Liverpool F.C.–Manchester United F.C. rivalry

The Liverpool F.C.–Manchester United F.C. rivalry also known as North-West Derby is a high profile inter-city rivalry between English professional football clubs Liverpool and Manchester United. It is considered to be one of the biggest rivalries in the football world along with the Superclásico in South America, El Clásico in Spain, and Derby della Madonnina in Italy, and is considered the most famous fixture in English football. Players, fans and the media alike often consider games between the two clubs to be their biggest rivalry, above even their own local derby competitions with Everton and Manchester City, respectively.

The rivalry has been fuelled by the proximity of the two major cities that they represent, their historic economic and industrial rivalry, significant periods of domestic footballing dominance and European success, and their popularity at home and abroad, as two of the biggest-earning and widely supported football clubs in the world.

The two clubs are the most successful English teams in both domestic and European competitions; and between them they have won 38 league titles, 8 European Cups, 3 UEFA Cups, 4 UEFA Super Cups, 19 FA Cups, 12 League Cups, 1 FIFA Club World Cup, 1 Intercontinental Cup and 36 FA Community Shields.

Supporters
Both Manchester United and Liverpool are among the most popular football clubs (and sporting organisations) globally. Both are in the top 25 in Europe with Manchester United considered to have the largest following of all, as well as having one of the highest average home attendances in Europe and boasting a large travelling support. The club states that its worldwide fan base includes more than 200 officially recognised branches of the Manchester United Supporters Club (MUSC), in at least 24 countries. Liverpool states that its worldwide fan base also includes more than 200 officially recognised branches of the LFC Official Supporters Clubs in at least 50 countries. Notable groups include Spirit of Shankly and Reclaim The Kop.

The 2005 leveraged takeover of Manchester United by the Glazer family created a schism amongst Manchester fans, directly causing the creation of F.C. United of Manchester, and the "Love United Hate Glazer" movement, and subsequently the Red Knights who attempted to buy the Glazers out the club. Two years later, Liverpool went through its own controversial takeover when Chairman David Moores sold the club to American businessmen George Gillett and Tom Hicks. Disagreements between Gillett and Hicks, and the lack of popular support from fans, resulted in the pair looking to sell the club. Martin Broughton was appointed chairman of the club on 16 April 2010 to oversee its sale. Court action finally forced the sale of the club to Fenway Sports Group.

Hooliganism
With the rise of football hooliganism across English football during the 1970s and 1980s, matches between the two clubs brought some minor and major incidents of hooliganism. Since then, the modern game has seen a decrease in violence between the rival supporters and incidents are fairly uncommon. This is more likely due to an increase in Police presence and CCTV with huge steps taken to keep the fans separated. To this day, both sets of fans still hold a resentment toward each other. As well as physical violence, sections of the clubs' fan bases often taunt each other with unsavoury chants about the Munich air disaster and the Hillsborough disaster respectively.

At the 1996 FA Cup Final, an unidentified Liverpool fan spat at Eric Cantona and threw a punch at Alex Ferguson as a victorious Manchester United team walked up the steps at Wembley Stadium to collect the trophy from the Royal Box.

The 2006 FA Cup match at Anfield featured foreign objects thrown at United fans by Liverpool supporters, including human excrement. Liverpool's FA Cup semi-final game against Chelsea at Old Trafford later that year also resulted in damage to the stadium, including graffiti about serial killer Harold Shipman.

In March 2011, the Daily Mail reported that an FA Youth Cup game between the two clubs was marred because of "sick chants" about Hillsborough and Heysel coming from the Manchester United fans at Anfield. The article also claims that six Manchester United fans were ejected from the stadium due to bad behaviour. Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge was at the game and told the Liverpool Echo that "the level of abuse was absolutely sickening".

In March 2016, Liverpool fans were greeted with a banner on the M602 motorway in Salford that said 'murderers' and also had the Hillsborough Disaster date on it. UEFA took no disciplinary action against Manchester United.

Honours

 * The honours listed above are considered to be the club’s major titles and, as such, are not intended to be a full list of achievements.


 * Table correct as of 7 August 2016.

Head-to-head
The below table demonstrates the competitive results between the two sides (not indicative of titles won).


 * Table correct as of 18 March 2016