a game in hand, Liverpool approach the all-or-nothing fixture revitalised by their latest European escapade.

Benítez greeted the 5–0 aggregate win over his boyhood club by claiming Liverpool could re-enter the title race against United, having in effect ruled his team out of it despite beating Sunderland a week earlier. His players share that optimism, with Mascherano sufficiently imbued to warn the champions of the threat they face this weekend.

“If Liverpool play like we did against Real Madrid it will be difficult for any team to beat us,” said the Argentina captain, who was sent off in the corresponding fixture last season. “We were on top of them, we pressed them all the time and we didn’t let them play. It was a fantastic performance. [Fernando] Torres was unbelievable. Now we have to go to Old Trafford and we’ll see what happens. We want to win there and then we will see [about the title]. The most important thing is for us to win and give the supporters a happy day.”

Amid Liverpool’s euphoria was regret that such dominance has arrived rarely at Anfield this season and that an improved league campaign has stalled against such teams as Fulham and Hull City at home.

“There is a new belief that we can beat United now,” Ryan Babel said. “Winning any game is possible and it gives us a buzz to go to Old Trafford after this win.” Of winning the title, however, he did add: “A season is long and that is why you always get a lot of mistakes in a season. We have made a lot of mistakes and we’ve almost given the title away.”

The contrast in Babel’s performances against Middlesbrough and Real Madrid is indicative of Liverpool’s varying impact on the Premier League and Champions League in recent months, although a more fundamental change was the adventure on show on Tuesday. It gave the Liverpool manager immense satisfaction to humble Real in a manner that Marca, the Spanish newspaper with close ties to his former club, claimed a Benítez team would be incapable of. The display, based on an irrepressible start reminiscent of Champions League wins over Juventus and Chelsea at Anfield, raised the question of why Benítez does not employ those tactics more often?

“It depends on the situation of the game,” said Fabio Aurelio, who was outstanding in both legs. “We know we are not a defensive team. We are stronger up front as well. We have [Steven] Gerrard, Torres and the wingers as well. We scored four goals against a big team in Real Madrid and that proves we are not a defensive club.

“I think the win meant a lot to Rafa. He came from Madrid, so it is good for him to show he has grown a lot as a manager in his career but it was good for everyone to get this result against a team like Madrid. It’s a great result especially after what they were saying before the two games. Everyone was saying we played very deep in the first leg but we knew we made them suffer and, with having the second leg at home, we knew there would be a chance to show our tactics were perfect. I think it could have been our best performance of the season.”

Only a fool would make rash predictions about Rafael Benítez’s Liverpool, but what the hell. Saturday 4.22pm, the Riverside Stadium, was the time and place when Liverpool’s title aspirations breathed their last and the thought of Manchester United ­sitting alongside them on 18 championships could be ignored no longer. The lack of surprise was the least of their problems.

“We’ll mess it up at Middlesbrough now,” was one seasoned Kopite’s first words when the final whistle blew at the Bernabéu last Wednesday. From the conquerors of Real Madrid to a ­disjointed, fragile and ultimately passionless victim of Middlesbrough within four days; the story of Benítez’s entire Anfield reign. His team knew there was no margin for error in the challenge to United, that they had to close the gap to one point before the champions resume domestic duties on Wednesday. They responded by rolling out the red carpet for United’s procession towards an 18th league title.

It was telling that the majority of the travelling support had long gone by the time Rob Styles confirmed Middlesbrough’s first league win since 9 November and a precious result in manager Gareth Southgate’s bid to retain top-flight status and his job. There was no fight on Saturday in Liverpool, a team who have scripted their finest chapters through a stubborn refusal to wilt, and their ­opponents could even pinpoint the moment the title moved out of reach.

“When we scored our second goal their heads dropped a bit,” said the Middlesbrough defender David Wheater. “They are a top-four team with a lot of quality all around but we dealt with them well. You could almost say that when we scored our second goal it was the moment they lost the title. It’s Manchester United all the way, most people know that. They will push them but they won’t win it.”

In open play, Liverpool played more than three times as many passes as Boro - 422 to 127 - but Boro were ahead in the only scoreline that really matters: goals.

Soaking up pressure at the Bernabéu, sticking to a rigid game plan and punishing over-confident European giants suits Liverpool. Unfortunately for Benítez they remain unable to find a solution against Premier League teams who do the same to them, especially when Fernando Torres is out injured and leaves a weak attack behind. The Riverside has staged many gruelling encounters for Liverpool down the years and this was among the most ­dispiriting. Steven Gerrard barely ­disguised his contempt for his errant team-mates during his 76 minutes on the pitch, before being withdrawn with cramp following a three-week absence with a hamstring strain.

Jamie Carragher cut a furious figure when substituted, glorious chances went begging, Xabi Alonso struggled to deliver the simplest pass while Ryan Babel’s lack of endeavour was appalling. Pulling out of a 50-50 challenge with Gary O’Neil almost invited a reception committee from the away end.

The most damning verdict came in Southgate’s admission that his greatest fear before kick-off was over-confidence in Middlesbrough, a team on a winning run of one. “I think the cup [defeat of West Ham] worked well for us and gave us confidence,” he said. “They were very relaxed and I was a bit concerned before the game that they were too relaxed and needed a bit of a gee up. You might find it hard to believe complacency sets in after one win but it can do very quickly.”

