Source: Liverpool_Echo
Liverpool FC boss Rafa Benitez rues controversial penalty
RAFA BENITEZ was left cursing the controversial penalty which helped consign Liverpool to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of arch rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford.[LNB]The Reds boss was incensed by referee Howard Webb's decision to point to the spot after Antonio Valencia went down under a challenge from Javier Mascherano.[LNB]Television replays showed the infringement started outside the box but Wayne Rooney stepped up to score at the second attempt after Pepe Reina had parried his initial spot-kick.[LNB]It handed United an equaliser they scarcely deserved after Fernando Torres' early header and Ji-Sung Park settled the contest when he nodded home on the hour.[LNB]'We scored a good goal and we were playing well with confidence, but one situation changed everything,' Benitez said.[LNB]'From the bench I was asking the TV people and they said it was inside (the box). But watching the replay I have a lot of doubts.[LNB]'I've seen three replays and how he (Valencia) went to ground was very suspicious.[LNB]'It's not clear because there is contact but the way he fell down was strange.[LNB]'It's disappointing but you cannot change things. Sometimes these things go your way, but this year more than we expected has gone against us.'[LNB]Benitez, who was involved in an angry confrontation with Alex Ferguson on the touchline, dismissed the United manager's claim that Mascherano should have been sent off.[LNB]Liverpool were on the wrong end of a stream of bewildering decisions by Webb, but Benitez rejected the idea that Ferguson's pre-match talk about Liverpool receiving preferential treatment from the Football Association may have influenced the official.
