Blackburn 1 Liverpool 1
Matt Jansen earned a hard-won point for Blackburn to make sure the honours remained even at Ewood Park this afternoon.
Jansen's strike cancelled out Michael Owen's first-half header for Liverpool to secure a deserved draw for Rovers.
There was a very public handshake before kick-off between Graeme Souness and Phil Thompson. The Liverpool assistant manager fell out with Souness when he was in charge at Anfield, but the meaningful greeting indicated that neither manager wanted this match to assume more significance than it deserved.
Both sides were cagey in the opening stages, risking nothing, and 28 minutes had elapsed before either team manufactured a chance.
The first shot, when it came, was almost worth waiting for. Keith Gillespie toyed with Berger before slipping a pass into Matt Jansen on the edge of the 'D'.
The Rovers striker spun and struck a left-footed drive that Jerzy Dudek just managed to palm past the post for a corner.
A minute later, and Liverpool went one better and scored. Gerrard's cross, though probing, appeared nothing more than speculative.
Somehow though, Owen managed to beat Henning Berg in the air and loop a downwards header that the scrambling Friedel was unable to reach as it bounced into the corner of the net.
David Dunn, playing as a withdrawn striker behind Jansen, finally managed to get into the game when he skipped past a couple of challenges and drove in a low shot from 20 yards but once again Dudek was alert to the danger and dived across goal to save.
Souness mixed things up in the second half by swapping Dunn and Damien Duff, and the England Under-21 star immediately became more involved on the left wing.
A couple of Gazza-like tricks by Dunn did not come off, but a neat inside ball to Jansen did and he forced a save from Dudek to earn a corner from which Rovers, eventually, equalised in the 51st minute.
A half-clearance fell to Tugay on the edge of the area but the Turkish international horribly sliced his shot. Gillespie got a toe to the ball and it ended up with Jansen, who kept his cool, stepped inside past one challenge and slotted home with a minimum of fuss.
A lovely back-heeled flick by Dunn freed Duff to charge into the box, and the ball eventually fell to Tugay whose driven shot was blocked.
Jansen claimed a penalty after Sami Hyypia leaned in on him to win the ball but referee Mike Riley judged the Liverpool skipper had been hard but fair.
Liverpool's second meaningful chance of the game arrived in the 70th minute, and again it was a long ball from Gerrard which caused the problems.
Robbie Fowler found space as Craig Short and Berg both tried to mark Owen, and when the ball arrived he attempted a delicate chip which almost caught out Friedel but the former Liverpool keeper just managed to swipe it for a corner.
With 18 minutes remaining, Thompson took off the tiring Owen and brought on Emile Heskey, who nearly made it on to the end of a Gary McAllister through-ball but Stig Inge Bjornbye managed to get a vital toe in to poke the ball away.
There was a bad miss by substitute Danny Murphy in injury time, looping a shot wide with only the keeper to beat, but a defeat would have been unfair on Blackburn. -PA