For 30 minutes Middlesbrough looked every inch a team burdened with a club record 14 league games without a win and second from bottom of the Premier League. Nervous and over-run as ­Liverpool created and missed three clear openings, another angst-ridden afternoon beckoned for Southgate. Then Martin Skrtel, surprisingly played at right-back instead of Carragher or the reserve team captain Stephen Darby, missed Stewart Downing’s corner, the ball flew beyond José Reina off Alonso’s thigh, and the title hopes of one club began to die while the survival ­prospects of another stirred.

“Carra told me he had heavy legs and so as a centre-back he could run less,” Benítez explained. “At right-back normally you run more, so he played at centre-half and could play more. That was the idea.”

To no one’s great surprise, the Liverpool manager refused to concede the title to Sir Alex Ferguson. His players’ body language, and lifeless response when Tuncay sealed Middlesbrough’s win with an assured ­finish from Jérémie Aliadière’s cut-back, did that for him.

“It felt comfortable in the last half an hour,” added Wheater. “The lad who came on, David Ngog, was quite good but it was a great feeling when they kept giving the ball away in the last few ­minutes. Liverpool weren’t very creative. Normally you see Gerrard creating all sorts but he didn’t do that. They are missing Torres, who scores their goals, but I don’t think there’s anyone who will get 20 goals if he is not in there.”

Man of the match Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough)

Rafael Benítez has rejected Arsène Wenger’s theory that Manchester United are “untouchable” this season and believes Liverpool will have a genuine chance of winning the Premier League should they arrive at Old Trafford next month still in touch with the reigning champions.

A United victory over Blackburn Rovers tonight would leave Liverpool eight points behind Sir Alex Ferguson’s team going into their home game with Manchester City tomorrow, when Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso will be absent through injury and suspension respectively. Having twice broken Barcelona’s and Real Madrid’s dominance of the Spanish league title with Valencia, the first time after trailing Real by seven points in January, Benítez unsurprisingly discounts the idea that United are a certainty for a third successive league crown. But he admits it is imperative Liverpool keep their rivals under severe pressure until they meet at Old Trafford on 14 March.

“I don’t think they are untouchable,” said the Spaniard, who is yet to accept the offer of a new contract from Liverpool’s owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, three weeks after meeting his employers individually on Merseyside. “We know they are a good team and we will have to play really well if we want to beat them, but we have beaten them once this ­season already. In football now every game is so difficult that anything can happen. They will win more games than the other teams because clearly they are a good side. But to say you cannot beat them, I don’t think so.”

The Liverpool manager added: “We need to win every game. Clearly it is a big gap, but we can reduce it by winning some games in a row. From when I arrived here there is a massive difference in the gap between us. We are in a very good position because we have reduced the gap so we want to reduce it even more. We know it will be difficult, but if we are in the same position going into the game at Old Trafford, maybe it will be important this season. We have to go to Old Trafford and try and win. We cannot think in any other way.”

Liverpool will be without Gerrard for the visit of City as the captain continues his recovery from a hamstring tear. The midfielder remains on schedule to complete his three-week lay-off and return to face Real Madrid in the Champions League next Wednesday, although Benítez insists a final decision on Gerrard’s fitness will be taken after training on Monday.

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Paul Scholes’s fellow goalscorers were unrestrained in their praise of the veteran following his imperious display against Fulham. “He is one of the best ever,” heralded Wayne Rooney. “I don’t think there is anyone else in the world like Paul Scholes,” Dimitar Berbatov claimed.

The man himself analysed his first league goal of the season in a more characteristic manner. “I don’t think it was one of my better ones,” he said, without a hint of self-deprecation. Naturally.

While it was welcome to hear the 34-year-old has lost none of his ability to puncture hype with brutal honesty, it was the sight of the former England international orchestrating a five-point lead at the Premier League summit that comforted Manchester United most of all .

Scholes’s influence has been restricted to only 19 appearances this season, and Fulham made for accommodating visitors it must be said, but his performance against Roy Hodgson’s team confirmed he retains a major influence over United’s pursuit of a third successive league title.

It must also reassure Sir Alex Ferguson that in Scholes and the 35-year-old Ryan Giggs he still has two exemplary veterans who reflect his insatiable demand for improvement. They remain key to ensuring that no complacency creeps into United’s relentless march.

“The only disappointing thing was we didn’t go on and score four or five in the second half,” reflected Scholes after United stretched their Premier League run to nine successive victories. “We’ll settle for three and Wayne coming on and scoring with his first touch as well. Wayne doesn’t look rusty. He’s been off for five weeks and trained really well. He’s looked good in training and that showed when he came on and scored.

“Every win is a big win now. We’ve got a five-point lead and that’s a good one to have but there’s a long way to go yet. We’ve got 13 games left and we’ve got Liverpool to come here as well so they’ll still fancy their chances. They’re still playing quite well as well. It’s still going to be tight, I think.”

Scholes and Giggs have been employed with increasing care by Ferguson this season, although the Welshman has made nine more appearances than the midfielder from Salford, and Scholes admitted that his first league goal since August 2007 was long overdue.

“Over the years I’ve always contributed with some goals,” he said. “But that’s not been the case over the last couple. Hopefully that’s the start of a few more to come.”

The midfielder’s excellence has never been measured in goals, however, despite the quality of the volley he sent beyond Mark Schwarzer on Wednesday and which rekindled memories of a similar goal against Bradford City in 2002.

As Berbatov, who scored United’s second against Fulham following a sublime pass from Scholes to John O’Shea, said: “I don’t think there is anyone else in the world like Paul Scholes. He is the only person who can shoot with that accuracy. His passing and the way he changes the game is brilliant. Every manager would be happy to have him but it is our luck that he plays for us.”

