Liverpool were dumped out of the FA Cup by rivals Manchester United in Sunday’s tie of the third round. A Ryan Giggs penalty at the start of the contest was enough to see the Red Devils through to the fourth round at the expense of their north-west neighbours.

Fernando Torres played for 76 minutes of the cup tie in a game that saw the Merseysiders reduced to ten men just after the hour mark as Gerrard was given his marching orders.

Kenny Dalglish made five changes to the Liverpool side in his first match back in charge of the Anfield club since 1991. At the back Martin Kelly, Fabio Aurelio and Agger came in for Johnson, Konchesky and Kyrgiakos, and in the centre of the park Dirk Kuyt and Raul Meireles were named in a four-man midfield with Steven Gerrard playing just behind Fernando Torres.

Manchester United made three changes from their midweek league victory against Stoke City with Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans in for Nemanja Vidic and Chris Smalling in defence, and Michael Carrick in for Darron Gibson in midfield.

The game got off to the worse start possible for Liverpool as the referee awarded Man U a penalty after just 35 seconds. Berbatov went down under the challenge of Daniel Agger and Ryan Giggs stepped-up to beat Reina with a firmly hit spot-kick.

The Reds recovered from the early set-back as they took the game to the hosts. Martin Kelly got to the bye-line but his pull-back intended for Fernando Torres was hacked clear by Rio Ferdinand. Steve Gerrard then fired over before Maxi had a fierce shot parried by Tomasz Kuszczak.

The Liverpool captain then had a low effort saved by Manchester United goalkeeper as the Merseysiders looked the better side.

The visitor’s task became a lot harder on 32 minutes as the Reds were reduced to ten men. Gerrard was shown a straight red card by referee Howard Webb for a challenge on Carrick.

Kenny Dalglish’s side had a lucky escape on the stroke of half-time as Evans headed a Giggs corner against the post.

Man U started the second period strongly with Hernandez heading just past the upright. Martin Kelly then had to react quickly to beat Berbatov to a dangerous ball across the Liverpool six-yard box.

The Reds were struggling to get their foot on the ball as United’s Bulgarian striker blasted over from inside the area as the home side continued to apply pressure.
With just under 15 minutes gone in the second-half, Fernando Torres had a shot charged down by Ferdinand as the visitors slowly found their feet.

Liverpool were handed a free-kick in a dangerous position when the number ‘9’ was barged off the ball by Andersen just as he was about to let fly. Fabio Aurelio’s curled effort was brilliantly pushed away by Kuszczak.

At the other end Reina produced four great stops in the space of thirty seconds to deny Andersen on two occasions, Berbatov and Giggs to keep the Reds in the tie. With just under an quarter hour remaining Kenny Dalglish replaced Torres with French forward Ngog.

Berbatov headed over from a good position for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side before Agger headed a corner-kick straight at Kuszczak. Owen had the last chance of the match with a shot that fizzed past the far post as Man U claimed a spot in the next round of the FA Cup.


- Match Stats: Manchester United 1-0 Liverpool

Man Utd: Kuszczak, Rafael Da Silva, Ferdinand, Evans (Smalling, 84), Evra, Nani, Carrick, Fletcher (Andersen, 62), Giggs, Berbatov, Hernandez (Owen, 75)
Booked: Fletcher, Andersen

Goals: Giggs 2 (pen)

Liverpool: Reina, Kelly, Skrtel, Agger, Aurelio, Kuyt, Meireles (Shelvey, 60), Lucas, Maxi (Babel, 60), Gerrard, Torres (Ngog, 77)

Sent-off: Gerrard 32