The Manchester United-Liverpool rivalry has, for quite a long time now, been the epic rivalry of British rivalry in terms of following. Although neither team is currently coming off a great season, these are the 2 clubs with the greatest pedigree in English football and have the greatest number of both domestic and continental trophies between themselves.
This rivalry, billed as the North-West Derby, goes way beyond the spheres of football and has affected the art, music and the daily lives of people from both cities in the past century. Despite the reduced glamour around the rivalry in the past few years (mainly due to the fall in standards of both teams), this remains the most-watched, followed and storied rivalry of the past decade and has thrown up a number of classic encounters in recent memory. Here, we look at their 5 best showdowns in the last 10 years.
1) Manchester United 3-0 Liverpool, Premier League 07-08 Season (23 March 2008)
During the peak years of Ronaldo’s time at Old Trafford, there was very little that opposition teams could do by way of containing Manchester United’s attacking threat. This match was no exception to that rule, as Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo combined brilliantly many-a-time in this game to put Liverpool to the sword.
The most memorable incident of this match was the sending off of Javier Mascherano, who talked himself out of the pitch after taking exception heatedly to a yellow card shown to teammate Fernando Torres. Already on a yellow card, referee Steve Bennett had no choice but to brandish another one after Mascherano’s dissenting attitude went way over the top.
United were dominating the game and creating the better chances than the visiting Reds at the time, and they had gotten in front courtesy a Wes Brown header that beat Pepe Reina’s charge into him. Later in the second half, Cristiano Ronaldo scored another header past Reina, and on this occasion, he was much more at fault for not dealing with Nani’s corner. Shortly after that, Nani sealed the win with a fantastic finish from just outside the penalty area.
The defeat left Liverpool’s 7-game winning run before this game in tatters, and they could only finish fourth in the Premier League this season. United went on to complete a league-and-Champions League double.
2) Manchester United 1-4 Liverpool, Premier League 08-09 Season (14 March 2009)
After a hiatus of many years from the reckoning, Liverpool were finally in the fray this season as one of the main contenders for the Premier League title. Although at this point in the season, they were 7 points behind United with one game more played, the fight for bragging rights between the 2 biggest clubs in the Northeast was more than enough incentive for the players to step their games up.
It began well for United, as Cristiano Ronaldo beat a full-stretch dive from Reina from a penalty. However, Nemanja Vidic at the other end slipped up and allowed Torres a goal, following which Patrice Evra conceded a penalty which Steven Gerrard stepped up and put away. The real trouble for United began when Vidic picked up a second yellow for a rash challenge on Torres.
Liverpool then scored twice in the last 15 minutes, including a fabulous Fabio Aurelio free-kick from just outside the penalty area coming from the Vidic challenge. Andrea Dossena completed the rout in stoppage time with a cool, chipped finish over Edwin van der Sar in goal.
United still hung on and managed to secure the league with 2 games to spare, but the Liverpool fans had something to brag about after the season, which was also capped off by another good outing in the Champions League.
3) Liverpool 2-0 Manchester United, Premier League 09-10 Season (25 October 2009)
In what became Rafa Benitez’s final, and worst season in charge of the Reds, they went into their first derby of the season in jittery form. Without Fernando Torres playing for many of their initial games of the season, they were in historically poor form. United had problems of their own to deal with, following the departures of Carlos Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo, but they had started off the season in league-winning nick. Rooney, particularly, was in ominous form.
In a tight, end-to-end half in which neither side was quite clinical enough, Torres finally broke through on a Yossi Benayoun through ball, muscled his way past the attentions of a despairing Rio Ferdinand and placed a shot into the roof of the near post. Following this 65th-minute breakthrough, Torres was substituted in order to keep him fit for upcoming matches, while David Ngog was sent on.
The final minutes were full of epic, helter-skelter football as the game was stretched and clearer opportunities fell to both sides. The tackles became lazier and reckless, and Vidic earned himself another red card. Liverpool’s man advantage did not last long, however, as Mascherano himself clattered into van der Sar, who was attempting a clearance quite far away from goal.
Antonio Valencia grazed the crossbar off a chance fashioned by substitute Michael Owen, who was roundly booed by Liverpool fans on his comeback to Anfield with United. David Ngog applied the finishing touch to a stoppage-time counterattack, slotting the ball past van der Sar after being played through by Lucas Leiva, and his touch was responded to by mad celebrations by both the players and fans.
4) Manchester United 3-0 Liverpool, Premier League 14-15 Season (14 December 2014)
This was one of the less memorable games in terms of the quality of football on display. Liverpool were way down in 10th spot coming into this fixture, while United were sitting pretty at 3rd position in Van Gaal’s initial time at the club.
Liverpool were also missing Daniel Sturridge because of his injury troubles, while Mario Balotelli was in poor form. Rodgers opted to start Raheem Sterling as the lone striker. He also dropped Simon Mignolet in favour of Brad Jones, after a spate of errors from the Belgian.
Sterling scuffed his lines from a one-on-one opportunity with De Gea from a tame shot, and United capitalized from the ensuing counterattack – Rooney scored after a mazy dribble by Valencia on the right wing and a lovely ball played to his path across the box. Liverpool’s probing refused to bear fruit as their attempts were expertly kept out by an in-form De Gea in the United goal, and United scored a second goal from a cross. Mata looked to be in an offside position in replays, but the damage on the scoreline had been done.
De Gea’s calm, controlled demeanour in goal helped him keep out a few more one-on-chances from Sterling, as well as a close-range shot from substitute Balotelli which he brilliantly tipped on to the crossbar. Robin van Persie, subbed in during the second half, finished off the game for United following another defensive lapse from the Reds, leaving Brad Jones no chance at the near post from a Juan Mata ball.
Although United could not sustain their form after the Christmas period, they beat Liverpool rather easily to the Champions League spot by the end of the season.
5) Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool, Premier League 12-13 Season (13 January 2013)
Going into the game, both teams had world-class strikers in top nick, with Van Persie and Suarez as the top two strikers in the Premier League that season. United were fighting it out in both Europe and were placed 10 points clear at the top of the table following the hectic Christmas period. Liverpool had bolstered their own goalscoring department, signing Daniel Sturridge for £12 million from Chelsea to provide greater support to Suarez, but they were 21 points behind their rivals.
Van Persie stamped his class on the game early on, following a neat sequence of passing by the United midfield as he applied a silky finishing touch to a cross from Evra’s cross in the 19th minute. United hung on to their lead following a spell of concerted pressure from Liverpool, and they entered the tunnel at halftime with a number of well-fashioned opportunities missed and a well-deserved lead.
United duly doubled their lead early in the second half via a free kick. Patrice Evra had the decisive touch but the ball from Van Persie was met last by Vidic, who was credited with the goal. Liverpool scored their only goal of the game from Sturridge, who was brought on in place of an out-of-sorts and booked Lucas Leiva. The game had a more dramatic finale with Liverpool growing into the game and bombarding United with a few well-struck shots.
The game marked the 9th successive game that Van Persie scored for United, and he duly picked up another Premier League Golden Boot at the end of the season as the Manchester club romped to one of the easiest league victories in recent memory and erased the scars of their stoppage-time loss from the previous season.