Rooney, who marked his return from a hamstring injury with his 15th goal of the season, added: “Paul Scholes is amazing. Some of his football against Fulham, I don’t think any other footballer in the world could produce. In my eyes he is one of the best ever.”

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Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed Chelsea’s dismissal of Luiz Felipe Scolari has “played into the hands” of Manchester United and rendered the title race a two-way fight between his reigning champions and Liverpool.

The United manager delivered a brutal assessment of Roman Abramovich’s decision to sack the World Cup-winning coach seven months into his Stamford Bridge tenure. The dismissal, he claimed, not only illustrated the short-term mentality that exists at Chelsea but increased United’s chances of landing a third ­successive league title.

Ferguson, writing in the match programme, said: “I must say I was shocked that Chelsea should part so soon with a manager of such great experience and proven success as ‘Phil’ Scolari. Their haste is a reflection of the sad way the game is going, with everyone from owners, the board members, the supporters and the media demanding instant success and showing absolutely no patience in the pursuit of their ambition.

“Looking at the Chelsea situation from United’s point of view, I think they have played into our hands and that the title race now is going to be between ourselves and Liverpool. However, I shall be keeping a wary eye on Aston Villa, who seem to have picked up the baton from Arsenal.”

United moved five points clear of second-placed Liverpool with victory over Fulham last night and 10 points clear of Guus Hiddink’s new charges in fourth. Afterwards Ferguson appeared to soften his stance on Chelsea’s title prospects, though he also claimed the strength in depth of the United squad made a collapse at Old Trafford highly unlikely.

“You can never be dead sure but it is fair to say Chelsea have an uphill fight now,” the United manager said. “Things can happen. I remember being 12 points clear of Arsenal in 1998 and losing the league after we had suffered a lot of injuries. But we have got the squad to cope with injuries like that now.”

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There is a fundamental difference of opinion inside Old Trafford. Sir Alex Ferguson chose Fulham’s visit last night to declare the Premier League title race officially a two-horse contest. His Manchester United players, however, suggest there may be even fewer runners in the final straight.

The reigning champions cashed in their game in hand for a five-point lead over Liverpool at the summit with a simplicity and authority that illustrated how slim the margin of error has become for Rafael Benítez’s team. There was an exhibition feel to this defeat of Roy Hodgson’s meagre travellers as Wayne Rooney scored within two minutes of his return from injury and the only concern for United lay in enhancing Edwin van der Sar’s clean-sheet record. Untouchable, Arsène Wenger said of United this week, although title challenges should be more fraught than this.

Van der Sar moved to sixth in the all-time list of clean sheets kept in league football with a 14th successive shut-out in the Premier League. He has not been beaten in this competition for 1,302 minutes. United’s ninth successive league victory, and the form they displayed in achieving it, indicated the only problem they have to fear in pursuit of a third league title in three years is complacency. Even Ferguson admitted before kick-off that a contest between his champions and a Fulham side without a league win in 12 away matches “looks a bit too easy”. He was seeking to guard against over-confidence, of course, and that looked a more ominous task than the one before his players on this form.

Paul Scholes led an imperious display from the beginning, establishing United’s superiority even before a 12th-minute goal that rolled back the years while illustrating his influence on the present. Always the man available to take pressure and possession off his defenders, and frequently dropping 50-yard passes on to the toes of Cristiano Ronaldo, the 34-year-old put United in the ascendancy with his first league goal of the season. It was a strike that evoked memories of Valley Parade in March 2002, though Mark Schwarzer will hope it does not linger in the collective conscious that long.

The breakthrough came from a corner on the United left, with Michael Carrick reprising the role of David Beckham against Bradford City and floating a delivery to an unmarked Scholes outside the area. It was a routine the pair tried against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup last month, and paid dividends again as Schwarzer got both hands on the midfielder’s volley only for the ball to squirm under him and over the line. Scholes raised an arm in celebration and then returned to the business of inspiring United onwards. “Some of his switches of play were absolutely magnificent,” purred Ferguson. “He and Ryan [Giggs] remain great examples to young players in how they live their lives and we are proud to have them here. It was a fabulous hit.”

Bobby Zamora twice went close to becoming the first man since Arsenal’s Samir Nasri on November 8 to beat Van der Sar in the league but his efforts, a towering header wide in the first half and a toe-poke in the second, were Fulham’s only interludes from a night of unremitting siege.

The visitors were also reprieved twice when Dimitar Berbatov scored from marginal, though correct, offside positions, the first having been played through by Carlos Tevez, the Argentinian striker who confirmed yesterday that talks on a permanent move to Old Trafford are now on hold. “The two parties have decided to wait until June before finding a definite solution,” said Tevez on his protracted transfer. “I would like to stay here for a few more years because it is very difficult to leave one of the biggest clubs in the world.” Especially on this form.

Berbatov finally got the goal he had been threatening on the half-hour. Scholes received a pass from John O’Shea and lofted a glorious return ball back into the Irishman’s path. O’Shea turned the ball across a hesitant Fulham rearguard and Berbatov converted at close range.

United continued to dominate without reply with Carrick increasingly influential alongside Scholes. Rooney, having missed seven matches through injury, completed the carnival when he tapped in a wayward shot from Park Ji-sung with his first touch of the game, having replaced Berbatov on the hour. “He is 100% fit, he is off the mark and he is back,” said Ferguson. There is no let-up.

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Albert Riera has blamed luck for Liverpool’s slip from the Premier League summit, with the Spanish midfielder claiming fortune has abandoned Rafael Benítez’s team while propelling Manchester United into pole position in the title race.

