MANCHESTER, England - Manchester United and Liverpool played down the racism subplot to their Premier League meeting this weekend by saying on Friday they were thinking only about the football.
Matches
between England’s two most successful teams are always highly charged
and Saturday’s game has the added bite of a possible first meeting
between Patrice Evra and Luis Suarez since the latter’s ban for racially
abusing the United defender.
The
clubs faced each other two weeks ago when Suarez was still serving an
eight-match suspension but both players are now available for the Old
Trafford encounter and the television cameras will be focused on the
traditional pre-match handshake.
“We’ve
just got on with our job, we’ve kept our dignity throughout, we’re just
concentrating on the game,” United manager Alex Ferguson told a news
conference.
“I’ve not even thought about it to be honest with you. I’m not bothered with it.”
Liverpool
counterpart Kenny Dalglish said earlier this week he was sure Uruguay
striker Suarez would shake France defender Evra’s hand but on Friday
refused to discuss the matter.
“We will comment on football,” he told reporters.
“We
enjoy going there to play football and that is all we are going to
concentrate on, we’ve covered every other aspect of what has to be
covered.”
With
United having broken Liverpool’s record by winning a 19th league title
last season and the Anfield club holding a 5-3 advantage in terms of
European Cups won, the atmosphere at these north-west derbies is always
feisty.
Liverpool
were 2-1 winners a fortnight ago when they met in the FA Cup fourth
round and are unbeaten in their last three meetings with their bitter
rivals.
“BIG GAME”
United
have a big incentive to break that run as victory would take them top
of the Premier League, for at least 24 hours as leaders Manchester City
do not visit Aston Villa until Sunday.
“It’s always going to be a big game,” Ferguson said.
“We’re chasing the league and they’re chasing a Champions League place. It’s important for both clubs.”
United
are second with 55 points from 24 games, with City two points ahead.
Third-placed Tottenham Hotspur have 50 points while Liverpool are
seventh on 39 — four points away from a Champions League berth.
Ferguson
said he was determined to stop his team’s recent habit of giving away
soft goals but was hoping his players would show the same determination
they displayed to fight back from three goals down to draw 3-3 at
Chelsea last weekend.
“I
think our performance levels in the last few weeks have been good but
we’re losing goals in important games and that’s a bit of a concern,” he
added.
“We
expect a hard game tomorrow but I’m just looking for the sort of
performance we’ve been showing recently. That should help us.”
Ferguson
said fit-again midfielder Tom Cleverley would return for the first time
since October, a welcome boost after the 22-year-old made an explosive
start to the season with his energy and ball distribution.
“He’s trained very well and he’ll be involved tomorrow,” said the United manager.
No comments:
Post a Comment