Wayne Rooney scored his first goal at Liverpool since 2005 to help Manchester United move back within two points of the Premier League top four.
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| Reuters |
Liverpool had more chances in a dour encounter, with Emre Can's shot being superbly tipped away by David de Gea.
But they were made to pay when Rooney rifled in from six yards after Marouane Fellaini's header hit the bar.
The visitors, who are fifth, had not managed a single shot on target until the England captain's winner.
Liverpool stay in ninth position in the top-flight table, six points behind rivals United.
And that will no doubt frustrate Liverpool who slipped to a fourth straight defeat to United, missing the chance to close the gap in the Premier League standings.
The results sees United, who move up a place to fifth, open up a potentially crucial six-point gap over their North West rivals in the table, while Liverpool remain ninth.
Both teams entered the game on the back of 3-3 draws which seemed to please both managers, with Jurgen Klopp making just one change, with Lucas Leiva replacing Jordan Ibe, while Louis van Gaal named an unchanged side.
Early chances in the second half clearly illustrated Klopp had instructed his side to get at United after the break but, having done well to get away from Chris Smalling, Emre Can was denied by De Gea, who defected the German's effort agonisingly across the face of goal.
United enjoyed their best spell of the game shortly after as Martial showed great control to get away from three Liverpool defenders before fizzing a low effort from a narrow angle wide.
And then the visitors had two half-hearted penalties claims turned down in quick succession, as referee Mark Clattenburg ruled Mamadou Sakho and Lucas not to have fouled Martial and Herrera respectively.
De Gea then produce the save of the game to tip Can's rasping drive away on 66 minutes, before denying Firmino's effort on the rebound. And Sakho couldn't rise high enough to head Milner's cross home on 72 minutes.
And Liverpool were made to pay for their prolificacy in front of goal. The hosts failed to react to a quick United corner, allowing substitute Juan Mata to find Fellaini in the area. His headed struck the bar and fell for Rooney who made no mistake in sealing a vintage United smash-and-grab raid at the home of their fiercest rivals.
Manchester United's Liverpool-born matchwinner Wayne Rooney talking to BBC Sport: "This is a special feeling, obviously. It is always great to score at your rivals and, against Liverpool for this football club, it is a massive result. On a personal note it doesn't get much better.
"For my goal, I know Simon Mignolet is a very good goalkeeper and there were players trying to cover so I just tried to put my foot through it and take whoever was in the way with it! Thankfully it went in and won us the game.
"Today the performance wasn't that important - the result was all that mattered."
Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal speaking to Sky Sports: "When you beat Liverpool, it is good for the fans and for the table as our competitors also lose points, it is a big step in a good direction and I am very happy.
“In the first-half we didn’t keep the ball and we have survived the first-half. In the second-half we played much better and kept the ball better and created chances and Wayne Rooney makes the fantastic goal again.
“I don’t think David de Gea has done very much, two or three balls he has to stop, a goalkeeper has to do that. He is playing very good but you can not say he was a fantastic, marvelous goalkeeper today.
“We have played against Newcastle and given away two leads and now we have done the things we have trained and discussed so that is most precious aspect of the game today. We won and a we have won a lot of games in 2016 now and have not lost yet.”
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp talking to BBC Sport: "I didn't see too many chances for Manchester United and we didn't take ours. Of course it is frustrating. We lost a game that we should not have lost.
"The goal was to defend and we didn't do it. That is our responsibility. We have to defend set pieces better.
"We did really well creating the chances, but there were a lot of situation where we could have created more chances and didn't. There were a lot of things but we lost in a derby against Manchester United so I can't be very positive at this moment so soon after the game."