Liverpool were held to a fourth draw in five home games by Everton on Monday and have seen a seven-point lead over Sir Alex Ferguson’s champions evaporate in 10 days. That period has coincided with Benítez’s outspoken criticism of the United manager and public rejection of a new long-term contract at Anfield.

Riera, however, has denied that Liverpool are distracted by off-field events or the pressure of leading from the front. Instead, he identified Tim Cahill’s 87th-minute equaliser for Everton, following Dimitar Berbatov’s stoppage-time winner for United at Bolton on Saturday, as evidence of the small margins conspiring against Anfield’s pursuit of the title.

“For Liverpool, a draw is always disappointing but we have to keep going,” said the £8m summer signing from Espanyol. “There are a lot of games to go and we have to continue the way we’ve been doing for most of the season. We were really confident with the 1–0 lead, and we haven’t been conceding goals from that position.

“I thought we defended well and were creating some opportunities, but Everton had a bit of luck at the end. I don’t like to talk too much in football about teams being lucky, but at the moment Manchester United are scoring goals in the last minutes and we have now conceded a late goal. At least we’re still on the same points as United and you can be sure we are going to keep on fighting with them.”

Liverpool benefited from late winners of their own earlier in the season yet while admitting that Everton “made sure we were not comfortable” at Anfield, Riera believes the derby performance was an improvement on previous home draws against Fulham, West Ham and Hull.

“We’ve dropped a lot of points at home this season through draws, but this wasn’t like the other times,” said the 26-year-old. “In the other games, the teams were mainly here to defend and we simply couldn’t break them down. But against Everton we got the goal and we could have scored in the first half when Fernando [Torres] hit the post. We created chances on Monday, and we don’t feel disappointed in the same way we did after those games.”

The Everton manager, David Moyes, has promised Liverpool another hard time when the sides meet again in Sunday’s FA Cup fourth round tie at Anfield. Monday night’s draw was Everton’s seventh match without defeat, and Moyes claims that his small squad ensures Everton can be relied upon to produce another fierce confrontation.

“Exactly what Liverpool side we will be facing then I don’t know,” he said, “but he [Benítez] has the players to change things, I do not. He has the squad and the numbers to change things around, I don’t. You won’t see much difference from us, we will just be doing the same things.”

It was, the papers agreed, “innovative”, “ingenious” and “cheeky”. So where did Sir Alex Ferguson really get the idea for that corner routine? From watching Celtic against Vojvodina Novi Sad in 1967, as he claimed today ? From Roma last season? Or – and this is the theory we’re backing – from the Observer’s You Are The Ref strip, featuring Rio Ferdinand, published in October last year? The star question that week in Paul Trevillion’s long-running comic strip – a series of refereeing dilemmas, with answers from the Premier League’s head of referees, Keith Hackett – was posed by reader Tim Perry, who asked this:

“The away side try a new corner routine. The taker pauses and indicates he’ll let a colleague take the kick instead – but as the colleague jogs over, the original player gently brushes the ball with his foot. The ball moves very slightly, but doesn’t leave the arc. The home side haven’t noticed – and when the colleague arrives to take the kick, he surprises everyone by turning, sprinting with the ball into the area and firing it into the net. There’s uproar. What do you give?”

Hackett’s answer at the time was to give the goal: “It’s a clever routine. The ball is in play when it is kicked and moves – it doesn’t have to leave the arc.” So why did the officials disallow United’s version of the routine on Sunday?

“It was a mistake,” Hackett told the Guardian. “In his defence, the assistant referee appears to have been caught by surprise, just like Chelsea, who didn’t defend it. It’s a tough, instant decision to make, but the way to judge it is this. First, was the ball correctly placed in the quadrant? In this case, yes. Was it kicked? In this case, rolled with the base of the foot, which I’d give as a kick. And third, had the referee signalled for the kick to be taken? Corner-kicks are taken without a huge wave from the referee, so that’s fine too. It’s also important to note than the ball doesn’t have to leave the quadrant to be live.

“So it was a good goal – it should have been allowed. I’ve spoken to Howard Webb, and the incident will be discussed in detail with our Select Group referees and assistants. It’ll be a lively debate.”

Ferguson claimed yesterday that the move owed more to his memory bank than Sundays spent reading the Observer. The Manchester United manager revealed: “I used it once before at Aberdeen. Celtic used it in a European Cup quarter-final in 1967, the year they won it, and that was the first time I ever saw it used. [Bobby] Lennox and [Jimmy] Johnstone it was. I always hoped I would use it at some point. It creates confusion if nothing else. All you can hope for is to hit the target or make the goalkeeper work. We tried it at Aberdeen but it didn’t come off. I’ve waited 40 years to do that and it gets chalked off! I don’t think we’ll be trying it again.”

Mind games were employed again today but Sir Alex Ferguson’s only target was Manchester United. The Scot has warned his champions they cannot miss the chance to close in on Liverpool tomorrow night against a Wigan team who will pose a greater threat than Chelsea.

Ferguson’s comments could have been taken as a cheap dig at an already floored Luiz Felipe Scolari, following the destruction of Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday, but the aim was purely to guard against complacency in the champions’ ranks ahead of tomorrow night’s visit of Steve Bruce’s in-form side. With both Patrice Evra and Rio Ferdinand absent through injury, the former with a foot ligament problem that will keep him out for up to four weeks, and given the energy expended against Chelsea, Ferguson admits United will struggle to recapture Sunday’s rarefied heights against a Wigan team on a run of six wins from seven games. The end result, however, must be the same in the first of United’s two games in hand, according to their manager.

