It is 12 years since United were in the top division, and it is six years since the steel city of Sheffield had any representative in the Premiership.
Even Rafael Benitez couldn't explain it. “We have to analyse why, in the first half, we couldn't control the game,” the manager said, adding: “in the second, it was better.”
It would be, but before then Sheffield United, built on a comparative shoestring and on the work ethic their manager Neil Warnock has run to the point of exhaustion, were masters of the game. The tempo was high, they were aggressive, direct and athletic. Liverpool did not like it, following the ankle injuries that threaten to rule John Arne Riise and Jamie Carragher out of the match in Kiev.
The loss of Carragher aided and abetted the first goal. It was scored by Rob Hulse, making a first dividend on his £2.1m transfer from Leeds. He capitalised on the hole that Carragher would have filled. A free kick was drifted into the goalmouth from David Unsworth and when Hulse ran behind Sami Hyypia he was allowed a free header from eight yards. Daniel Agger, the deputy for Carragher, stood and watched.
Liverpool had to lose any trace of complacency, any suspicion reputations alone would overpower the workaholics. But the equaliser bitterly divided the two camps.
It was a penalty from which Robbie Fowler handsomely outwitted goalkeeper Paddy Kenny, but a penalty that Warnock argued should never have been given. “There was no contact at all,” he said. “Apparently the ref said there was intent. In my opinion 95% of people in the professional game would not have given a penalty.”
Referee Rob Styles made the call when he saw Chris Morgan, the Sheffield captain, lunge at the ball, miss it by a yard, but make minimal or no contact with Steven Gerrard. Liverpool argue there was contact, but that in any case Gerrard, who was running through onto an astute pass from Fowler, lost his momentum in hurdling Morgan's leg.
Gerrard did not go down, but he clearly lost balance, and mis-hit the shot. Warnock said that if the referee had deemed Morgan to have tackled with intent, it should have been a yellow card — he had already received a booking — while Benitez argued Morgan should indeed have been sent off, a straight red card because he was the last defender.
Aside from the return of managers' moaning, what entertainment did we have. “We were magnificent,” said Warnock. “You look at Liverpool, look at the game my players gave them, and consider they were equals out there to Gerrard, the best player in England. Some of my lads didn't think they would be on the same pitch. I told them not to worry: it's me who only has a one-year contract.”
And they have one season to bridge the gulf in quality. Yesterday Phil Jagielka, for one, put in 90 minutes of graft and concentration that ensured Fowler, for all his cunning, and Craig Bellamy, for all his speed, rarely threatened.
We would have to try to fathom the mind of Benitez, who left out Xabi Alonso and Peter Crouch. Possibly he assessed the team would do the job, leaving others fresh for Kiev. But those are dangerous priority calls. And guess what? Benitez had another complaint. He described the decision to play friendly internationals last week sarcastically. “These must have been very very important friendlies against small countries,” he said. “It was obviously a very good idea to keep players flying everywhere before the new season started.”