Louis van Gaal: Manchester United manager hails win as 'one of the most important moments' in his career

United dominated 10-man Liverpool winning 2-1 at Anfield

(Getty Images)

Louis van Gaal has hailed his Manchester United players for their victory over Liverpool, describing the win as one of the 'most important moments' of his illustrious career.

United were brilliant in the 2-1 win at Anfield, dominating the first half before Steven Gerrard's crazy red card less than a minute after coming on as a substitute at half-time changed the game.

Juan Mata was excellent for the visitors, scoring twice with the second an exquisite scissor-kick past Simon Mignolet.

"I'm very happy that we've won and that we've opened up a gap from the teams below us," van Gaal told MUTV. "We can still look up and finish second. It is a significant win because we're five points ahead of Liverpool now but, if we'd lost, we would have been a point behind them. The win is very important."

"Liverpool were in fantastic shape and we beat them with their own weapons, with pressure on the ball," Van Gaal added.

"In the second half, despite having an extra player, we lost our pressure and lost our shape. We forgot to press the ball and because of that Liverpool could play more easily than the first half and that's not good.

"But the moment to win is very important, one of the most important moments in my career."

Van Gaal added that Juan Mata, who spent a long spell out of the team, had been United's best player in the two crucial wins against Liverpool and Spurs.

"Mata was also very good last week [against Tottenham]," he said. "And I wasn't going to change my best player. When you play well, you shall always play. Mata has confirmed again today what he can do."