THE RIVALRY BETWEEN TWO TRIBES
It's English football's most epic saga. A long battle for supremacy that's endured through decades of contrasting fortunes.
As the rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool gears up for game number 200, we plot its fiery ebb and flow from a United perspective, while sifting through 124 years of history…
MATCH 26
2 April 1915: United 2 Liverpool 0 (Division 1, Old Trafford)
Despite the simmering rivalry, the two teams weren't always at loggerheads. On Good Friday 1915, with football about to be suspended due to the escalating barbarity on the Western Front, seven players – four Liverpool, three United – colluded to fix a match that helped United avoid relegation, earning themselves life bans. A period of Scouse dominance followed the war: United were relegated in 1922, and Liverpool seized two consecutive titles, making it 4-2. The tarnished Good Friday win was our last over the Merseysiders until 1928.
MATCH 50 AND 51:
6 May 1939: United 2 Liverpool 0 (Division 1, Old Trafford)
11 September 1946: United 5 Liverpool 0 (Division 1, Old Trafford)
But things would shift, and how. In May 1939, Liverpool’s then-captain completed his final season as a professional in a 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford that was decided by two Jimmy Hanlon goals. The Stretford-born Hanlon’s next league game would be seven years and one world war later. His new manager? The ex-Liverpool captain, Matt Busby.
The impact Busby wrought was immediate. His new charges doled out a 5-0 schooling to his former club just weeks into the first post-war season, although Liverpool ultimately triumphed by a single, agonising point come May, thanks to 24 goals from Albert Stubbins – football’s only representative on the legendary cover of The Beatles’ 1967 opus Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Yet another title wended its way to Anfield, but the agents of change were in place. The goalscorers here – Stan Pearson, Jack Rowley and Charlie Mitten – were among the core of Busby’s first great United side: the 1948 FA Cup winners. Liverpool’s supremacy was about to be swept away by an emerging superpower.
MATCH 67
19 December 1953: United 5 Liverpool 1 (Division 1, Old Trafford)
The 1951/52 season brought United’s first championship since 1911, but Busby’s real stroke of genius was yet to be unfurled. Behind the scenes, his network of scouts and coaches were amassing, nurturing and inspiring arguably the finest group of young talent Britain has ever seen. In December 1953, the first seeds of the great pre-Munich side were sprouting: a United XI featuring Jackie Blanchflower, Tommy Taylor, Johnny Berry, Roger Byrne and 17-year-old Duncan Edwards - making just his ninth appearance – laid waste to Liverpool, who were relegated at the end of the campaign. United’s precocious Busby Babes won the title by 11 points in 1956 and eight in 1957. Busby’s masterstroke, and the tragedy of Munich, imbued the club with a romance that set United apart from every other club in the country; something which the all-conquering Liverpool of the future would grow to resent.
MATCH 74
24 April 1965: United 3 Liverpool 0 (Division 1, Old Trafford)
The 1960s arrived, and Liverpool gifted The Beatles to the world. Manchester responded with its own one-man Beatles: the freakishly talented and eternally cool George Best. Bill Shankly, like his great pal Busby, had sculpted Liverpool according to his own vision; dragging them from the depths of Division Two to the 1963/64 title. This 3-0 win gave United decisive breathing space in the 1964/65 race, but Liverpool roared back in 1966, and United did likewise in 1967. The mid-'60s ding-dong finished at 7-7, although United’s 1968 European Cup win handed Busby the edge. The freewheeling genius of Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton furthered United’s glamorous sheen, despite Shankly’s gritty, selfless side matching them for silverware. The two managers had a friendly but competitive rivalry, but that cordial veneer vanished when both departed in the 1970s. Liverpool were about to surge ahead of everyone, while United headed for relegation.
MATCH 98
21 May 1977: United 2 Liverpool 1 (FA Cup final, Wembley)
By 1977, Liverpool’s number of First Division titles had soared into double figures. But days before the Merseysiders would beat Borussia Monchengladbach to win the first of four European Cups in eight seasons, Tommy Docherty’s wildly entertaining United side denied them a domestic Double – and possible Treble – with a Herculean smash-and-grab at Wembley, thanks to Stuart ‘Pancho’ Pearson and Jimmy Greenhoff. 'Pack up your Treble in your old kit bag' read a United banner. Twelve months later, TV presenter, music impresario and big Red Tony Wilson wore a Club Brugge rosette live on air, as Liverpool prepared for their next European final. Resentment was growing.
