Manchester United inched closer to retaining their Premier League title as they cruised to a 3-0 win against a Liverpool side who had only ten men for half the game.

Reina Poor Performance

Wes Brown put the home side ahead on 34 minutes, when Reina failed to deal with a Wayne Rooney cross. The Spaniard only managed to punch the ball against the back of the advancing defender, which was to be the start of a bad day for the Liverpool keeper.

Bennett Steals The Show

Even with all of the talent on display and three goals in the match, the centre of attention was Referee Steve Bennett. After just eleven minutes he reached for his book and entered the name of Argentinean Javier Mascherano for unsporting conduct after a late challenge on Paul Scholes. Bennett created the talking point of the game just before half time, when he booked Fernando Torres for dissent after the Spaniard had been the victim of two suspect challenges. Having seen the injustice Mascherano approached Bennett and asked him ‘What’s happening?’ not foul language and was given a second yellow for his trouble. The scenes after Bennett issued the Red Card became farcical as the Argentine demonstrated his disbelief that he had been dismissed from the game for a simple question. Bennett’s heavy handedness came just a few days after Ashley Cole got away with a torrent of abuse at the 4-4 draw between Tottenham and Chelsea where Bennett was the fourth official. Bennett has a history of dishing out injustice to Mascherano, last season he let Jermain Defoe away with biting the Argentinean.

Ronaldo Ends Liverpool’s Hopes

Liverpool fought to get back in to the game but after 35 minutes in the second half United goalden boy Cristiano Ronaldo headed home a corner that Reina got nowhere near to put the game beyond the visitors. Just one minute later Ronaldo’s Portuguese compatriot Nani thundered home a shot from the edge of the area to put the home side three up.

Who Is The real Villain?

Mascherano will no doubt be villainised in the media as an example of what not to do for kids and pros alike. When the truth is it should be Bennett who is crucified in the press for ruining a crunch game for the billions of spectators around the world and for demonstrating the huge inconsistency of Premier League referees, who have been hounded and abused for years by players some of whom were not even given a talking to never mind a red card.