A late goal from Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney gave his side a crucial 1-0 victory over bitter rivals Liverpool FC.

It proved to be all Liverpool throughout the match with good chances from Roberto Firmino, Jordan Henderson and Firmino once again in the first period but they couldn’t break the deadlock.

Their dominance continued into the second period with Emre Can and Firmino having good opportunities but Rooney made Jürgen Klopp’s side pay for their missed chances with his strike winning all three points.

Slow and steady

Like many clashes between the two it got off to a fiery start with Marouane Fellaini and Lucas at loggerheads, but apart from a fiery atmosphere to the proceedings it was the home side who had the first opportunity.

It was Adam Lallana who managed to meet Lucas’ ball with the speculative header which had David De Gea racing out to make a smart stop. The ball did however rebound to Firmino who manged to beat his man on the edge of the area but put the effort just wide of the far post.

From there on out the first half was reduced to a few half chances here and there in favour of Klopp’s side. Lallana and Firmino combined well just after the half hour mark when the ball was played into the skipper Henderson but he wasted the chance by dragging it wide of the post.

Arguably the best chance of the half came six minutes from the break when the ball is slipped through to Firmino but too any touches from the Brazilian allowed Anthony Martial to get back and make the tackle.

Martial then had a chance of his own just before the break when he made it past Nathaniel Clyne and managed to get a shot away but was excellently defended by fellow countryman Mamadou Sakho.

Heat turned up

Liverpool’s dominance continued in the second period as they continued to put on their excellent passing display.

Crisp passing in the 51st minute saw the ball come to Can with an excellent piece of trickery giving him half a yard on Chris Smalling but his low shot was excellently deflected away by the boot of De Gea.

Despite never really getting themselves into it United did have their own chances and came close in the 56th minute.

First-half sub Cameron Borthwick-Jackson put a great cross in from the left which was missed by Rooney, the move was kept alive by Martial who danced around the area before getting a shot but it was across the face of goal.

De Gea proved how valuable he is to Louis Van Gaal’s side as he produced an excellent double save in the 67th minute.

He did well in the first instance to get behind Can’s powerful effort with the Firmino looking destined to finish the rebound but the Spaniard manged to get up to claw away the second effort.

Captain marvel

It proved to be all Liverpool as the game entered the final stages but out of nowhere United managed to take a vital lead with 12 minutes to play.

Juan Mata played a dangerous ball into the area following the short corner which met Fellaini’s head with his effort coming back off the bar but it fell perfectly for Rooney who teed it up to fire it over Simon Mignolet and into the roof of the net.

That was all they needed to take three points which might just relight the Red Devils' fortunes.

Rooney celebrates (photo: getty)
Rooney celebrates (photo: getty)
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About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.