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Ryan Babel: "Winner against Manchester
United was a fantastic moment"
Tony Barrett
Liverpool Echo
Thursday 21 August 2008
Ryan Babel today told of the "fantastic
moment" when he brought Liverpool's four year wait
for a league victory against Manchester United to a
sensational end. Babel's 77th minute strike gave Liverpool a hard earned
but well deserved 2-1 win over the reigning champions
and the Dutch forward was delighted to have had such
a massive impact after coming off the bench. Babel had only been on the pitch for six minutes after
replacing impressive debutant Albert Riera and he revealed
how Reds boss Rafa Benitez challenged him to go on and
win the game before making the crucial substitution. "It was a fantastic moment for me and for the
team," said Babel. "Before I came onto the pitch the manager was
telling me to give the game some energy. "He said that I have done the same every time
I have come off the bench and said to try and do the
same this time. The fact that the goal came towards
the end of the game was very good for us because it
meant they did not have too much time to equalise." A Wes Brown own goal had cancelled out Carlos Tevez's
third minute opener. After getting themselves back on
level terms, Liverpool then dominated the game but it
wasn't until Babel's dramatic intervention that they
finally managed to edge themselves in front. The 20-year-old became Liverpool's first league goalscorer
against United under Benitez as well as setting up the
Reds’ first league win against their North West
rivals since November 2004. Babel could not contain his delight at being at the
heart of such a crucial victory but admitted he could
not separate Saturday's winner from the goal he scored
against Arsenal in last season's Champions League. "This is a new season and we want to get off to
a good start so this is an important goal for me and
the team," he said. "Hopefully I can score more important goals because
there are a lot of games still to play and a lot of
points to play for. "But it's always nice to score a goal against
a big opponent, especially Manchester United, and I
suppose it is an even better feeling when you've only
come into the game late on as a substitute. "We want to be able to compete until the end of
the season and you have a better chance of doing that
if you win games like this." Javier Mascherano was unable to train yesterday after
coming off with severe cramp but is expected to be fit
for tomorrow night's Champions League clash with Marseille.
Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres were both able to
take part in training at Melwood and will be back in
contention for places in Benitez's starting line-up.
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