Football Legends: Liverpool v Man United Rivalry History
Liverpool and Manchester United will renew rivalries on Sunday in what is one of the most fiercely contested fixtures in football.
United were for a long time the dominant force in the English top flight, but the current struggles of the Red Devils have coincided with Liverpool developing into a title-winning team.
We take a look back at the history of the rivalry between two of English football’s biggest clubs.
Football Legends: Fierce beginnings
The rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester United was born out of the proximity of the two major cities.
Historically the rivalry was fuelled by the economic and industrial interests of the two cities and that developed and expanded as the two football clubs enjoyed significant periods of domestic footballing dominance as well as European success.
As the popularity of the sport grew, Liverpool and Manchester United became two of the best supported football clubs in the country, and that added even more insensitivity to the conflict between the teams.
The two clubs are now the most successful in the history of English football. Between them they have won 39 league titles, 21 FA Cups, 16 League Cups, 37 FA Community Shields, nine European Cups/UEFA Champions Leagues, four UEFA Cups, one UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, five UEFA Super Cups, one Intercontinental Cup and two FIFA Club World Cups.
As it stands, Liverpool and Manchester United are locked together on 68 trophies each.
Football Legends: United’s glory days
The contention between the two continued to grow into the modern era, but while the rivalry remained, it wasn’t a competitive battle between the two sides on the pitch.
Manchester United won their first Premier League title in the inaugural season of the competition in the 1992-93 campaign and the Red Devils went on to win 13 modern top-flight trophies, with the most recent coming in the 2012-13.
Then led by Alex Ferguson, United also enjoyed considerable success in Europe and in domestic cup competitions and the Red Devils firmly established themselves as the dominant force in English football.
At the same time, Liverpool could not mount a challenge to Ferguson’s great teams, but that all changed when Jurgen Klopp arrived at Anfield.
Football Legends: Klopp closes the gap
Jurgen Klopp took charge of Liverpool in October 2015 and went on to lead the Reds to one Premier League title, one Champions League crown, an FA Cup, two EFL Cups, the Community Shield, a UEFA Super Cup and a Fifa Club World Cup – his trophy cause not helped by Manchester City’s rise.
The German tactician built a fearsome, destructive and attack-minded side, and not only did he lead Liverpool to their first Premier League title in 2019-20 – their first top-flight success for 30 years, he also put the Reds firmly above their great rivals.
Klopp has been and gone of course, but Arne Slot has continued the Anfield club’s progress and Manchester United have been on the end of some crushing defeats from the Reds in recent times.
Some recent scorelines between the two sides read 3-0, 4-0, 5-0 and 7-0 in Liverpool’s favour, and while the Reds are currently peaking and heading for another title success, United have hit what they at least hope is rock bottom.
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