Any meeting between Liverpool and Manchester United tends to produce at least a couple of major talking points, but the March 2011 meeting was feistier than most.
Liverpool won the match 3-1, thanks to a very scrappy Dirk Kuyt hat-trick, but one of the main flashpoints of the game came late on in the first half when Jamie Carragher left United winger Nani with a horribly gashed leg.
And Carragher, who escaped with a yellow card for the dangerous challenge which left the Portuguese in tears, has admitted that he ‘cut a deal’ with referee Phil Dowd to avoid a more severe punishment.
Dirk Kuyt scored all three of Liverpool’s goals in the game (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
‘I got Phil Dowd on his own, had a word with him and we came to some sort of a deal,’ Carragher told the Daily Mail.
‘I was on favourable terms with the referee Phil Dowd. I got him on my own, pulled him and said “he just beat me with skills”.’
‘Everyone is fighting and I got him over like an experienced pro. Then [Wayne] Rooney comes over and says “you won’t believe it, he’s crying”.’
Carragher admits even at the time he thought he should have been sent off.
Liverpool were already two goals to the good when Carragher was booked for the challenge on Nani, and Kuyt completed his hat-trick – scored from a combined distance of about six yards – after the break.
Nani scored 10 goals for United in the 2010/11 campaign, but after the Anfield defeat he didn’t find the net again all season.
