London - Liverpool breathed fresh life into their title hopes with a stunning 4-1 win at Old Trafford over 10-man Manchester United.

Goals from Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, Fabio Aurelio, and Andrea Dossena saw the visitors follow up their superb midweek victory over Real Madrid.

They move into second place, on 61 points, and have closed the gap on the champions to four points, though United still have a game in hand.

The win means that the Merseyside club completed the double over their rivals, and just as at Anfield earlier this season, they had to come from behind to clinch the win.

Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 25 minutes after Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina misjudged a pass from Carlos Tevez to bring down Park Ji-Sung.

But the visitors hit back within five minutes through Fernando Torres as Nemanja Vidic - one of the stars of United's season to date - failed to deal with a high ball from the Liverpool defence.

As the Serbian defender hesitated, Torres closed in on the United goal before finishing clinically past Edwin Van der Sar.

And just before half-time Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard dispatched a penalty, after he himself had been brought down by Patrice Evra, to give the visitors a surprise lead at the break.

The champions put the visitors under concerted pressure throughout the second half, but Liverpool's defenders restricted them to only half chances.

With 15 minutes remaining, another mistake from Vidic resulted in the defender being sent off after a professional foul on Gerrard. From the free kick that followed left back Fabio Aurelio sealed the win for Liverpool with a stunning strike from 25 yards.

Italian full back Dossena supplied the icing on the cake with a delicate chip in the final minutes as Liverpool looked able to score at will. (dpa)