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Last Sunday, with his hat trick, Sergio Aguero reached 160 EPL goals and he currently sits 8th on the all-time list of EPL top scorers. However, quite astonishingly, he is yet to break his duck at Anfield. He has made 10 appearances at Anfield but has failed to score every time.
He is not alone though. Quite a few top-notch players who have played for the red side of Manchester too failed to find the joy of scoring at Anfield. It is not an easy place to go to anyway, but when it comes to Manchester United’s visit, the atmosphere gets gallons of extra vitriol, making it tough for opposition players to focus.
Ryan Giggs, for example, has gone on record to call it the toughest place to play at. Mikaël Silvestre, who won 4 league titles with Manchester United, went a step further. He had this to say about visiting Anfield:
You feel like you're going to hell. You are not welcome and you can feel the hate for sure. It's a hostile environment and it's a good occasion to see how you react in adversity.
Here are 5 United players who failed to score at Anfield.
#5 Eric Cantona
The King. He came, he saw, he conquered? Well, not quite. Neither with Leeds United nor with Manchester United was Cantona able to score at Anfield. It, however, could have been very different. A year before United signed him, Liverpool had a chance to do so. However, Liverpool's then manager turned him down, calling him a 'problem player'. Cantona went on to play a key role in kick-starting Manchester United's dominance in domestic football, an era which lasted 20 years.
Though he didn't score at Anfield, he still gave enough grief to Liverpool fans by scoring an 86th-minute winner in the 1996 FA cup final. Yes, the game where Liverpool’s ‘Spice Boys’ entered the Wembley wearing cream-colored suits.
#4 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Manchester United’s caretaker boss made 235 EPL appearances for the club he now manages, scoring 91 EPL goals in total and winning the league 6 times. But "The Baby-faced Assassin" could never find the net at Anfield, neither in the Premier League nor in any other competition.
Interestingly, during his last stint as a Premier League manager with Cardiff City in 2014, he faced a Liverpool side bang in the title race. After the game, which Liverpool won 6-3, when asked about Liverpool's title challenge, he said: "I couldn't care less."
In two weeks, he will face a Liverpool side in midst of a title challenge again. If Liverpool do win, he can expect a similar question again. Though as United's manager, he probably won't be able to give the same reply.
#3 Paul Scholes
Midfielder par excellence, a bona fide legend, and a proficient goal scorer. The current Oldham manager, appeared in 499 league games for United between 1993 and 2013, scoring 107 goals. During these 20 years, he visited Anfield 14 times in the Premier League and once in FA cup, but failed to score even once.
Even though his playing career is over, his spite towards LFC hasn't diminished one bit. Gary Neville recently commented that choosing between Man City and Liverpool to win the title was like: "Choosing between two men to steal your wife.” When asked to comment, Scholes had no dilemma. He said: "No, it's not. I want City to win."
#2 Rudd van Nistelrooy
Unlike his teammates Solskjaer and Scholes, Nistelrooy had a relatively shorter stay at Old Trafford, lasting only 5 seasons. While he managed 95 PL goals in those 5 seasons - at a phenomenal rate of 2 goals every 3 games, his Anfield trips didn’t bring him much joy. He too failed to score in any of his 5 visits there, which also included one FA cup game.
In 2006, Nistelrooy moved to Real Madrid, where he went on to spend 4 seasons, including 2 injury-plagued years at the end. In 2010, rumors surfaced that Rafa Benitez wanted to bring then 34-year-old Nistelrooy to Liverpool. However, Benitez left soon and the deal never took place.
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo
In this year's Champions League, Ronaldo might get to visit Anfield again.
In his five trips to Anfield as a Manchester United player, Ronaldo had failed to find the net once. Before Real Madrid visited Liverpool for the Champions League tie in October 2014, the narrative was around how he had this ‘curse’ at Anfield and would be able to break it.
Liverpool’s back four that day – Glen Johnson, Martin Skrtel, Dejan Lovren, Alberto Moreno. In the goal was Simon Mignolet. It took Ronaldo only 23 minutes lift the 'curse'.
With both Juventus and Liverpool still in Champions League, there is a chance that Ronaldo will get to visit Anfield again. However this time with the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson in defence and Alisson Becker in goal, the challenge he faces will be completely different.
