Manchester United versus Liverpool is the most trophy-laden rivalry in English football, having won the League title more than any other team in the country. Both teams will go head-to-head on Saturday at Old Trafford, hoping to kick start their season with a win. Undoubtedly the most anticipated fixture in the football calendar, with everything at stake – quite simply, defeat is not an option. We look back at 5 memorable matches between the great rivals.
Liverpool 2-1 Man United, Milk Cup Final 1983
Before Carling and Capital One, there was Milk. With almost 100,000 fans in attendance during the Milk Cup Final, Ron Atkinson was looking to win his first trophy as the Red Devil’s manager.
This was also Bob Paisley’s last major final in charge of Liverpool and his team gave him a fitting farewell after coming back from behind to win the Cup. United took the lead after Norman Whiteside’s early opener but Alan Kennedy scored late in the game to stretch the match into extra time, before Ronnie Whelan scored a superb goal to seal Liverpool’s third consecutive League Cup.
Liverpool 3-3 Manchester United, Premier League 1994
Liverpool produced one of the great Premier League comebacks against a United team managed by Alex Ferguson in 1994. United took a 3-0 lead within the first 24 minutes only to see their lead wiped out by an astonishing turnaround.
With United up 3 goals to nil, Liverpool looked completely devastated at their home ground but two goals by Nigel Clough turned the game on its head, with United holding on Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock headed in a dramatic equalizer which led to wild celebrations in the stands.
Liverpool 2-1 Manchester United, Premier League 2008
Ryan Babel was hardly a fan favorite during his time at Anfield but he did have this one glorious moment against Manchester United for which he will be remembered forever after. Carlos Tevez had given the visitors the lead after debutant Dimitar Berbatov found him unmarked in the box but the celebrations soon turned sour after Edwin Van der Sar palmed an attempted clearance against Wes Brown and saw it roll in for the equaliser.
With the clock ticking down Javier Mascherano stole the ball away from Ryan Giggs and Babel turned in Dirk Kuyt’s subsequent pass to Rafa Benitez his first victory over Manchester United that too without Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres.
Manchester United 1-4 Liverpool, Premier League 2009
Though United were the defending Champions and League leaders at the time, this match was surely Liverpool’s finest performance at Old Trafford in recent history. A motivated Liverpool side took apart United to breathe some life back into hopes of a first league title in the Premier League era.
Cristiano Ronaldo had given the home side the lead from the penalty spot but soon but Fernando Torres capitalised on an uncharacteristic mistake from Nemanja Vidic to equal the score. Steven Gerrard put Liverpool ahead with a penalty before another Vidic error saw the defender sent off. An audacious Fabio Aurelio free-kick and Andrea Dossena’s lob over Edwin van der Sar completed the rout.
Manchester United 0-3 Liverpool, Premier League 2014
David Moye’s time at United was filled with major disappointments but few could match the depths of quite like this performance against Liverpool in March last year. Liverpool dominated the game from the start but only managed to take the lead after Gerrard converted from the spot following a Rafael handball.
Soon after the restart, Liverpool won another penalty after Phil Jones clumsily fouled Joe Allen in the box and Steven Gerrard matched his result from the previous penalty. The Liverpool captain though did miss one penalty later in the game but Luiz Suarez soon added a third anyway.
Comments are closed.