“This is the harder game for us now,” Ferguson said. “It is one of our two games in hand and we have to win these games. It is a very important game for us. On the back of the Chelsea game people will expect us to be at that level of performance but that was a very high level. I haven’t watched the game again but I’ve looked at the stats and Chelsea worked amazingly hard, which shows you the level we got to. I will have to freshen things up against Wigan, but freshen things up to win.”

The United manager also cautioned against treating Wigan with any less respect than shown to Roman Abramovich’s troubled investment at Old Trafford. He added: “Wigan are on a fantastic run. They are a powerful team. I thought they would do well this year but they had a disappointing start as far as Steve Bruce is concerned. I thought they would fly off from the start because there is a good age about their team, but they have certainly recovered now.”

A United victory tomorrow night and at Bolton on Saturday would take the champions above Liverpool at the Premier League summit ahead of Monday’s Merseyside derby at Anfield, and Ferguson admitted he is surprised by how swiftly his team have closed the gap at the top. “I didn’t expect it yet, no,” he said. “But the time to judge us is when we have played the two games in hand and our next one is not until 14 February.”

Ferguson’s changes tomorrow night will be enforced as well as dictated by fatigue, with Ferdinand again absent through a back problem and Evra paying a high price for the immaculate cross that created Wayne Rooney’s goal on Sunday.

“Evra is out for three weeks minimum, maybe four. And for such a simple thing,” said the United manager, who confirmed Ferdinand will also miss the trip to Bolton but should be available for the FA Cup fourth-round tie against Tottenham Hotspur. “He went over on his foot as he crossed the ball and damaged the ligament in the bottom of his foot. It will take seven or eight days just to clear the blood and the swelling. But we recently had to cope without him for four games and John O’Shea is a fantastic player so I have no concerns. Wes Brown should be back in two weeks as well. January is a difficult programme but we have the squad to cope and the versatility is a big help. Once we get Wes Brown back we will be OK.”

United officially unveiled their new Serbian left-winger Zoran Tosic today, signed from Partizan Belgrade as part of a joint £17.3m package with Adem Ljajic, who will move to Old Trafford next season. And Ferguson, who admitted he expects Tosic to challenge for a first-team place within six weeks, explained: “Whereas Cristiano Ronaldo has a fantastic ability to dribble, Zoran is more direct and straightforward on the wing. He is intelligent, naturally left-footed and has a good delivery. He is similar to [David] Beckham in terms of his box-to-box play.”

Rafael Benítez swept five years of private discontent with Sir Alex Ferguson into the public domain yesterday when he claimed the Manchester United manager acted above the law and warned Chelsea to expect the Scot to intimidate match officials when the two sides meet at Old Trafford tomorrow.

In an extraordinary, uncharacteristic outburst which echoed Kevin Keegan’s infamous rant against Ferguson in 1996 but amounted to an overdue statement of facts as far as Benítez was concerned, the Liverpool manager said his United counterpart had been allowed to operate with impunity by the Premier League and Football Association.

Reading from a prepared, handwritten statement and visibly angry, Benítez also accused Ferguson of single-handedly destroying the FA’s Respect campaign, of fearing Liverpool’s title challenge and of hypocrisy over complaints regarding this season’s fixture schedule. He also invited possible censure from the FA by accusing the referee Steve Bennett of favouritism towards the European champions.

Later, and away from the television cameras, Benítez hinted at another schism in the Liverpool hierarchy by revealing his agent was “not very happy” at the lack of progress on his new contract. But that development was overshadowed by the Spaniard’s furious response to Ferguson’s claim that Liverpool “will get nervous” as they hunt down their first league title since 1990, and the list of misdemeanours he had compiled against the United manager since Javier Mascherano’s dismissal at Old Trafford in March.

“I want to be clear. I don’t want to play mind games too early but I think they want to start,” Benítez said. “We started the Respect campaign and it started with the sending off of Mascherano at Old Trafford by Mr Bennett. That was the referee when they played against Wigan and he couldn’t see the handball by Ferdinand and didn’t give a penalty and they won the game and the title. I think it is the same referee who will be in charge of their game in hand against Wigan.

“During the Respect campaign Ferguson was charged by the FA with improper conduct following remarks made against Martin Atkinson and Keith Hackett. He was not punished. He is the only manager in the English league who cannot be punished for these things.”

The Liverpool manager, referring to an independent commission’s decision to clear Ferguson for comments that followed the FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Portsmouth last season, a verdict later criticised by the FA, added: “We had a meeting in Manchester with managers and FA about the Respect campaign.

“And I was very clear, forget the campaign because Mr Ferguson was killing the referees, killing Mr Atkinson, killing Mr Hackett. How can you talk about the Respect campaign and criticise the referee every single week?”

Benítez claimed United had “a fantastic advantage” in playing Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal all at home in the second half of the season, despite Ferguson’s repeated complaints to the contrary, and had a novel suggestion to appease the Scot. “Mr Ferguson organises the fixtures and everything in his office and sends them to us. Then everyone will know and no one can complain. Simple,” he said.

The Liverpool manager concluded that it was common knowledge within the game that Ferguson and the United coaching team attempt to influence match officials. “When we go to Old Trafford we also try to mark their staff,” he added. “Maybe the other managers don’t know, so now they can realise it is like this. Mr Scolari needs to know that they are always doing man-to-man with the referees when they go to the bench and especially at half-time. They walk close to the referee and talking, talking, talking. It is a risk at every game there.”

