Steven Gerrard believes Liverpool can still win the Premier League, provided that Fernando Torres stays fit. The Liverpool captain hailed the scorer of their equaliser in the 4-1 win against Manchester United as the best player in the world.
"He's magic," Gerrard said. "I know I'm going to be biased but I don't think that anyone will argue against me that he's the best striker in the world. If we keep him fit from now to the end of the season it's going to be an exciting finish."
This was only the ninth time Gerrard and the Spanish striker have played together in the league, mainly because of Torres's injury problems. "It's frustrating not having him out there and playing alongside him," Gerrard said. "We have a good understanding. I believe that if we'd had him for more games we'd be closer or even in front of United."
"If we can play like that every week we can win more games and maybe win something else," Torres said. "Except it might be difficult to play like that every week."
Rafa Benítez had the last laugh on his United counterpart Sir Alex Ferguson – or at least he would have done had the Liverpool manager been willing to crack so much as a smile in his moment of victory.
This was the first meeting of the two managers since the dossier of complaints Benítez produced at the start of the year raised the stakes even higher than usual in the North West derby, yet not even sticking four goals on United and Real Madrid in the same week brought any outward sign of pleasure. Just as the Liverpool manager does not celebrate goals on the touchline he refuses to bask in the glory of a magnificent result, preferring to heap praise on his players and let the supporters do the singing and dancing.
"As a manager you have to be pleased with such a result, but a manager cannot win any game without good players," Benítez said, in response to being asked why he looked so glum. "The most important thing today was three points, not my first win at Old Trafford. It is still going to be very difficult to win the league from this position, we would have to win every game and hope United lose some, but at least we have more confidence. If we can beat Real Madrid and we can beat Manchester United then clearly we can beat anyone."
Of Gerrard and Torres's partnership, he added: "They are very big for us, when they are both on the pitch the team has more confidence. Consequently it is a big loss when one of them is missing, and that has happened too often this season. I want to congratulate all my team though. Our plan was to stop the United players who run between the lines, and that's what we did. We knew we had to win, we had no other option."
Ferguson put United's heaviest home defeat for 17 years (Queens Park Rangers, same score, New Year's Day 1992) down to a bad day at the office. "It was an off day, we made mistakes, and I didn't expect that," Ferguson said. "We accept we had a bad day in terms of the goals we lost but I don't think we played all that badly. The important thing now is to respond."
"He's magic," Gerrard said. "I know I'm going to be biased but I don't think that anyone will argue against me that he's the best striker in the world. If we keep him fit from now to the end of the season it's going to be an exciting finish."
This was only the ninth time Gerrard and the Spanish striker have played together in the league, mainly because of Torres's injury problems. "It's frustrating not having him out there and playing alongside him," Gerrard said. "We have a good understanding. I believe that if we'd had him for more games we'd be closer or even in front of United."
"If we can play like that every week we can win more games and maybe win something else," Torres said. "Except it might be difficult to play like that every week."
Rafa Benítez had the last laugh on his United counterpart Sir Alex Ferguson – or at least he would have done had the Liverpool manager been willing to crack so much as a smile in his moment of victory.
This was the first meeting of the two managers since the dossier of complaints Benítez produced at the start of the year raised the stakes even higher than usual in the North West derby, yet not even sticking four goals on United and Real Madrid in the same week brought any outward sign of pleasure. Just as the Liverpool manager does not celebrate goals on the touchline he refuses to bask in the glory of a magnificent result, preferring to heap praise on his players and let the supporters do the singing and dancing.
"As a manager you have to be pleased with such a result, but a manager cannot win any game without good players," Benítez said, in response to being asked why he looked so glum. "The most important thing today was three points, not my first win at Old Trafford. It is still going to be very difficult to win the league from this position, we would have to win every game and hope United lose some, but at least we have more confidence. If we can beat Real Madrid and we can beat Manchester United then clearly we can beat anyone."
Of Gerrard and Torres's partnership, he added: "They are very big for us, when they are both on the pitch the team has more confidence. Consequently it is a big loss when one of them is missing, and that has happened too often this season. I want to congratulate all my team though. Our plan was to stop the United players who run between the lines, and that's what we did. We knew we had to win, we had no other option."
Ferguson put United's heaviest home defeat for 17 years (Queens Park Rangers, same score, New Year's Day 1992) down to a bad day at the office. "It was an off day, we made mistakes, and I didn't expect that," Ferguson said. "We accept we had a bad day in terms of the goals we lost but I don't think we played all that badly. The important thing now is to respond."
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