Silvestre steals the show

Rio Ferdinand made his long-awaited Manchester United FC comeback tonight - but it was his central defensive partner Mikaël Silvestre who took the limelight with both his side's goals in a 2-1 English Premiership victory against Liverpool FC.

Comeback confirmed
England centre-back Ferdinand had been suspended for eight months after failing to attend a routine drugs test late last year, and was immediately restored to the starting lineup by United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who also responded to his side's disappointing opening results by replacing goalkeeper Tim Howard with Roy Carroll. Wayne Rooney was still not fit to start.

Gerrard off
Cristiano Ronaldo hit the post for United on ten minutes, and Silvestre opened the scoring nine minutes later when he turned in a Ryan Giggs free-kick. Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was taken off injured before half-time with a suspected broken toe that could keep him out for two months, but his side levelled nine minutes into the second period when John O'Shea deflected a Xabi Alonso cross into his own net.

Victory confirmed
However, Silvestre headed in a 66th-minute corner from Giggs - making his 600th United appearance - to win the game. The United manager, whose side climbed to eighth, four places ahead of Liverpool, said of the returning Ferdinand: "I thought he was superb. He has an assuredness and a composure that transmits through the whole team." Ferdinand, who played the whole 90 minutes, added: "Physically and mentally it is all new again but I got into it and it was just nice to be back out there,"