Benítez has been aggrieved by Ferguson’s authority since he arrived at Anfield and contemplated this outburst for several months. He was particularly incensed by Ferguson’s assertion that Liverpool’s victory at Chelsea in October was merely a good result for the reigning champions and, given how the criticism was premeditated, denied he had become another classic victim of the United manager’s mind games. He later said: “Why not respond? He has been talking about Liverpool since we played Chelsea. I am not irritated. I am very analytical and I know that I am only talking about the facts. I was not talking about my impression. I have my own opinions. It is very clear.”

Benítez later admitted talks on his new four–and-a–half–year contract at Liverpool had stalled between his agent, Manuel García Quilón, and the club’s owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks. “I was talking with my agent this morning and he didn’t have any news so he is not very happy,” he said. “I won’t talk about this. My agent is in charge of this.” Personal terms and the length of Benítez’s contract were agreed between the respective parties in early December but were delayed when the Spaniard underwent surgery to remove kidney stones.

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Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted Manchester United’s 12,000-mile round trip for the Fifa Club World Cup in Japan could harm his side’s prospects of winning a third successive Premier League title in Yokohama.

United face Liga de Quito of Ecuador in today’s final here, where they are bidding to become the first British club to win the tournament since it was expanded in 2000. They return to Manchester tomorrow night and play away at Stoke at 12.45pm on Boxing Day. The champions could be nine points and two games adrift of Liverpool on their return, if the leaders beat Arsenal today. And Ferguson believes fatigue has already had an impact on his players in Japan.

“A lot of us are finding it difficult and struggling to sleep,” the United manager said. “Towards the end of the semi-final on Thursday there were signs that jet-lag was having an effect on the players, the game was very open and loose in the last 20 minutes, but I think we will be in a better physical condition for the final. It is difficult to say what the impact will be when we get back home.

“Hopefully we will have enough recovery time to produce at Stoke. After the Inter-Continental Cup in 1999 we went back home and beat Everton 5-1 three days later, so who is to say what might happen? But we know we do have a task on our hands when we get back.”

United are likely to be without Dimitar Berbatov against the Copa Libertadores champions, with the £30.75m striker suffering from the virus that ruled him out of the semi-final defeat of Gamba Osaka. “This will be more of a physical test for us,” Ferguson added. “We’ve watched Liga de Quito’s semi-final against Pachuca and, as you would expect from a South American team, they are resilient and powerful.”

Sepp Blatter expects England to put forward a “strong” bid to host the 2018 World Cup. The world governing body have confirmed the hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will be decided at the same time and have allowed countries to bid for both. “England is a strong candidate, because it is a strong country in football,” the Fifa president said.

Lord Triesman, England’s World Cup bid team chairman, said: “The announcement of a dual process doesn’t affect our planning at all. Our mission is to ensure we have the support of everyone around the country, so the world knows that England not only has the infrastructure to stage a tournament, but also the enthusiasm to make it the best possible event in World Cup history.

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The two concepts were born amid acrimony, out of avarice and would shoehorn extra demands into an already congested calendar, and yet Sir Alex Ferguson’s views on the 39th game and the Fifa Club World Cup are as diametrically opposed as his feelings for Manchester United and Manchester City. One is the progressive global force opening new frontiers, the other a money-driven irritation. No prizes for guessing which.

“I don’t think there will ever be a 39th game and I don’t believe there should be,” said Ferguson on the Premier League’s controversial proposals yesterday in Japan, where United have diverted in an attempt to become the first British club to win the Club World Cup in its current form. “You look at our domestic programme allied to our cup competitions. It is impossible.”

An 11,728-mile round trip to play two matches in a competition with arguably less appeal to the British public than the Carling Cup, however, is a workload Ferguson is only too happy to shoulder. And he sees no contradiction in stating so.

“It’s an achievement to just be involved in the Club World Cup,” the United manager said. “We’re the only British team to have won it and I consider that to be one of the club’s greatest achievements. There’s now a different focus on the tournament and it’s good that teams from Africa, Asia and elsewhere take part. You can’t stop progress and this is a progressive step. The quality of the game has improved tremendously all over the world. “

The tournament has undergone a fundamental makeover since Roy Keane secured United victory over Palmeiras in the Inter-Continental Cup of 1999. Then it was an annual contest between the champions of Europe and South America. Now the champions of Africa, Oceania, Asia (plus the Asia runners-up, Adelaide United of Australia) and North, Central America & the Caribbean (Concacaf) stage an eight-game event over 10 days with the victor decided in Yokohama on Sunday.

United and their South American counter­parts, Liga de Quito, the first club from Ecuador to win the Copa Libertadores when they beat Fluminense on penalties at the Maracana, have received byes into the semi-finals. Ferguson’s team meet Gamba Osaka tomorrow and their final (or third-place play-off) opponent will be decided between Liga de Quito and Pachuca of Mexico today.

The fanaticism of the Japanese audience is a stark contrast to the laissez-faire attitude of fans from the Champions League superpowers towards the Club World Cup, although not with the European managers involved. A knockout tournament to christen a world champion appeals to Ferguson’s undiminished competitive instinct. With $5m (£3.4m) out of a total prize fund of $16.5m going to the winner, success comes at an attractive price too.

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The greatest sin committed by Cristiano Ronaldo yesterday was to hand Manchester City an opportunity to mock their dominant neighbours. It was more than Mark Hughes’s team deserved. Sir Alex Ferguson claimed that the Manchester United winger was attempting to protect his face when he handled Wayne Rooney’s corner and received a red card at the City of Manchester Stadium. “If the ball was going to hit him in the face why didn’t he just head it?” asked Hughes, his rapid reaction and penetrating question in stark contrast to the performance of his team.

