Monday, 24 March 2008

RAFA SURPRISED BY RED CARD

Rafa Benitez has admitted that he is as surprised as Javier Mascherano after the Argentinian midfielder was sent off against Man Utd for what Benitez labelled as simply 'asking a question'. Liverpool slumped to a 3-0 defeat against United.

Benitez explained: “It's clear Mascherano made a mistake but he was only asking the referee a question. Ryan Babel was there and saw that he was just asking.

"Maybe he does not know the referee. The referee decided to give a second yellow card and he couldn't understand. He was as surprised as me.

"I could speak to him in Spanish, so I said, 'Listen, it's finished.'

"He knows he made a mistake but he was so surprised. He is a very good professional who has played a lot of international games all around the world, and he couldn't understand why he was sent off for just asking.

"It's difficult to explain some things that happen on the pitch and I think it is perhaps better to not say too much this time."

BENITEZ BACKS SENT-OFF MASCHERANO


Interview: Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez gave his support to Javier Mascherano after the midfielder was sent off during the 3-0 defeat at Manchester United.

The Argentine was shown a second yellow for showing dissent towards referee Steve Bennett.

"Mascherano was surprised at the decision because he thought he said nothing wrong," said Benitez.

"Ryan Babel heard everything and told me Mascherano was just asking why Fernando Torres had been booked."

Benitez did admit that the Argentine midfielder, who was still incensed in the moments after being shown red, had made a mistake in going up to Bennett.

"He reacted like he did because he was surprised - I was telling him calm down. However, he made a mistake though by approaching the referee."

The Spanish manager added: "After the sending-off the game was over."

At that point, Liverpool were already 1-0 down after United defender Wes Brown outjumped goalkeeper Pepe Reina to head Sir Alex Ferguson's men into the lead.

Javier Mascherano and Rafa Benitez
Mascherano explains his dismissal to manager Benitez

But it was not until the 79th minute that they doubled their lead when Reina was beaten again in the air, this time by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Benitez defended his fellow countryman despite the errors.

"Sometimes keepers make mistakes - these things happen."

United boss Ferguson was adamant Mascherano suffered the consequences as a result of his pestering of Bennett.

"He was booked and then kept badgering the referee," said the Scot.

United forward Wayne Rooney said the red card had little bearing on the match.

"It's always nice to beat Liverpool. We tried to play the game as we saw it and I'm delighted with the win," said the striker.

"I don't think the sending-off changed the game too much. At the end the of the match Liverpool were tired but during the game we always looked comfortable."

Thursday, 13 March 2008

WATCH TORRES FIRE US INTO QUARTER FINALS

Liverpool booked their place in the quarter finals of the Champions League with a brilliant 1-0 victory over Inter Milan in the San Siro last night and you can now enjoy highlights of our latest magical European display online.
Fernando Torres' 26th goal of the season settled the match on the night and gave Rafael Benitez's side a 3-0 aggregate victory against an Inter side who saw defender Nicolas Burdisso dismissed in the second half for two bookable offences.

Liverpool now line up alongside Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Barcelona, Roma, Schalke and Fenerbache in Friday's last eight draw in Moscow.

If you missed the action, or if you simply want to relive it all again, then you can now watch either a 14 or a 38 minutes highlights package online.

You will need to be an e-Season Ticket holder to enjoy the action from Italy, so sign up now for as little as 13p per day and enjoy the best of the action from another famous night in the Reds' glorious European history.

Paul Eaton 12 March 2008
LFC.TV

Monday, 10 March 2008

INTERNAL AFFAIR

I first watched this Hong Kong movie called Infernal Affairs a few years ago. For those who don't really know the story, here's a very short spoiler of what happened: Two young officer cadets go to the same police school. Andy Lau plays a protege to one of the most-wanted criminals in Hong Kong, who is installed as a mole in the Police Force, where he rises to detective. Tony Leung is dispatched to become a spy in that very gang that Andy Lau's loyalties lie. As both sides struggle to find who is the traitor, there is a classic rooftop scene in which both moles face off.

