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Referee Mark Clattenburg was at the centre of a hugely controversial Merseyside derby as Liverpool beat Everton 2-1 at Goodison Park. Two late penalties by Dutchman Dirk Kuyt were enough to seal an important three points for Liverpool as they continued their undefeated Premiership start.
Everton went in front through a first-half Sami Hyypia own goal, but were pegged back nine minutes after the break.
Clattenburg pointed to the spot after Tony Hibbert was adjudged to have pulled down Steven Gerrard in the box, and sent off the Toffees right-back. Dirk Kuyt put away the resulting penalty.
And in stoppage time, Kuyt scored from the spot again to give the Reds the lead after Phil Neville had handled Lucas' shot on the goal-line, with Clattenburg having little option other than to reduce the home side to nine men.
In the dying seconds at the other end, the referee denied Everton a spot-kick when Jamie Carragher appeared to haul down Joleon Lescott in the six-yard box.
A shocking performance by Clattenburg, and a memorable Merseyside derby.
After the game Benitez said when questioned on whether Liverpool should've won: "I think so. They were playing long balls and we were trying to pass.
"We were trying to go forward, creating chances with the ball on the ground. They were using long balls and trying to keep the ball high. It was difficult."
Benitez replaced Gerrard with Lucas with 20 minutes left and said: "In this game, sometimes you need to play with the brain and we were playing with heart. We needed to keep the ball and pass the ball."
Written by majicka
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