Liverpool manager Benítez and United counterpart Sir Alex Ferguson have a differing of opinions on the 10th-minute decision to award a penalty for Javier Mascherano’s foul on the Ecuadorean midfielder Antonio Valencia in Sundays clash at Old Trafford.
But Benítez made clear his frustration at Webb’s decision when asked whether he believed Valencia had dived. “Yes, I think so. It’s not clear. There is maybe a contact, but the way he fell down – strange. “From the bench, I was asking the people who were below with the TV and they said it was a penalty. “But I’ve seen three replays and the last one was very suspicious. Look at the replay and how he [Valencia] fell to the ground. “It made a big, big difference. One situation changed everything. You can’t change things sometimes.”
Ferguson took a contrasting view of the penalty, however, by insisting Mascherano should have received a red card rather than a yellow.
Ferguson said: “I thought the penalty decision was a red card because I don’t see how anyone could have stopped Valencia from shooting. There was no way [Jamie] Carragher could have got across to stop Valencia from shooting, absolutely no way. “But you have seen it time and time again – the law of the game is that if you stop a player from a goal-scoring opportunity, it’s a red card. But it wasn’t today.”
