Rooney: Quick-fire double

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Man United 2-1 Liverpool

Manchester United kept their cool in difficult circumstances to beat a toothless Liverpool side 2-1 at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon.

With all the pre-kickoff talk focusing on the Patrice Evra/Luis Suarez saga, it was disappointing to see the Liverpool striker refuse Evra’s handshake before the start of the game.

That foolish decision from Suarez set the tone for a game that, although not particularly ill-tempered on the pitch, threatened to boil over and ruin what should have been a fine footballing spectacle.

A low early shot from Glen Johnson, Liverpool’s best attacking outlet throughout the 90 minutes, forced David de Gea into a simple low save, while his defensive duties were called into action moments later.

The Reds defender headed the ball away from a United free-kick to prevent Wayne Rooney nodding into the net.

The momentum soon swung in United’s favour, though, with Rafael coming close to opening the scoring with a swerving shot that forced a diving save from Pepe Reina.

Paul Scholes came close moments later, setting up the best chance of the game before almost scoring it himself.

The midfield maestro sprayed a sublime pass out to Giggs on the left before running into the box to receive the return pass from the Welshman, and the veteran midfielder directed a header on target, forcing an instinctive save from Reina.

The second half, starting after rumours emerged of a dressing room bust-up between the players at half-time, provided elements of the spectacle both sets of fans had been hoping to see before the game, with Rooney lighting up the game with a fine volleyed finish just after the restart.

Giggs played the ball into the England international from a corner and the striker made no mistake, adjusting his body shape before firing past Reina.

Minutes later, Rooney doubled United’s lead after Antonio Valencia robbed the ball from Jay Spearing before playing the forward in behind the Reds defence, and the Red Devils ace duly slotted the ball between the legs of Reina.

Liverpool, bringing on Andy Carroll and Craig Bellamy in reaction to those two goals, grabbed one back 10 minutes from time, Suarez making the most of an unlucky deflection off the leg of Rio Ferdinand to slot past De Gea.

However, that was as far as their attempted comeback went, with United holding on to take all three points and top position in the standings.