Rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool FC

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Manchester United coat of arms Liverpool FC coat of arms

The rivalry between Manchester United and Liverpool FC is one of the most watched rivalries in English football and goes far beyond the sporting confrontation. It is based on the one hand in the city rivalry between Manchester and Liverpool as the most important economic and cultural center in the north of England , and on the other hand the two clubs struggle for the status of the most successful club in England . Manchester United, for example, is the sole record champion with 20 English championships (most recently in 2013 ), just ahead of Liverpool with 19 (most recently in 2020 ).

The games between these two clubs occupy a prominent place in the Premier League . As is usual with other derbies in England , the pairing is usually played at lunchtime for safety reasons and at times an alcohol ban is also imposed. The derby is also the encounter with the second most red cards in the history of the Premier League.

Background to the rivalry

City rivalry

In the 19th century, Liverpool with its port and Manchester with its dominant textile industry were among the most economically important cities in the British Empire . While Liverpool's industries concentrated on insurance , banking and shipping , further inland "lower" jobs were being done to manufacture manufactured products. This alleged better position of Liverpool led to the saying "the Liverpool gentleman and the Manchester man".

The completion of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894 bypassed Liverpool as a port of transshipment for products from Manchester, reducing Liverpool's status and revenue. The construction of the canal is often viewed as the starting point for the rivalry between the two cities.

Football dominance

Comparison of the two clubs in the English football league system from 1892/93 to the present (as of June 2020)

Both clubs were able to impose their dominance on English football over a long period of time. Liverpool FC won eleven of 15 championships and four times the European Cup between 1975 and 1990 , while Manchester United celebrated thirteen championships and two Champions League victories between 1993 and 2013 and Liverpool wrested the decade-long position of record champions. The accumulated trophy collections of over 50 triumphs on both sides are seen as the reason that each of the two clubs see themselves as the most successful in England. Both clubs have in common the fact that they have had to deal with disasters in their club history: United the team's plane crash in 1958 , Liverpool the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 . However, some fan groups on both sides regularly use the memory of these events to mock the victims of the other side in songs. When they first met in a European competition in 2016, Hillsborough chants by Manchester United supporters were neither mentioned in the official match report nor otherwise sanctioned.

Breaking Liverpool's national dominance was a key tenet goal for Alex Ferguson , who coached Manchester United from 1986 to 2013 and became one of the longest-serving and most successful coaches in the world. In 2002, when Manchester was four championship titles behind Liverpool and only finished second behind Arsenal the previous season , former Liverpool player Alan Hansen described Ferguson's situation at the time as "the greatest challenge of his career". Ferguson replied that his greatest challenge was to knock Liverpool from his throne (in the original: "My greatest challenge was knocking Liverpool right off their fucking perch. And you can print that.").

While Manchester United are England's record champions with 20 championships (most recently in 2013 ) and Liverpool's 19 (most recently in 2020 ), Liverpool have won the Champions League or its predecessor six times, while Manchester United “only” three times.

The number of championships won had been the starting point for mutual taunts of both clubs since the 1990s - in 1994 Liverpool supporters unveiled a banner with the words Come Back When You Have Won 18 ("Come back when you have won 18 times"). After winning the 19th championship in 2011, United supporters unveiled the MUFC 19 Times ("19 times") writing in Anfield before the game .

It wasn't until 2016 that the two clubs met in a European cup competition for the first time in the second round of the Europa League .

society league Cup League Cup European Champion Clubs' Cup /
UEFA Champions League 		UEFA Cup Winners' Cup UEFA Cup /
UEFA Europa League 		Community Shield UEFA Super Cup World cup Club World Cup total
Liverpool FC 19th 7th 8th 6th 0 3 15th 4th 0 1 63
Manchester United 20th 12 5 3 1 1 21st 1 1 1 66
total 39 19th 13 9 1 4th 36 5 1 2 129
As of June 25, 2020

player

There has been no direct player transfer between the two clubs since Phil Chisnall's transfer from Liverpool to Manchester in April 1964.

Since then there have been some players such as Paul Ince , Peter Beardsley or Michael Owen who have played for both clubs, but always with intermediate stops at other clubs. With both Ince and Owen, the commitment to the respective rival was received with surprise in the media.

