Second-half strikes from Wayne Rooney,
Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard earned
Manchester United a morale boosting
3-1 win over Premier League rivals
Liverpool in the final of the pre-season
International Champions Cup in Miami
on Monday.
United end their US tour unbeaten
under new manager Louis van Gaal
and a victory over their old rivals was
perhaps the sweetest way to sign off.
They will now return to England to
finish off preparations for the new
Premier League season, which starts on
16 August.
Despite the win, Dutchman Van Gaal
was in no mood to go overboard about
his team's pre-season, which also
included a 3-1 victory over European
champions Real Madrid on Saturday.
Asked what the value of the tournament
win was, Van Gaal said:
"Nothing. It's
nice, nice for the fans in the US and
also at home, that we have beaten
Liverpool, not our favourite opponents
for United fans, and I think we have
given a lot of pleasure to these fans
and that is important.
"Of course it is better to win
preparation games than to lose but the
most important game is against
Swansea City, our first game, at home,
in the Premier League - that we have to
win," he added.
Both managers went with their
strongest possible teams for the game,
played in front of 51 000 fans at a
rainy Sun Life stadium in Miami.
Liverpool began brightly and took the
lead in the 14th minute when the lively
Raheem Sterling was brought down in
the area by United defender Phil Jones
and skipper Steven Gerrard drilled
home the penalty.
The Merseyside team should have
doubled their advantage shortly after
halftime but Rickie Lambert fluffed his
shot after finding space inside the
area.
United equalised in the 55th minute
when Mexican forward Javier
Hernandez delivered a cross deep to the
back post and Rooney coolly side-footed
home a cushioned volley from a tight
angle.
Two minutes later, Mata's well-struck
effort from the edge of the box took a
slight deflection off Mamadou Sakho
and beat Liverpool goalkeeper Simon
Mignolet.
Manchester United had the ball in the
net again after a high cross from Ashley
Young looped over Mignolet and
appeared to bounce back off the
woodwork to Rooney, who side-footed
home.
American referee Mark Geiger signalled
a goal but images on the stadium's
giant screen showed the ball had gone
over the bar and bounced back off the
stanchion.
After consulting with his linesman,
Geiger changed his decision and ruled
out the goal.
United did get a third two minutes
from time, substitute Lingard blasting
home from 18 yards to seal the win and
wrap up the eight-team tournament
victory.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers
felt the scoreline was unfair on his
team, who could have had a second
penalty in the first half after Ander
Herrera's challenge on Sterling.
"Overall I am delighted with the whole
tournament, what it has done for us,"
he added. "We have been away a long
time, we have worked very, very hard ...
we have some positives and we look
forward to the new season."
United start their league campaign
against Swansea on 16 August at Old
Trafford while Liverpool face
Southampton at Anfield the following
day.
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