Sir Alex Ferguson: Fernando Torres tried to get Manchester United's John O'Shea sent off

Dimitar Berbatov’s hat-trick, the first by a United player against Liverpool for 64 years, proved a gilt-edged highlight of the home side’s victory. But United almost threw the win away, having allowed Liverpool to cancel out their 2-0 lead with a penalty and free-kick from Steven Gerrard.

Gerrard’s second goal was from a free-kick awarded by referee Howard Webb following O’Shea’s challenge on Torres on the edge of the penalty area. As the last man, O’Shea was lucky to escape with a yellow card, but Ferguson claimed Torres did his best to see the Irishman dismissed.

Ferguson said: “I’ve watched it. Definitely, Torres made a meal of it, an absolute meal of it. There’s no doubt he tried to get the player sent off.

“It was a game we absolutely dominated. At 2-0, it could have been a cricket score – 2-2 was an absolute farce.

“I was saying to myself, ‘It could’ve been 10’, so when it looked like ending 2-2 it would have been a travesty of a scoreline, but it was a great result at the end.

“They had the momentum when it went to 2-2, but they never offered anything did they? They had to depend on decisions from the linesman to get back into the game.

“The build-up to these games is such that, if one doesn’t win, it’s a catastrophe. For Liverpool, this is a catastrophe.”

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson refused to be drawn into a row with Ferguson, however, over the O’Shea incident or his team’s performance.

Hodgson said: “Sir Alex is entitled to any opinion he wants to have. I have a very ambivalent attitude towards those type of things and I’m not a great lover of red cards for petty offences. But catastrophe is a bit strong, but I suppose in terms of winning the title you could say it’s a catastrophe.

“Our aim is still to get better and get back into the Champions League and that’s the focus for me this season.”

Ferguson, who lost Rio Ferdinand with an overnight virus, claimed Berbatov’s hat-trick was the perfect riposte to his critics.

He said: “We are probably now beginning to see Dimitar believe in himself. There was a lot of criticism of him last season, but it happens when players sign for United for a lot of money and they aren’t scoring hat-tricks in every game.

“That’s the way of the world with some players who come here, but this season he has started in the right fashion. His training has been good, he was good on the pre-season tour and he has carried it on.

“There has never been any doubt about his quality and we have seen it again today.”