United apology over website abuse

Manchester United have been forced to issue an embarrassing apology to Liverpool for an ill-advised attack on the Anfield outfit on its own website.

In the "Fanzone" section, United fans delivered a series of abusive messages towards their Liverpool counterparts, including songs translated into Spanish in recognition of the players new boss Rafael Benitez has brought to Merseyside from his homeland.

While there is a warning on the part of the website concerned that the views expressed are not those of the club, Red Devils officials were forced to act after receiving numerous complaints from Liverpool supporters.

“Fanzone is an important part of our website because it gives fans the chance to express their views,” said a United spokesman.

“There is an explicit warning that the views contained in that part of the site are not necessarily those of Manchester United.

“But this is clearly an occasion where we got it wrong.

“We apologise for any offence that has been caused and have removed the offending items and have put in place systems to try and ensure this does not happen again.”