If you are into soccer, then you must be completely aware of the Northwest Derby. This is a high-profile inter-city rivalry between the two professional English football clubs, Manchester United and Liverpool.
The media, fans, and players feel that a match between the two teams is their biggest rivalry, and it is even above their local derbies with Everton and Manchester City. And this is not something recent. This has been there for centuries now.
Manchester United vs Liverpool is something that soccer fans wait to witness. There is something about these two teams that begins a frenzy among their supporters.
History
Manchester and Liverpool are just 56 km or 35 miles apart, located in the northwest part of England. The rivalry between these two cities can be dated back to the Industrial Revolution. But that was because of the industrial and economic competition.
Back in the 18th century, Manchester was a very congested city and was believed to be the symbol of the north. But by the later part of the 18th century, Liverpool had grown into one of the major seaports, which was important for the success and growth of the northern cotton mills.
Liverpool politicians opposed the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal that the Manchester merchants funded, and this was the beginning of resentment between the two cities. After that, it continued, and today, the rivalry is mostly seen on the football field.
Overview Of The Teams
Manchester United F.C. was formed in 1878 in Newton Heath, and their first competitive match was in October 1886. It was in the 1886-87 FA Cup when they entered the first round.
Liverpool F.C. was founded in 1892 after a disagreement between the Everton board and John Houlding, the president of the board. The disagreement happened because of rent, and Everton moved from Anfield to Goodison Park, and Liverpool F.C. played in the vacated stadium.
In 1901, Liverpool achieved their first Football League Championship trophy. And following that, in the year 1906, in the same season, Manchester United gave a top-tier fight after they finished as the runner-up in the second season after Bristol City.
However, after the Second World War, in 1947, Liverpool became the English champions again. Mersysiders dropped to the second tier as Manchester United became stable under the management of Matt Busby and won the 1948 FA Cup.
The 26-year spell of Manchester United, where they did not win a league title, was exceeded by Liverpool when they did not win a title for almost 30 years from 1990 to 2020.
Player Transfers
Since the transfer of Phil Chisnall in 1964 to Liverpool from Manchester United, none of the players have been directly transferred between these two clubs. However, there are some players who have played for both clubs, like Peter Beardsley and Paul Ince, and the most recent one was Michael Owen.
Back in 2007, Liverpool made a huge bid to get Gabriel Heinze to sign into their club, but Manchester United refused to let him join the team, which had been their biggest rival for over a century, and in the middle of an ongoing feud.
After that, he went public and requested to join Liverpool, and that was like an ultimate betrayal for the fans of Manchester United. Eventually, he was sold to Real Madrid.
In 2019, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish striker, left Los Angeles Galaxy. However, Jurgen Klopp mentioned that he might have considered signing him if he had not played for Manchester United before.
Here is a table of all the players that have transferred in between the two teams.
Date | Name | To | From |
August 1912 | Tom Chorlton | Manchester United | Liverpool |
November 1913 | Jackie Sheldon | Liverpool | Manchester United |
September 1920 | Tom Miller | Manchester United | Liverpool |
May 1921 | Fred Hopkin | Liverpool | Manchester United |
February 1929 | Tommy Reid | Manchester United | Liverpool |
January 1938 | Ted Savage | Manchester United | Liverpool |
November 1938 | Allenby Chilton | Manchester United | Liverpool |
February 1954 | Thomas McNulty | Liverpool | Manchester United |
April 1964 | Phil Chisnall | Liverpool | Manchester United |
Significant Matches
Over the centuries, these two have faced each other in the field numerous times, but here are some of the significant matches that have marked their name in history.
1894 Test Match
Both the clubs came face to face with one another in 1894 for the Football League test match for the very first time. It was conducted to determine who would get the First Division membership for 1894-95.
Newton Heath finished at the button of the First Division at the end of the 1893-94 season; they had a face-off against the Second Division champions, Liverpool. Liverpool won and earned themselves the First Division membership and sent Newton Heath to the Second Division.
1977 FA Cup Final
In 1977, both the clubs met for the first time for the cup final when both clubs reached the FA Cup final. However, Liverpool took the league title and knew that this win was going to put them in a treble because they had the European Cup final in four days.
However, Manchester United put an end to Liverpool’s treble dream and won the Cup with a score of 2-1.
Football League Cup Final,1983
After six years, on 26th March 1983, the two teams again met for the final of the Football League Cup. Ronnie Whelan and Alan Kennedy scored two goals for Liverpool and won the match.
Liverpool won the league three years in a row with this win. Bob Paisley was the manager of Liverpool back then, and it was his last season before retirement, so the team let him climb the 39 steps for collecting the trophy for the Royal Box.
Anfield 1988
In 1988, Liverpool was absolutely certain that they would win the title of First Division, as they were ahead by 11 points, with just a month remaining in the league. Under the management of Alex Ferguson for the entire first season, they were their closest rivals.
The teams had an encounter in the league at Anfield, and at the beginning of the second half, the home side was leading the board with a 3-1 score from Steve McMahon, Gary Gillespie, and Peter Beardsley. Bryan Robson made the only goal for United.
But then he pulled another one, and with just 12 minutes remaining in the match, Gordon Strachan scored another goal and made the score draw to 3-3.
General Statistics
Let’s have a general overview of the statistics of the matches that Liverpool and Manchester United have played against one another.
Total | Win For Liverpool | Win For Manchester United | Draws | |
Total number of watches played | 68 | 22 | 32 | 14 |
Total score | 182 | 92 | 90 | |
Old Trafford | 36 | 8 | 21 | 7 |
Anfield | 32 | 14 | 11 | 7 |
Europa League | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Carabao Cup | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
ICC | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
INT CF | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Premiere League | 57 | 18 | 26 | 13 |
FA Cup | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
Wrapping up!
Well, it is not possible to get everything about a rivalry that has been going on for centuries. However, a single match between Manchester United vs Liverpool is enough to get the crowd riled up. The rivalry between the fans is still very much alive.