Hughes, like any manager in need of a distraction, did not allow Ferguson’s plethora of excuses for Ronaldo’s indiscretion go to waste after a dispiriting derby defeat for City. The third red card of the Portuguese’s United career gave City a numerical advantage they could not take advantage of but a diversionary tactic their manager did. Ferguson preferred to keep the spotlight fixed on a display that should diminish any insecurity United have developed on their travels this season.

“He was trying to protect himself from the ball hitting his face; he may have got a little shove as well,” said the United manager. He then offered a third possible reason as to why Ronaldo, already booked for a foul on Shaun Wright-Phillips, punched the ball as Dimitar Berbatov and Micah Richards wrestled for Rooney’s corner.

“He thought he’d heard the referee’s whistle,” said Ferguson. “But I’m not going to get into the refereeing, we’d be here all day. Sometimes you have to overcome things and we have done that today - with 10 men we proved ourselves.”

Ferguson was justified in accentuating the positives of an assured performance, although whether he would have adopted the same line had Richard Dunne equalised at the death is another matter entirely. United’s defence of Ronaldo, however, was undermined by every weak excuse voiced.

Rio Ferdinand claimed there had been a push; Ronaldo pointed to the injured Richards lying on the floor and also claimed to have heard, mid-leap and with the ball sailing towards his forehead, a whistle for a foul that had yet to materialise. It was an argument he is said to have repeated as he watched the incident on television monitors inside the tunnel.

“I heard a beep,” he is reported to have said. Television replays, whether in slow-motion, real-time, from behind the goal or tracking Ronaldo’s run, confirmed the winger had merely taken leave of his senses. “I don’t think the referee had any choice,” said Hughes. “I don’t know what excuse they’ll give for that. It was a soft sending off, but a second yellow card and so he had to go.”

Ronaldo may be blessed with many extraordinary talents but psychic hearing is not one of them. As Ferguson vented his spleen at the fourth official and his players raged at Webb over the supposed injustice, their energies would have been better spent on questions to their own No7.

So often the saviour, he was almost a liability here and it was in spite of his contribution that the champions reclaimed civic pride (after two defeats to City last season) and, more importantly, secured their finest away win of the season so far, with 10 men.

“In the first half we were magnificent. We dominated the match,” said Ferguson. “For 10 minutes at the start of the second they stepped up their game, but they were not a threat. We had to play the last 20-odd minutes with 10 men. We soaked up some pressure but we handled it very well.”

Painting Ronaldo as the innocent victim again is a mistake, however. Barring a hitch in the voting system the United star should be announced as the European player of the year today and collect the Ballon D’Or tomorrow, but his claims to greatness will never be indisputable while he considers himself above the law and a victim of it. The only target yesterday for “systematic fouling”, the term Ferguson used to describe opponents’ treatment of Ronaldo after a bruising night in Villarreal last week, was Wright-Phillips. Ronaldo, whether pushed, hearing things or worried about his looks, had no excuse.

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Wayne Rooney has stoked the Manchester rivalry ahead of Sunday’s derby by insisting that City remain an after-thought to United and will only be taken seriously at Old Trafford once they have the silverware to match their enviable bank balance.

United visit the City of Manchester Stadium this weekend for the first time since Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s £210m takeover elevated City to the richest club in the world and secured Robinho for a British record £32.5m transfer. The Brazilian’s impact, the attempt to hijack Dimitar Berbatov’s deadline-day move to United and the promise of unlimited funds for the manager, Mark Hughes, in January have all helped raise the profile and expectations of a club with designs on emulating their neighbours’ global appeal. Rooney, however, believes Hughes’ team are not even close to being considered the pre-eminent club in their own city.

“Sunday is a massive game,” said the United striker. “It’s a huge game for the players, the fans and the club after what happened at City with the takeover. It’ll be nice to show them who are the kings of Manchester. It doesn’t irritate us that City are getting all this publicity. If they were winning trophies it would irritate us, but while they’re still lingering in mid-table we’re not too bothered about it.”

Despite the put-down, Rooney welcomed the influx of Abu Dhabi money into United’s rivals and believes it will improve competition in the Premier League.

“The money coming into City is good for the league,” said the England international. “For a few years the usual top four have been running away with it so you want more competition. If you end up with the top ten fighting for the one place at the top then that will make it a more exciting league. It wouldn’t bother me if City were making the challenge but you never know if City will be able to finish in the top four and make the breakthrough. We’ve seen Everton in the past few years finish in the top four and Aston Villa are getting close this season so you never know who might do it.”

City won both Manchester derbies for the first time in 34 years last season, although, with United trailing Chelsea and Liverpool by eight points, Rooney admits there is more than parochial pride at stake on Sunday. He added: “Even though we did end up winning the Premier League and Champions League last season we do owe the fans a derby win. We can’t afford not to win, especially if Liverpool and Chelsea win at the weekend. We have to keep winning and I am sure we’ll catch them up.”

United’s away form has been poor so far this season but the second half of the campaign brings all their major rivals to Old Trafford, and Rooney insists they have every chance of securing a third successive league title. “Our away form hasn’t been great, but we’ve had some difficult matches already,” the striker said. “We’re still not too far away from Chelsea and Liverpool and we normally finish the season strongly.”

