Soccer-Mascherano dismissal hard to understand, says Benitez

By Pete Oliver

MANCHESTER, England, March 23 (Reuters) - Midfielder Javier Mascherano's red card in Liverpool's 3-0 defeat by Manchester United on Sunday was "difficult to understand", manager Rafael Benitez said.

Mascherano received a second yellow for dissent from referee Steve Bennett two minutes before halftime with Liverpool trailing 1-0 at Old Trafford.

United's victory put the Premier League leaders six points clear before second-placed Arsenal's match at Chelsea in the later kickoff.

Benitez said Argentina international Mascherano, who had already been booked for an earlier foul, was only asking Bennett why he had shown a yellow card to team mate Fernando Torres.

"He knows he made a mistake. But in this kind of game, just for asking (the referee), to leave one team with 10 players is a difficult decision to understand," Benitez told reporters.

"The player told me he was asking, so he was so surprised, like me. Just for asking what was happening, to have a sending off in a big game like this of a player who is a good professional, as Mascherano is, he was really surprised.

"You want to win, you have passion and sometimes you make mistakes but it's a bit different when you just ask the referee. The sending off was very difficult to understand."