Kenny Dalglish’s second tenure as manager of Liverpool F.C. got off to a rough start earlier today with a 1-0 loss to Manchester United in the F.A. Cup 3rd Round. A bit of theatricality on the part of Dimitar Berbatov led to a Ryan Giggs penalty kick goal. The Guardian’s Daniel Taylor reports Liverpool’s Ryan Babel took to Twitter postgame with a jpg depicting match referee Howard Webb (above) in a Manchester United shirt.

Babel’s attack will almost certainly lead to the FA intervening on the basis that he is alleging bias on the part of the man who refereed the World Cup final and was made an MBE in the Queen’s New Year honours list. An FA spokesman has confirmed they are aware of the incident and are looking into it.

Babel later tweeted: “Sorry Howard Webb. My apology if they take my posted pic seriously. This is just an emotional reaction after losing an important game.”

Dalglish’s son, Paul, also vented his feelings on Twitter, posting a mocked-up picture of Sir Alex Ferguson with his arm around Webb, again in a United shirt.

Babel, somewhat mindful of how his stunt will be received, tweeted further in the evening, “I have 2 be careful though, can’t drop the soap in #Twitterjail…If u have seen the episode of the Boondocks u know wat i’m talkin about.”