Rooney has not scored in eight appearances for United since a purple patch of nine in seven matches for club and country last month. The latest, a bruising encounter with Villarreal in the Champions League on Tuesday during which Cristiano Ronaldo was the target of “systematic fouling” according to his manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, means the £27m forward enters the Manchester derby on 99 club goals. He added: “When I’m scoring I’m up there with the best in the world, but when I’m not people say I shouldn’t be playing. I don’t know why I score in bursts. I’ve been like that ever since I started playing.”

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Manchester United advanced into the knockout stage of the Champions League last night with an apology from Wayne Rooney for diving against Villarreal and Sir Alex Ferguson claiming that Cristiano Ronaldo was now the victim of “systematic fouling”.

The United manager revealed that his England international Rooney said sorry after the game for twice resorting to theatrics, the second an attempt to conjure a penalty after Villarreal’s goalkeeper Diego Lopez had spilled a Ronaldo shot. The former Arsenal player Robert Pires also dived for a penalty from a negligible challenge by Rio Ferdinand in the first half.

“It was uncharacteristic of Wayne,” said Ferguson. “He thought he was going to be challenged and made the most of it. It was unusual of him and he has apologised to me. He said he thought the boy was going to challenge him for a penalty and he was preparing for that. I think he’s been watching Pires too much! At least he apologised to the Villarreal players. You never see Pires doing that, do you? Bloody hell.”

Two Villarreal players were booked for challenges on Ronaldo while Joan Capdevila was dismissed in the 82nd minute for catching the Portugal international above the left knee. Although the 23-year-old was fit to finish the goalless draw, his manager said the treatment confirmed his theory that Ronaldo is a deliberate and sustained target for United’s opponents.

“If the referee does his job that’s sufficient. The problem is the press don’t do enough,” said Ferguson. “Systematic fouling is happening now, it is a tactic. One foul becomes another becomes another, and eventually the referee thinks he’s diving.

“There were three fouls which the referee quite rightly booked the players for and sent one off. It was very high and Ronaldo’s got stud marks above his knee. When you go that high you risk a red card.”

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Nothing divided Villarreal and Manchester United like their treatment of Cristiano Ronaldo last night. Indulged by his employers, targeted by the enemy, the Portuguese was the centre of controversy once again as both teams booked their place in the knockout phase, trading insults and injuries as they did so.

Ronaldo had arrived in Spain exonerated by his manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, for reacting to taunts from crowds. There is nothing Ferguson can do to protect his prized asset from opposition studs, however, and the fourth successive goalless draw between these teams had developed into a painful affair for Ronaldo long before Joan Capdevila received a straight red card in the 82nd minute for a knee-high challenge on the winger. Two other Villarreal players were booked for fouls on the United No7 before Capdevila’s dismissal left the home supporters baying for retribution and Ferguson anxious ahead of Sunday’s Manchester derby.

It is through driving into this small, isolated town that the Villarreal manager Manuel Pellegrini’s achievement is truly impressed on the outsider. The football club’s 25,000-seater stadium is the most imposing building, yet two Champions League and three Uefa Cup qualifications have been delivered.

The Villarreal team has undergone a transformation since United’s previous visit, in 2005, with only two of the side that started when Wayne Rooney received a red card from Kim Milton Nielsen - Gonzalo Rodriguez and Marcos Senna - present from the off last night. But the Spanish club proved a formidable barrier once again.

Despite a promising opening from United, especially down the left through Nani, Anderson and Patrice Evra, they were restricted to testing Diego López from distance. The home defence held firm. United’s best chance took 41 minutes to arrive but it was almost worth the wait as Rooney cushioned Anderson’s cross-field ball into the path of Ronaldo, who unleashed a 25-yard drive towards the top corner. A finger-tip save from Lopez diverted the shot on to the crossbar.

The Villarreal goalkeeper also denied Ronaldo from a long-range free-kick towards his bottom right-hand corner and set pieces were frequent in a game littered with fouls and interruptions. Javi Venta and Sebastian Eguren were booked for lunging at Ronaldo’s heavily-strapped ankles; Ariel Ibagaza was caught on camera digging his fingernails into the Portugal international’s neck as he sat on the floor following another illegal block. The Italian referee, Roberto Rosetti, was also required to lecture Rooney and the former Arsenal winger Robert Pires for diving.

United were the more creative, Darren Fletcher failing to get sufficient power on a half-volley from the edge of the area. Tomasz Kuszczak was stretched only once in the first half, parrying Santi Cazorla’s swerving effort.

The fractious atmosphere did not diminish with half-time and within eight minutes of the restart Rooney had indulged in theatrics once again in a vain attempt to win a penalty and Ronaldo had collected the fourth yellow card of the contest. Rooney’s indiscretion came as he seized on a Ronaldo shot that had been spilled at the front post by López, and collapsed under the slightest touch from Fabricio Fuentes with the danger still alive for Villarreal. It was a needless act matched by Ronaldo’s dissent when he moved the ball back at a Villarreal free-kick close to the home side’s corner flag. The prospective world player of the year is not above the law.

Villarreal were hampered by the withdrawal of the injured Senna at half-time and despite a brief flurry when the former United striker Giuseppe Rossi turned Rio Ferdinand inside the area and Capdevila almost connected with a fine cross from Cazorla, United threatened more.

Rooney chipped wide after good work by Fletcher and was thwarted by an instinctive save when he volleyed on the turn. Anderson sent two decent chances straight at the Spaniard, the second after Rooney and John O’Shea had combined to create an opening from 18 yards. The breakthrough almost arrived with 10 minutes remaining. Rooney was the instigator with a run from the left and his cross looped over López courtesy of a deflection. With the ball sailing into the net Capdevila threw himself forwards to head off the line. His next lunge would not be so impressive.

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