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MAN UTD V LIVERPOOL – CLASSIC FIXTURES
MAN UTD V LIVERPOOL – CLASSIC FIXTURES
Saturday evening sees fierce rivals Manchester United and Liverpool lock horns once again in the quest for 3 points on the pitch and bragging rights off it. You’d be hard pressed to find a fixture bigger than this one, there’s been some crackers down the years in the Premier League, so lets take a trip down memory lane and look at 5 of the best from days gone by.
Man Utd 2-2 Liverpool – 1st of October 1995
It wasn’t as if this game needed any extra hyping up prior, but the return of ‘King Eric’ after his 6 month ban for getting over excited at Crystal Palace the previous season dominated the build up. He played his part in a thrilling 2-2 draw. Robbie Fowler, in his peak, showed all the reasons he was billed as the most natural finisher around, 2 deadly strikes in the first half cancelled out Nicky Butt’s opener. But the script was written. Cantona stole a draw with a trademark cool penalty.
Man Utd 4-0 Liverpool – 5th of April 2003
Moving into the Houllier era for Liverpool, they travelled to Old Trafford with high hopes. Still in with a shout after an hour played, despite Sami Hyypia’s red card and Ruud van Nistelrooy’s subsequent early first half penalty, things took a turn for the worse for Liverpool, a second penalty was rewarded and duly despatched by the Dutchman once more. Giggs’ somewhat surprising first home league goal in 2 years and Solskjaer’s strike doubled their lead in the final 12 minutes, making this one an afternoon to forget for the Liverpudlians.
Man Utd 1-4 Liverpool – 14th of March 2009
Still with a faint hope of taking their first Championship since 1990, Liverpool raced out of the traps, and with a Fernando Torres at his career best, together with skipper Steven Gerrard, they were too hot to handle for the Mancunians on this occasion. Vidic was run ragged by the bleached haired Spaniard all afternoon, and was red carded on 76 minutes – probably a welcome relief for the Utd centre back. Second half strikes from Aurelio and Dosseno added to Torres and Gerrard’s opening 2 goals in the first half to consign Utd to their heaviest home defeat since losing 4-1 against QPR in 1992.
Man Utd 3-2 Liverpool – 19th of September 2010
This seasons tie is probably best known as the ‘Berbatov one’. The languid Bulgarian, a £30m signing from Spurs, finally put to bed any doubts (from some quarters) that he might not have been worth the purchase. He put away a sublime hat-trick against a newly appointed Roy Hodgson led Liverpool. Opening his account after 42 mins with a neat header, he scored a stunning self made over-head kick to double his tally. A somewhat surprising quick-fire 6 minute Gerrard double made it 2-2, but this was Dimi’s day. He powered a header into the net, soaring above Carragher and O’shea to take the glory.
Man Utd 0-3 Liverpool – 16th of March 2014
Our fifth and final selection is from 2014. From our five games, there’s five different managers for Liverpool, this time it was Brendan Rogers’ turn to have a crack, and for the first time, Utd had a new chief. David Moyes. With 8 games remaining, Utd sat in an unfamiliar 7th position, whilst the Reds sat 2nd. Liverpool boasted the best player in the league at the time, Luis Suarez, but it was his skipper Gerrard again who bagged the first 2 from the spot. Gerrard spurned the hat-trick oppurtunity, bizarely again from a penalty, but Suarez was on hand to make it another miserable day for Moyes and United in the 2013/14 season.