MATCH 141
4 January 1994: Liverpool 3 United 3 (Premier League, Anfield)
United rocked up at Anfield as champions for the first time since November 1967. Inspired by Eric Cantona and Ryan Giggs, Ferguson’s boys stormed into a 3-0 lead inside 25 minutes. Liverpool would salvage a 3-3 draw in the second half, but the point had been made: United were back, and a newly-swaggering beast to be reckoned with. Anfield unfurled a banner saying 'Au revoir, Cantona. Come back when you’ve won 18'. It would not be forgotten.
MATCH 147
11 May 1996: United 1 Liverpool 0 (FA Cup final, Wembley)
Ferguson’s campaign to “knock Liverpool off their perch” barely wasted a minute once United nailed that first title in 1992/93. When the sides met for the 1996 FA Cup final, United were bidding to become the first club to win a second Double. They succeeded, with virtually the last kick of the season, from Cantona. The scowling face of former Liverpool chairman David Moores, slumped in the royal box as Eric collected the trophy, confirmed that United’s resurgence was not especially popular on Merseyside.
MATCH 173
3 March 2007: Liverpool 0 United 1 (Premier League, Anfield)
Despite United’s dominion in England, just one European Cup had been added - in 1999. Painfully, Liverpool claimed their fifth in Istanbul in 2005. But in the great historical domestic race, United were closing in. John O’Shea’s late – and undeserved – winner at Anfield was a pivotal moment in the 2006/07 Premier League. Liverpool had battered Edwin van der Sar’s goal all afternoon, and when Paul Scholes was sent off after swinging for Xabi Alonso, bums really began to squeak. But up stepped O’Shea, at the Kop end, to break and infuriate Liverpool hearts in the most delicious way. United were just two away from 18.
MATCH 180
19 September 2010: United 3 Liverpool 2 (Premier League, Old Trafford)
On the way to eclipsing Liverpool's haul with title no.19 in the 2010/11 season, United got the better of the Merseysiders in an entertaining early-season battle at the Theatre of Dreams. One man ultimately stole the show, as Dimitar Berbatov adorned himself to the Old Trafford faithful with a memorable hat-trick. The Bulgarian striker struck twice either side of half-time, including a stunning overhead kick, to put Ferguson's men in control before Steven Gerrard threatened to upstage him by scoring a brace of his own which drew the visitors level. But, determined to have the final say, Berbatov stepped up six minutes of time to produce the decisive moment, towering above the Liverpool defence to power home a header and seal a deserved victory for United.
MATCH 192
22 March 2015: Liverpool 1 United 2 (Premier League, Anfield)
Ferguson’s 2013 retirement left United with 20 titles to Liverpool’s 18, but a 37-year period heavily coloured by the two sides’ respective dynasties was over. Neither have won a title since, though the totemic feel around the matches remains undimmed. Liverpool came within a whisker in 2014, before Steven Gerrard’s costly slip against Chelsea, and when United visited Anfield a year later, the away end hammered the midfielder with a 15-minute rendition of ‘You nearly won the league’ as he warmed up as a substitute. When he entered the fray, he immediately flew into two furious challenges and, incredibly, was dismissed within 38 seconds. It was his final action against United, and the Liverpool legend made sure he left his mark. There were no titles at stake here; just pride. The enemy were 1-0 up and knocking the ball around arrogantly on Gerrard’s patch. It was as clear an indication as any of the primal pull this fixture carries, and always will do, while football is played within these two great cities. “It doesn't matter if we’re playing tiddlywinks,” Ferguson once remarked. “When we get together, expect sparks to fly.”
MATCH 193
12 September 2015: United 3 Liverpool 1 (Premier League, Old Trafford)
Following on from David Moyes' reign, Louis van Gaal was the next United manager to experience the bitter rivalry and it proved to be a memorable occasion at the Theatre of Dreams - particularly for one man. The name on everyone's lips was Anthony Martial following his deadline-day arrival from Monaco and a new United star was christened on the biggest of stages. Daley Blind's crisp finish and Ander Herrera's penalty had put van Gaal's side in control before Christian Benteke pulled one back for Liverpool. The game was back in the balance and it was the signal for Martial to make himself an instant hero. On as a second-half substitute in place of Juan Mata, the Frenchman marked his debut in the grand manner, slaloming his way through the Liverpool defence before stroking calmly past Simon Mignolet in front of an exultant Stretford End to wrap up a fine win - our last victory over the Merseysiders. Let's hope that changes on Saturday!
www.manutd.com