RAFA Benitez has taken a swipe at his old enemy Sam Allardyce after seeing his Liverpool side secure a fort-uitous 2-1 home win over Blackburn Rovers.

The Spanish manager stated his side deserved the three points at Anfield yesterday, despite Rovers creating the better chances throughout, before mocking Rovers boss Allardyce’s style of football.

The duo’s rivalry goes back to when Allardyce’s Bolton inflicted a first defeat on Benitez in England back in 2004, with the Spaniard ever since accusing Allardyce of producing physical sides.

Allardyce was infuriated by Benitez’s behaviour last season, after taking offence to a ‘disrespectful hand gesture, and stoked the fires with comments pre-match suggesting Liverpool have now become more physical.

Benitez though hit back post-match by sarcastically suggesting Allardyce is a ‘model’ everyone in football should learn from.

Benitez said: “If they prefer to play the way they play under this manager it is their decisions. We prefer to win trying to play well.

“They have their style. They play in this way under this manager and it is their decision.

"We won so we don’t have to be thinking about if the style is good or not, we won.

“We can win on the pitch and enjoy. Some people have to talk before because it is more difficult for them to do a football job.

“I think he (Sam Allardyce) is a model for all the managers all around the world.

"He is a model, the style of football, his behaviour, everything is the perfect way for the kids.

“I am sure the parents will be enjoying this model and enco-urage their kids to be the same in this style of football.

"I am sure Barcelona will be thinking about copying this style.”

In Rovers’ defence, yesterday’s clash was far from dirty and, with the exception of a couple of daft moments from Pascal Chimbonda and Steven Nzonzi, the 90 minutes went of with relatively little incident.

El-Hadji Diouf was inevitably the centre of the home fan’s disgust, especially after a spat with Steven Gerrard, but Allardyce was right when he asked what his Senegalese man had done.

In a heated post-match press conference, Allardyce was quick to jump to the defence to his side after watching them almost derail Liverpool’s Champions League qualification bid.

He said: “Did Diouf behave badly? So Steven Gerrard didn’t say anything to him?

"I won’t answer that question because I think it is a diabolical question.

“I only have a go at Liverpool because Liverpool have a go at me and because I am entitled to respond when I get criticised by Rafa Benitez.

“I am entitled to respond to that. If you don’t understand that over the last few years you must be deluded.

“Many, many other times I have been criticised personally by the manager.

“All I said was they got six bookings at Manchester City so they are digging the games out now rather than the flowing football they played.

“We got five bookings and 25 fouls against us which was for me a wrong reflection on how we played.

“We played very, very well and if you want to criticise us for the bookings we got and the fouls we gave away then that is entirely up to you.

“It is your responsibility to write that as you see it. We dominated the game for long periods and didn’t come to hang on for a draw.”