Premier League leaders Manchester United were trashed at Old Trafford by a Liverpool on steroids. Keeper Edwin van der Sar, who had a firm handle on the record for the number of games without a goal, conceded a whole four!
Van der Sar’s performance in the game seriously hurt his rating: he lost 19.64 points and has now lost his top spot in the Top-23 rating of best world goalies. The Dutchman now has 123.57 points, well behind Liverpool’s Pepe Reina, who now has 134.23 points.
All began with a Man United goal by Cristiano Ronaldo from a penalty conceded for a foul on Ji-Sung Park 23 minutes into the game. But that was the end of it for the Reds. Ronaldo lost 13.40 rating points in the game.
A mere five minutes after Manchester United’s goal, Fernando Torres collected the ball from a miserable Nemanja Vidic and found himself one-on-one with van der Sar, whom he beat easily to level the game. The end of the first half saw another goal from the penalty box, this time by Steven Gerrard. Boss Alex Ferguson’s men were clearly on the losing side from then on. Liverpool’s captain Steven Gerrard earned an insolent 23.58 points in the game, boosting his rating to 163.08 points.
Man United’s nightmare continued into the second half, with the ball obdurately refusing to find Liverpool’s net, while goalie Reina’s mistakes were being cancelled out by the posts. At the 76th minutes, Croatian international Vidic was finally sent off after a miserable performance for a foul on Gerrard. Liverpool’s Fabio Aurelio used the chance to make the score 3:1 from a free kick, while substitute Andrea Dossena easily passed John O’Shea and lobbed the ball over a dumbfounded van der Sar to make it 4:1. Liverpool have now reduced the gap between them and leaders Man United and Chelsea to 4 points.
© FTBL