The Klingons have a saying; "Revenge is a dish best served cold." After years of thinking that Rafael Benitez was an emotionless Vulcan, it would appear that he is actually a first cousin to Worf...
Mere moments after Liverpool vanquished Blackburn 2-1 at Anfield, Rafa couldn't wait to stick the knife into Big Sam and twist. Of course, his comments were a direct reaction to Allardyce's claims that he had turned Liverpool into an expensive version of Bolton.
The relationship between the duo has always been strained, but now it is absolutely poisonous.
Blackburn for their part received five yellow cards during the game, and were lucky not to see Chimbonda and Nzonzi get red after two awful challenges. But Sam defended his team's discipline by saying that the referee had been swayed by the Anfield crowd.
Allardyce pointed out that Liverpool had committed 25 fouls without being punished with a card, while Blackburn had only made 10 fouls.
“If we had possessed a goalscorer, we would have won,” he said. “It is not often you come to Liverpool and create more chances than them but we don’t have a goalscorer and they have Gerrard and Torres.”
Rafa for his part was pretty unrepentant and left his most vicious comments 'til last.
“It doesn’t matter, we won,” was Benitez’s retort when that was put to him about Liverpool's current style of play.
“We prefer to play football. If they play the way they play under this manager, it is difficult but it is their decision. When you have won you don’t have to think about how you played...”
“We have four or five players bleeding because of studs,” said Benitez. “We can win on the pitch but some people have to talk before and after the game because they find it difficult to do a football job. I am sure he is a model for football all around the world. I am sure Barcelona are thinking about copying their style of football.”
Ouch...
Look out for their next bout in 2011...
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