Rio Salutes Team Effort

Rio Ferdinand turned in yet another outstanding display at Anfield, but was full of praise for United’s collective defending in Sunday’s 1-0 win over Liverpool.

The England international defender invariably enjoys sterling performances at Anfield – indeed, he has never sampled a league defeat against the Merseysiders since joining United – but he was in modest mood after the Reds’ latest success.

“I was happy with the team and I was happy we won the game, my performance comes a long way second to us winning the game,” Rio told MUTV after the match.

“Our fans come here and make themselves heard for the whole 90 minutes, and the satisfaction you get from winning the game is unbelievable. It’s one of the best places to come and win.”

Sunday’s fixture was a typical war of attrition between the two local rivals, with United keeping Liverpool at arm’s length for the vast majority of the game.

“Games like this, you don’t care who scores, who gets man of the match,” admitted Ferdinand. “Today we had to come here and defend. When you come to Anfield you know you’re going to be under immense pressure at times and it’s the way you deal with it.

“We had to clear one off the line in the first half and I think Edwin had just the one save in the second half. They put us under pressure with a few crosses in the first half but we settled down after that and I think we defended very well.

"We knew that if we defended right as a team then they wouldn’t cause us too many problems, and I think we did that. These games are normally settled by a bit of brilliance or a bit of fortune, and we got a deflection which Carlos was able to put in.”

Having registered a fifth league win in six visits to Anfield, United have clearly started revelling in the 32 mile trip down the East Lancs Road, and Ferdinand admits the Reds do relish the enormous fixtures.

“They’re the best games,” he conceded. “You enjoy playing football no matter what, but playing against Liverpool at Anfield and getting a good result is something you dream about as a kid.

“United against Liverpool at Anfield is a fixture you look for on the calendar, and we’ve been successful here the last couple of years and long may it continue.”