On this occasion, the Dutch midfielder benefited from a marginal offside position to record his fifth goal in six games and place the seal on a victory that extended Boro’s unbeaten Premiership run to seven matches.
Benitez said: “They scored, we scored and the referee said ‘no’. “That changed everything. I have seen it on TV and it was a goal for Garcia because an opponent touched the ball. They scored again and the referee said it was a goal. I’m not sure if it was.”
But McClaren was quick to recall Boro’s Anfield anguish. He said: “Anyone who was at that game would have seen that we were robbed of a goal there. I’m delighted with this win. We’ve beaten a very good team and played some very good, if not excellent, football at times.”
Boro remain fourth, but McClaren won’t tempt fate. “If we’re in the same position with 10 games to go, I might get excited.”
Zenden’s 61st-minute strike bolstered the cushion Riggott had unexpectedly handed the home side with his first goal for 23 months.
Liverpool, for whom England midfielder Steven Gerrard made a welcome second-half appearance for 35 minutes, have a new-fangled side that is bound to take time to bed in. Yet this was only their second defeat in their past 10 games and their first setback in five away outings since being beaten by Chelsea on October 3.
Benitez added: “It’s important for us that Steven played the time he did. He’s still not in the best condition, but he can improve his level of fitness by playing. He’s important to us.”
Nevertheless, Liverpool’s main worries lie in attack. With Milan Baros having joined the wretched Djibril Cissé on the Anfield injured list, Benitez elected to field a makeshift strike force of Garcia and Harry Kewell.
In a rather sterile opening, neither side could find any real rhythm or cohesion. The first meaningful incursion stemmed from Boro right-back Tony McMahon’s long ball which found Ray Parlour in space on the right.
Parlour powered his way into the box, but when he attemped to locate Mark Viduka in the middle, Liverpool centre-back Jamie Carragher blocked the delivery, with a suspicion of handball.
Goalkeeper Chris Kirkland still had work to do as he smothered Parlour’s attempted follow-up. Boro then fluffed another opportunity when Viduka executed an adroit backheel to find Parlour, whose low centre was miskicked by left-back Franck Queudrue.
Frenchman Queudrue, however, was a mite unfortunate in the 27th minute when he met Stewart Downing’s free-kick, which was curled in from the left, with a glancing header that cleared the crossbar by inches.
Warming to the task on a bitingly cold Teesside afternoon, the home side then had Kirkland tied in knots before he blocked Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s shot at point-blank range.
But the breakthrough came when Zenden returned Downing’s throw-in for the England Under-21 winger to swing over a first-time cross from the left that Riggott poked home from inside the six-yard box.
Boro made the most of their late momentum to forge farther ahead. Alonso gifted possession to Downing, who squared to Hasselbaink. The Dutchman then cleverly delayed his delivery to Zenden who, with the flag staying down, fired home.