Leung: I am a cop. (Points gun at Andy Lau)

Lau: Who knows that?

It is a tragic movie about divided personalities, and is a movie that has so many twists that in the end you'll be spinning in your seat catching your breath.

I am talking about this movie because it seems so similar to the strange dark cloud that has settled over Anfield's board room this season. Coincidentally, acclaimed American director Martin Scorcese thought that he could make a Yank version of the movie, too. He called it The Departed.

Martin Scorcese won an Oscar for this, which is pretty surprising, because I felt he took off the class from the original and made it chock-full of the violence that you'd expect from his movies.

In any case, the movies made me think of the two leading roles at Anfield right now - Tom Hicks and George Gillett, Jr. We have constantly been made to believe, by the media, that the guy to hate, lock, stock and barrel, to be the Texan guy who said he was impressed by Jurgen Klinsmann.

But where has ol' George been all this time, eh? The 'quiet American' went into the buyout of our beloved club after snagging the guy with the purse, Tom Hicks. For a moment it seemed that he was the one with the passion for the club - until he suddenly disappeared sometime after November and never re-emerged.

In the meantime, poor Tom Hicks - probably never that good with words - mentioned that George and himself had been looking for an insurance policy. NOT John Hancock, NOT AIG, NOT even Prudential, but a German guy who used to dive for Tottenham Hotspur.

So in the meantime we got to our business of defending Rafa, thinking that Hicks is the bad guy, when he's actually the one who raised his hands after his partner shot the golden goose. In recent reports, Rafa has kissed and made up with Tom Hicks, and it seems ever clearer that the man in the sidelines might have been the one up to mischief.

When he finally let loose one final objection - that 'my partner cannot sell without my approval' - it made me realise something. This was the guy who was pulled in to purchase the club last minute - but he's the guy who least wants to leave. At least, that's how it looks like from my perspective. This was the rooftop scene, all over again. The last stab of justice, before the inevitable starts to happen.

Tony Leung's character will die at the end of the movie, without a proper identity, killed by a traitor in the Police Force. Tom Hicks will leave at the end of the season, probably hated eternally by most Liverpool fans, because he tried to do the impossible by holding the club together even after the breakdown of a fragile business partnership.

Somehow, I don't think that Tom Hicks is holding out just for profit. A niggling feeling tells me that we have maligned this innocent Texan. While I awaited eagerly for George Gillett to come out to make his stand, he has failed to do so - and a present screw-up, in my opinion (in the case of Hicks) is still much better than an absent one.

No matter what happens at the end of the season - and I strongly believe that Hicks will be gone by then as well as Gillett - I know that he has been the lesser of the two evils in this Axis power era. He made the effort to design (and redesign) the stadium, and was still the main man in the purchase of Fernando Torres. And coming out to tell everyone that they wanted Klinsmann as a 'replacement', 'insurance', or whatever you call it was a darned stupid thing, although on the other side it was a brave admission of error - typical perhaps of the Texas way (being brave, I mean).

George Gillett? Like a snake, he has slithered out of the trouble that brewed at Anfield. Foster, his son, one of the directors at Liverpool, has disappeared for weeks now in the boardroom, and if Dubai do successfully purchase the club in the months to come, all I will remember about him is that he was part of the shorter side of Merseyside in more ways than one.

Some people will ask why doesn't Tom Hicks hold on to his stake if George Gillett sells. Yet we must understand the stark differences in management styles of the DIC and the Americans. This puts Hicks in a thorough dilemma. I doubt he will want to let his dormant partner hold on to a valuable 50% stake and do nothing for the club, yet he's not exactly enthusiastic to look at DIC representatives eye to eye during board meetings.

Having said that, all I want as a fan will be stability for next season, and not all these Infernal Affairs-like drama occurring behind the scenes. For now, I turn my attention to the return of the prodigal son, Michael Owen, to Anfield, as we face off Newcastle United.