A survey recently conducted by Sky Sports asked fans of every Premier League club to vote for their team’s best ever game in the competition since 1992. Ahead of the full results being revealed on Sunday, they have revealed that the game that topped the Liverpool fans’ vote was the famous 4-1 victory away at Old Trafford against United in March 2009. And to be fair, I couldn’t have picked a better game myself.
The game was 8 years ago now and featured perhaps the best squads both clubs have had in the Premier League era. Liverpool of course had the fantastic partnership of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres going forward, while Javier Mascherano, Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia also all played.
United didn’t have a bad team themselves, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez all starting. Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Dimitar Berbatov all came on from the bench. It was perhaps the most devastating team of the Alex Ferguson era.
We went into the game needing to win. It was that simple. The title race was becoming more of a two-horse race by the week, with Chelsea and Arsenal dropping out of it.
If United were to take the points, it was almost a case of being a title decider in their favour. And, as if the fixture didn’t already have enough edge to it, this was the first encounter between Rafa Benitez and Alex Ferguson since Rafa’s infamous ???facts’ rant in January of that year.
Both teams had faced 2nd legs of Champions League ties in the week proceeding. United had edged past Inter Milan but Liverpool could hardly have been feeling better about themselves, having beaten Real Madrid 4-0 at Anfield (5-0 on aggregate) to make it through to the quarter-finals. The stage was set for the biggest game of the season, although even the most optimistic of Liverpool fans may have failed to predict how the afternoon would pan out.
Our preparations for the game were hampered when Xabi Alonso suffered an untimely injury prior to the clash. T
here was an even further issue on the day of the match as Alvaro Arbeloa picked up a knock during the warm-up, forcing Sami Hyypia to come in late in the preparations. Perhaps this unsettled United, perhaps they got complacent, it doesn’t really matter now.
We let them have the first 23 minutes. We were nice like that.
They got themselves ahead with a Ronaldo penalty and all the home supporters were having a lovely afternoon. It was all fine and dandy until Martin Skrtel hoofed a long, searching clearance towards the East Stand of the stadium. Nemanja Vidic let the ball bounce, Torres nipped in, and suddenly, the tide turned. Liverpool were level, and there was a sense of unsettledness within the ground. Before we knew it, Gerrard had tucked away a penalty of his own and we had a 2-1 lead at half time.
It was a delicate lead, and as expected, United made a strong start to the second half. Chances went by and it appeared as though it was going to be a backs-to-the-wall performance right until the final whistle. This was until Liverpool had a spell of pressure of their own, and Vidic’s nightmare game continued. Gerrard got a lucky ricochet off the Serbian and appeared to be in on goal, before Vidic dragged him down on the edge of the area, earning himself a sending off and a perfect opportunity for Fabio Aurelio to make it 3-1 from the set-piece. Which he did. Queue bedlam in the away end and thousands of pubs and households back in Merseyside.
With 15 minutes to go, Liverpool had a healthy lead at Old Trafford, it surely couldn’t get better? Oh, but it could. Substitute Andreas Dossena got in on the act right at the beginning of stoppage time, latching onto the end of Pepe Reina’s goal-kick, and lobbing the oncoming Edwin Van Der Sar. It was absolutely beautiful.
Even as a young fan at that time, I can still remember the day quite clearly. I remember being sat in the front room in disbelief, the pair of us delirious having witnessed what we had. Of course, many United fans will now argue that even though we won that battle, it was they who won the war.
Well to that I say, up yours, we absolutely spanked your arses in your own back yard, and it is officially our greatest ever game in the Premier League. FACT.