LIVERPOOL supporters staged a prematch protest because George Gillett was at Anfield but at the end of the game nobody was bothered about George: it was all about the dragon. Manchester United, for the first time in the league under Rafael Benitez, had been slain.

Benitez lingered on the pitch, ostensibly to chat with Dirk Kuyt, but savouring the Kop’s limitless glee seemed his real motivation. Gillett, Liverpool’s co-owner, applauded, but elsewhere in the directors’ box a chic woman in a summer dress had lost all her cool and threatened to drown others out with her goofy, unbridled clapping. It was Montse, Rafa’s wife. She knew more than anyone in the stadium what a big day this was for her husband.

It was like Andy Murray beating Rafael Nadal in the US Open. A challenger suddenly became a contender. Liverpool’s hopes of winning the title with Benitez in charge are exponentially more convincing now he has beaten the one major rival he had previously failed to defeat. Yes, this was just one game and, yes, it is early in the season, but confidence is the petrol that football teams run on.

Benitez tried to be circumspect but had to concede the victory was ‘“important”. Jamie Carragher was less reserved. “For far too long Liverpool have been off the pace regarding Chelsea and United,” he said. “We take belief and confidence because we have beaten the best team in Europe.”

Benitez had been honest, in his programme notes, about previous failings against fellow members of the Premier League’s Big Four. He noted that last season, Liverpool took just four points from a possible 18 against Chelsea, United and Arsenal. “If we want to be contenders we need to improve against these sides,” he wrote.

United have 35 games in which to recover but, since Benitez arrived at Anfield in 2004, have never been in such arrears to Liverpool; six points behind, albeit with a game in hand. “We have three points in the small league that is the top four,” Benitez said. Minutes after full time, a table showing Liverpool top of the league was already pinned up in the press room. “We will try to stay there,” said Benitez, “but it is too early to talk about the title.”

Other bogeys were banished. Liverpool’s inferiority in the biggest fixture of their season predated Benitez: this was a first home league win over United since 2001. Before the equaliser, they had not so much as scored in the league versus United in four years. Oddly, that strike had also been an own goal so in getting the winner, Ryan Babel became the first Liverpool player under Benitez to score against United in the league.

Yet more important than statistics were the circumstances in which salvation came. Who said Liverpool cannot win without Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard? Both started on the bench, and though Gerrard came on, it was for no more than a cameo. Carragher, Dirk Kuyt, Xabi Alonso and that little monster, Javier Mascherano, were the decisive players.

In past games such as these, Benitez’s natural caution appeared to hold his side back. Against United or Chelsea, Liverpool would dominate at Anfield but not risk quite enough in attack.

Their manager realised the need for change and at the interval Benitez nagged his players. “We were talking about confidence. We did a good job in the first half, but if we wanted to win we had to do something more and talked about confidence and determination going forward.”

Mascherano and Alonso got forward more, Kuyt and Robbie Keane pressed harder, and Benitez’s substitutions were positive. On came Gerrard, then Babel.

Sir Alex Ferguson, in a sign of how fundamentally United were being outplayed, replaced all of his three central midfield players. Benitez outflanked him yesterday – literally. If the idea of playing Wayne Rooney and Anderson out wide was to free them, it did not work. They enjoyed little ball and looked miserable. Mascherano and Alonso were too aggressive and slick for Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick.

New £30m signing Dimitar Berbatov had the best first two touches as a United player anyone could have hoped for, but the triumphant debutant was Albert Riera. The Spaniard’s debut for Manchester City was also a victory against Ferguson’s side. “He is a lucky man, again winning over United,” Benitez said. It was the only thing he got wrong all day. In the league, Liverpool are back and luck had nothing to do with it.