Anyone who felt the on-going row between Rafael Benitez and Sir Alex Ferguson was going to end in pleasantries was proved to be sadly mistaken after Liverpool's 2-0 win that relegated West Brom.

Benitez is clearly not prepared to take a leaf out of his vice-captain Jamie Carragher's book and kiss and make up after a row.

The Liverpool defender had been involved in a remarkable pushing match with colleague Alvaro Arbeloa in the second half as West Brom mounted one final show of defiance before accepting their fate.

But Carragher said: "We have both kissed and made up in the dressing room, that's all there is to it."

However, having traded insults with Ferguson throughout the season - in particular during and after his infamous "these are the facts" rant in December - was not prepared to offer personal congratulations to Ferguson after Manchester United's 18th title triumph.

The Spaniard was given two opportunities at yesterday's post-match press conference at The Hawthorns to do so - and pointedly declined.

Benitez said: "I will say congratulations to Manchester United. They have done well, but I do not want to say too much.

"I prefer just to say well done to the club, a big club, a good club.

"Normally you have to be polite and respect the other manager. During the season we have seen a lot of things that I didn't like, so that's it.

"I say congratulations to United because they have won. And that's it."

Benitez then admitted that he did not like to see two of his own players behaving like Carragher and Arbeloa did.

He said: "The disagreement between my two players was because we wanted another clean sheet.

"I don't like what I saw, but I am trying to see the positive side of things.

"We were looking to hit targets, a record points tally for the club of 83 and we achieved that. We wanted 13 away league wins which is also a record.

"For me that is a positive message about the mentality of the team. We wanted to show character and a desire to win and be second, and stay as close as we could to Manchester United.

"Arbeloa was going forward and we had some problems in defence, so we wanted to protect Jose Reina better, he has 20 clean sheets and (Edwin )Van der Sar has 21. That was important."

Before the match Albion had suspended striker Roman Bednar after a newspaper report alleged the Czech international had bought illegal drugs.

But manager Tony Mowbray said: "What happened did not upset our preparation. I had a word with him before the match, but there will be no further comment until we have had the chance to investigate what has happened and find out all the facts.

"We will then take action when we have got to the bottom of it and discover the details."

Albion ended the day relegated from the top flight for the third time in seven seasons.
And Mowbray said: "Obviously I am so disappointed, particularly for the fans who have been magnificent all season.

"But the way we gave away that first goal, a big mistake to let Steven Gerrard in, just epitomises our whole season.

"I am frustrated. We had a lot of good attacking play but then gave the opposition a goal they did not have to work for. That's us.

"But we are now a better team than we have been for a lot of seasons, the team have grown into the Premier League and learned a lot of lessons along the way.

"Hopefully we can use those lessons next season in the Championship.

"We have gained a lot of experience over nine months and it has made them better players."