MANCHESTER (AFP) - A rare double from French defender Mikael Silvestre handed Manchester United team-mate Rio Ferdinand a victorious Premiership return to the team in a 2-1 victory over Liverpool.
Ferdinand had earned an instant recall from manager Sir Alex Ferguson on finishing his eight month ban for missing a drugs test and gave an assured performance at the back as United dominated most of the match.
Silvestre though was the goalscoring hero as he scored with two headers - one in each half - while Liverpool had briefly levelled at 1-1 through a fortuitous own-goal by John O'Shea.
Ferdinand was just delighted to have got back to playing football.
"It was never going to be easy and I was under no illusions it would be easy both physically and mentally and nice to play the ball around," the 25-year-old England international told Sky Sports on Monday.
He admitted that the physical wear and tear of the match had taken its toll.
"I guess it was a huge loss of nervous energy and I needed some sugar intake and the physio brought the bar around to give me.
"I'm not looking back, I'm looking to the future to play football like I wanted to when I was a kid.
"I never ever failed to accept responsibility and that is a fact.
"It is for others to learn from and the next person to do that knows what will happen. He will be bang to rights."
Ferguson was delighted with the ease that Ferdinand had played himself back into the match.
"Rio was superb," purred the Scot.
"He brings a composure and an authority to the defence that was missing. The back four were really good, defending quickly and aggressively."
"It is a very welcome win after a lot of injuries. Its a wonderful win against historically our biggest rivals.
"The only thing that worried me was not scoring goals in the first-half and the first 15 minutes of the second half they made life very difficult for us.
There was not such good news for England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson in the case of Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard, who went off in the first-half and is feared to have broken a metatarsal bone in his foot and could be out for six to eight weeks.
"No one was behind me when (Xabi) Alonso passed to me," said Gerrard.
"I turned but my foot stayed in the turf.
"It is a disappointing result for us but we paid for our first-half performance and it was equally disappointing to concede two goals to set pieces and to the same player."
Liverpool's Spanish manager Rafael Benitez said Gerrard's injury was a body blow.
"Gerrard is a bad blow. For us it looks like he will be out for six to eight weeks.
"He will be examined again tomorrow."
Liverpool equalised against the run of play as Steve Finnan's header from Alonso's freekick was going across goal but rebounded off Roy Carroll's thigh onto O'Shea's knee and over the line in the 54th minute.
Liverpool were a changed side after that piece of luck and Alonso's compatriot Josemi tried a bold effort from 30 metres out which just sailed over the bar.
However all that new found confidence disappeared in the 66th minute as Silvestre rose imperiously to meet Ryan Giggs' corner and power it into the net.
Alonso though refused to lie down and unleashed a superb effort in the 70th minute as he spied Carroll off his line and from 40 metres shot, but the United keeper was just able to get back and parry it.
Argentine defender Gabriel Heinze came to United's rescue with five minutes remaining as the ball whipped across the box but just as it looked like it would fall to Milan Baros, the Olympic gold medallist stuck out a foot to concede a corner.
Ferdinand was called for a foul on Luis Garcia in the third minute as he clattered him from behind. From the resulting freekick Djibril Cisse was presented with a glorious chance from Josemi's low cross but he airkicked it from just five metres out.
Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo produced a superb run and shot from distance in the 10th minute which beat Jerzy Dudek - making his 100th start for Liverpool - but came off the post and it was eventually cleared for a corner.
Two minutes later and Ruud van Nistelrooy was unfortunate not to get a penalty from referee Graham Poll as the Dutch master turned Sami Hyppia in the box and was blatantly held back, though he got his shot in which was cleared for a corner by Dudek's legs.
The pressure eventually told in the 20th minute as Ronaldo's excellent freekick was met perfectly by Silvestre, who had slipped into the box totally unnoticed by the Liverpool defence, to head firmly past Dudek for his first goal since March.
Liverpool had to wait till the 26th minute to have their first shot as Josemi let fly from far out on the right but his shot curled wide of the post.
United had another opportunity to score a minute later as a fine cross from Giggs - making his 600th appearance for United - was met by van Nistelrooy but he could only direct it into Dudek's welcoming arms.
It was Ronaldo's turn next as Liverpool were run ragged, the Portuguese teenager shooting just wide of the post from inside the box after the visitors defence failed to clear effectively.