In 2007 Liverpool made a bid for Gabriel Heinze , which Manchester United immediately rejected. The then United coach Alex Ferguson insisted not to sell to the league competitor and arch-rival. Thereupon a legal dispute broke out between Liverpool and Manchester over the obligation of Heinzes, since the transfer fee agreed in the contract with Heinze would have been paid. In the end United got right, whereupon Heinze switched to Real Madrid instead .

Incidents

At the award ceremony of the FA Cup final in 1996 (1-0), Manchester United's then captain and scorer Eric Cantona was spat at by a Liverpool supporter, Alex Ferguson was able to avoid an attempted punch by another Liverpool fan.

When United player Alan Smith broke his leg in the fifth round of the 2006 FA Cup (1-0 for Liverpool) in Anfield , supporters of the Liverpool grandstand The Kop mocked him with the sound of a rescue siren. The ambulance that was supposed to be used to take Smith to the hospital was attacked outside the stadium. In the same game, both Steven Gerrard and Gary Neville were pelted with coins and leftover food. As a result, the Manchester police, for example, imposed a ban on alcohol at an FA Cup game in January 2011.

The rivalry was further fueled in the 2011/12 season by the racial abuse of Patrice Evra by Liverpool player Luis Suárez . Liverpool denied the allegation that Suarez voiced this form and tried to undermine Evra's credibility. Suarez was finally banned from the FA for eight games in December 2011 and was fined over £ 40,000. In the first encounter at Old Trafford after Suarez's suspension, Suarez Evra refused to shake hands before the game because he saw himself as the victim of a targeted campaign. The recent scandal was settled after a public apology from Suárez.

In his last derby against Manchester United in March 2015 (1: 2 away win for Manchester), long-time captain Steven Gerrard came on as a substitute at the beginning of the second half and was sent red after only 38 seconds on the pitch due to an assault against Ander Herrera .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Seven reasons why Manchester United vs Liverpool is the biggest game in English football , Daily Mirror article from March 14, 2014
  2. ↑ a b Football’s most poisonous rivalry? Liverpool and Manchester United's tempestuous past , article on CNN .com, September 21, 2012
  3. ↑ Manchester United vs. Liverpool: The Most Bitter Rivalry in English Football , article on Bleacher Report .com from January 11, 2013
  4. ↑ Liverpool v Manchester United: The bitter rivalry , BBC article of September 21, 2012
  5. ↑ a b Manchester United v Liverpool: police impose alcohol ban ahead of FA Cup clash between bitter rivals , Daily Telegraph article of 7 January 2011
  6. ↑ Is the Merseyside derby the dirtiest Premier League game? , Guardian article , March 29, 2017
  7. ↑ Scouse v Manc , BBC article , Aug. 21, 2007
  8. ↑ Manchester and Liverpool: A Tale of Two Rival Cities , BBC article , May 12, 2010
  9. ↑ a b c Liverpool v Manchester United: not so much a fixture as a blood feud , Guardian article of January 27, 2012
  10. ↑ Manchester United avoid sanction for chants about Hillsborough disaster , Guardian article , March 14, 2016
  11. ↑ The greatest challenge of Sir Alex Ferguson's career is almost over , Guardian article of January 9, 2011
  12. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/may/16/manchester-united-19-times-banner-anfield , Guardian article of May 16, 2011
  13. ↑ Liverpool v Manchester United: a deep-rooted, tribalistic rivalry finally set for Europe , Guardian article of March 9, 2016
  14. ↑ The day that Phil crossed the great divide! , Article in the Liverpool Echo dated July 6, 2007
  15. ↑ Owen completes switch to Man Utd , BBC article of July 3, 2009
  16. ↑ Liverpool call in lawyers over Heinze transfer , Guardian article , July 24, 2007
  17. ↑ Heinze loses Anfield transfer bid , Guardian article of August 21, 2007
  18. ↑ Wembley to act over spitting , articles of the Independent of 13 May 1996
  19. ↑ Liverpool furious as Luis Suárez banned in Patrice Evra racism row , Guardian article , December 20, 2011
  20. ↑ Clear conscience: Suarez still thinks he did nothing wrong in Evra race row , Daily Mirror article from May 25, 2012
  21. ↑ Manchester United's Juan Mata sinks Liverpool after Steven Gerrard red card , Guardian article , March 22, 2015