Benitez furious as unlucky ’Pool get mugged

RAFAEL BENITEZ was left cursing the officials after Liverpool lost in unfortunate circumstances to Sao Paulo in the Club World Championship final in Yokohama.

The Reds could have been ahead long before they conceded their first goal in more than 17 hours play when Mineiro calmly stroked the Brazilians into a 27th-minute lead.

But thereafter Liverpool laid siege to the Sao Paulo goal, hitting the bar twice and seeing three goals chalked off as their South American counterparts employed unusually negative tactics.

Benitez believes Liverpool's task should have been made easier with the dismissal of Diego Lugano for halting Steven Gerrard flying down the right flank.

Barely concealing his displeasure, Benitez fumed: "I would like to know what is a red card in the rules. Gerrard was running with the ball in front of him and the defender could not win the ball and so he fouled him.

"The rules say that if you cannot play the ball and you foul, it's a red card easy. You can see the video. That decision is different to my rules and I don't understand it."

The Spaniard was also angry that Luis Garcia's second-half header was chalked off.

Benitez believes the goal should have stood and that the referee should have played more stoppage time in a game that was also disrupted by a pitch invader in the first half.

He said: "We know that one of the 'goals' was a goal. I am disappointed with how the situation was controlled by the referee.

"Why after a lot of problems did we play only three more minutes at the end? Maybe if we played five more minutes it would have been different because we were playing in their box in the last 10 minutes. I try to have a lot of respect but I think we deserved to win."

Benitez was delighted with his side's performance, overlooking their profligacy by stressing they had done enough to win.

"I want to congratulate my players," he added. "We had 21 shots, 17 corners to nil, hit both crossbars and scored three goals.

"I am disappointed with the result but I am very happy with my players and the game they played.

"We conceded a goal with one mistake, not a lot, we controlled most of the game but this is football."

Benitez's counterpart at Sao Paulo, Paulo Autuori, had no sympathy for Liverpool's plight, underlining that the ugly means justified the glorious ends.

"The most important thing in football is the scoreboard at the final whistle," he stated.

"Football is about having a winner and a loser. The winner is always congratulated and is happy and the loser always tries to justify what happened.

"We won against a great team but the only thing that matters is the result. Sao Paulo deserve to be world champions."

SAO PAULO: Rogerio, Cicinho, Fabio Santos, Edcarlos, Lugano, Junior, Mineiro, Josue, Danilo, Amoroso, Aloisio (Grafite 75).

LIVERPOOL: Reina, Carragher, Warnock (Riise 79), Finnan, Hyypia, Kewell, Gerrard, Luis Garcia, Alonso, Morientes (Crouch 85), Sissoko (Sinama Pongolle 79).

Referee: Benito Archundia Tellez (Mexico).