Silvestre welcomes Rio back with stunning double blast

Man Utd 2 Liverpool 1

After eight months as a frustrated spectator, Ferdinand’s comeback dominated the build-up to one the traditionally fiery north-west encounter.

The England man’s presence definitely appeared to instill greater backbone into the United defence, that has crumbled too often for Alex Ferguson’s liking, but expected the post-match chatter to centre around another member of the hosts rearguard.

Yet that is exactly what happened as Silvestre powered home identical headers either side of the break to give United a deserved victory, end a run of four successive draws and close the gap on champions Arsenal to seven points.

Ferdinand was thrilled to be back in action after his eight-month ban.

“The fans were fantastic, as soon as I came out for the warm-up and until the last minute. It was just nice to get out there and play,” said Ferdinand.

He accepted that there was a degree of apprehension before the game.

“It’s never going to be easy,” he said. “It’s all new again. Eight months out is a long time. I’m just glad the boys put heart and soul into it today and hopefully we can get the season back on track. It’s time to look to the future now,” Ferdinand said.

Rafael Benitez has made a positive impression since replacing Gerard Houllier but the Spaniard will have to sort out the slack marking that allowed Silvestre to rise unchallenged deep inside the area first to meet a Ryan Giggs free-kick, then the Welshman’s corner. The second effort will be hotly disputed by Liverpool, as Giggs appeared to be the last person to touch the ball as he challenged Sami Hyypia.

But there was no doubting the conviction with which Silvestre met the ball, ensuring John O’Shea was not left lamenting the one blot on an otherwise superb central midfield performance.

It was pure bad luck that O’Shea happened to be standing almost on top of Roy Carroll when the Northern Irishman, predictably given his chance after a catalogue of recent blunders from Tim Howard, palmed away a Steve Finnan header. Neither United man could react fast enough to do anything but turn in horror as the ball rolled slowly over the line but, thanks to Silvestre, it did not prove to be the pivotal moment of the game.

Ferdinand’s return had been widely predicted as a obvious solution to the defensive problems that have consigned United to an unusual mid-table berth even at this early stage of the season.

Yet anyone observing the breathtaking first 45 minutes who had not seen the Red Devils in action already would have wondered what the fuss was all about. Djibril Cisse did have one early chance to put Liverpool in front but aside from that the visitors were metaphorically, and literally on a sodden Manchester evening, swamped.

On the night he became only the third United player to make 600 appearances for the club, Giggs can be delighted with his personal contribution but yet again his wing twin Cristiano Ronaldo produced all the trickery, leaving the Liverpool defence floundering.

Dudek was one of the few Liverpool players who performed to their potential in the opening period, which was just as well otherwise United would have been out of sight.

Van Nistelrooy, Gabriel Heinze and O’Shea all might have beaten the Pole but did not and United also had what appeared to be a certain penalty claim turned down when Sami Hyypia dragged van Nistelrooy back by the collar as the Dutchman attempted to reach Wes Brown’s lay-off.

The succession of spurned chances meant Liverpool went into the interval with a vestige of hope, although that was tempered by the loss of Steven Gerrard with what is feared to be a broken metatarsal bone.

Benitez clearly expressed some choice words at the break given the extra determination his side started the second period with. Even so, it scarcely deserved the good fortune that brought Liverpool an equaliser that will surely go down in the record books as an O’Shea own goal.

Briefly, with Gerrard’s replacement Dietmar Hamann winning his midfield battle with Roy Keane, Liverpool seized control and it was then Ferdinand came into his own, shoring up a United back four that might otherwise have crumbled.

Having switched wings with Ronaldo, Giggs set about emulating his young team-mate and it was one of his darts down the right flank that earned the disputed corner off Hyypia from which Silvestre powered home the winner.

MAN UTD: Carroll, Brown, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Heinze, Ronaldo, O’Shea, Keane, Giggs, Scholes (Smith 85), van Nistelrooy.

LIVERPOOL: Dudek, Josemi, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise, Finnan, Gerrard (Hamann 39), Alonso, Kewell, Luis Garcia, Cisse (Baros 67).

Referee: G Poll.