Torres joy shattered by controversial Chelsea penalty leveller

Fernando Torres marked his first appearance at Anfield with an impressive debut goal for Liverpool but it was not enough to earn his club all three points as referee Rob Styles handed Chelsea a controversial second-half penalty in Sunday's 1-1 draw.

Liverpool's record 26.5 million-pound Spanish striker had made a dream start to his home career but Styles harshly judged that Steve Finnan had pushed over Florent Malouda as he attempted to meet Shaun Wright-Phillips' 61st minute cross.

Frank Lampard needed no second invitation to convincingly equalise from the spot.

To add to Styles' unpopularity, in the eyes of Liverpool fans, he also appeared to book Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien for a second time midway through the second half without brandishing the red card that should have automatically followed.

Under the watchful eye of England manager Steve McClaren, Steven Gerrard made light of the fractured toe that will almost certainly exclude him from playing for his country against Germany in midweek by setting up Torres' debut goal in the 16th minute.

The Liverpool captain gathered Xabi Alonso's tidy header and sent Torres chasing away down the right with a superb pass.

It still appeared that Chelsea defender Tal Ben-Haim would deal with the danger but the Spaniard showed an electrifying example of his pace and power to surge away from his marker and beat Peter Cech with a perfect right-foot finish.

The game had already been nicely set up by Manchester United's early afternoon defeat at Manchester City, a result greeted pre-match with great enthusiasm by both sets of supporters.

The early goal merely served to add to the intensity of a fixture that has become one of the set-piece occasions in the English football calendar.

After going a goal behind, Chelsea's midfield began to exert a degree of control.

Alonso's foul on Malouda gave Liverpool an anxious moment at the midway point of the first half but Didier Drogba's free-kick was deflected harmlessly behind.

Salomon Kalou appeared to have a superb shooting opportunity but took one touch too many and was halted by Gerrard's superb sliding tackle and Wright-Phillips sped past Alvaro Arbeloa a little too easily for comfort before his cross was headed over by Drogba.

For the third time in as many games this season, Chelsea found themselves a goal down but their spirited fightback raised the temperature of the contest yet further.

Styles did little to endear himself to the Anfield faithful as he yellow-carded Kuyt, Jermaine Pennant and Gerrard in quick succession, the Liverpool trio joining Essien and, later, Ashley Cole, Lampard and John Terry in the book.

Chelsea's improved play continued after the restart, Lampard's early corner being flicked on by substitute Claudio Pizarro for John Obi Mikel whose far post header flew over the bar before another dangerous right-wing run by Wright-Phillips ended with a centre which Pizarro, reaching at full stretch, could only head wide.

At the other end, Liverpool were slowly stringing together some more promising moves with Pennant reaching the by-line just before the hour and picking out Alonso on the edge of the area only for the Spaniard to send his strike disappointingly off target.

However, the penalty altered the complexion of the game with Chelsea, possibly, content to settle for a valuable away point.

They might not have emerged with that had Riise's spectacular volley, from Pennant's 67th minute pull-back, found its mark.

The last chances of an entertaining game fell to Kuyt, who rose to meet Finnan's right-wing cross but steered his effort inches over the crossbar, and substitute Ryan Babel who unleashed a ferocious long-range drive into the side-netting.

Miller's double seals comeback win for Celtic

A double from substitute Kenny Miller fired Celtic to a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Aberdeen in their Scottish Premier League clash on Sunday.

Miller's goals came in the last six minutes of an enthralling match which had seen Aberdeen take the lead in the 24th minute through Craig Brewster only for Massimo Donati to level on the hour.

Aberdeen went ahead after Aiden McGeady lost possession and Barry Nicholson's low cross was put away by Brewster, who had just got the nod ahead of Steve Lovell for the starting place.

Celtic - who are two points behind bitter rivals Rangers after three matches - slowly fought their was back into the match mainly through the promptings of Japanese playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura.

Indeed it was Nakamura who hit the crossbar with a trademark free-kick before Italian winger Donati equalised on the hour mark after fine work by McGeady.

Donati set Miller up for the second of Celtic's goals, the substitute shooting home from within the penalty area.

Miller then trumped that by sealing Celtic's three points with a fine 20-yard effort in injury-time which leaves the Dons still looking for their first win of the campaign.

Sven deepens problems for Fergie as he is undone by Geovanni

Sir Alex Ferguson's early season problems deepened after Geovanni's first half goal settled the Manchester derby in favour of Sven Goran Eriksson and left Ferguson's United without a win in their opening three league games.

The victory sent City to the head of the Premiership table with a maximum nine points from their opening three games as Eriksson's dream start at Eastlands continued.

Defeat at the hands of the former England coach will have been frustrating enough for Ferguson who enjoyed a fractious relationship with him during Eriksson's time in charge of the national team.

But more importantly, the United manager was left to contemplate a title defence that has brought just two points and one goal from three frustrating outings.

And with Wayne Rooney out for two months after breaking a foot in last week's opener, United's latest misfiring display will understandably give cause for concern.

United may have dominated possession but a combination of Geovanni's deadly finishing and Micah Richards outstanding defensive work meant this was a day for the blue half of Manchester.

With Rooney, Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer missing injured and Cristiano Ronaldo starting a three-match, Ferguson had little option but to ask Carlos Tevez to operate as a lone striker.

But with Nani, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes all quick to offer support to the Argentine, there initially seemed little doubt United would have more than enough firepower to overcome a stuttering City.

Twice in the opening half Tevez and Scholes exchanged quick passes to unpick the City defence and create an opening for Nani but on both occasions the winger was denied by City keeper Kasper Schmeichel.

The 20-year-old - a 17 million pounds capture from Sporting Lisbon this summer - was eventually withdrawn after 60 minutes after a display that confirmed it could be some time before he emulates the feats of compatriot Ronaldo.

With Owen Hargreaves bolstering the United midfield with an impressive Premiership debut performance, Ferguson's side completely dominated the opening period.

Were it not for a succession of outstanding blocks, tackles and clearances by Richards, United would have been well on their way to a first win of the season long before City finally sprang into life.

It took Eriksson's men fully 30 minutes to manage an effort on goal - a wayward, long range effort from Michael Johnson.

But it took just another 60 seconds to register a second attempt - this time from Geovanni - that fired the home side into an unlikely lead.

In a rare moment of fluent attacking play, Didi Hamann linked with Elano who picked out his fellow Brazilian Geovanni in space 30 yards out.

And having been given time to set his sights by a flat-footed United back-four, the former Barcelona man drilled an inch-perfect strike beyond Edwin van der Sar.

The goal prompted a predictable response from United who, after a brief spell of control by City, laid siege to the home side's goal for the whole of the second period without properly testing Schmeichel.

Nemanja Vidic sent a bullet header crashing against the bar three minutes after the interval and Tevez somehow flashed the ball wide from Ryan Giggs' low cross.

And it was Tevez who wasted United's last clear-cut chance when he headed wide from just three yards deep into added time.