Through the Years – Manchester United vs Liverpool – Part 1 (1990s)

Manchester United vs Liverpool. Is there a more anticipated fixture in the Premier League calendar?

Is, or was? Two sides have had their ups and downs, but now, with Liverpool sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League with their North-West counterparts 15, yes, 15 points behind them after just eight matches, the stakes are maybe not as a high as they seemed.

But wherever the placings in the table, wherever the sides are at in terms of form, the fixture always provides a fire and nerve like no other on this planet.

In this three-part mini series I will be taking a look at how the fixture has evolved (only at Old Trafford, like this fixture coming) in the Premier League era and taking a look at certain games in their own contexts.

THROUGH THE YEARS – PART ONE – THE 1990s

Ah the 90’s. Many will argue a golden era for football, and the birth of the stronghold of commercialism in our beautiful game. For the better or worse, the Premier League had arrived.

The year was 1992. Sleeping Satellite by Tasmin Archer blared out as number one, as October roared around for the first ever meeting of Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford in the Premier League.

United had run Leeds close under the non-knighted Alex Ferguson, with Eric Cantona inspiring Elland Road to the final ‘Division One’ title, then promptly jumping on the M62 and heading to Old Trafford for just over £1m just a month after this fixture.

Old Trafford was ready, however, for the first visit of the Reds, lining up with future legend Giggs, the typical brute Bruce and Pallister at the back, with Mark Hughes leading the line.

Liverpool, under the now pundit Graeme Souness, featured Ian Rush, Steve McManaman, Bruce Grobbelaar and the lesser known Torben Piechnik.

Surprisingly it was the Reds who took the lead. Don Hutchison and Ian Rush banged in two before half-time as the champions elect fell behind. A late brace from ‘Sparky’ was the saving grace for the Red Devils to rescue a 2-2 draw.

United would then go on to dominate the era, with Liverpool failing to win at Old Trafford in the Premier League until the millennium called. The Red Devils claimed their first win against the Reds at Old Trafford with a Paul Ince goal in March ’94.

The next saw the Mancunians keep another clean sheet in a 2-0 win, where lightning goals in minutes 72 and 73 from Andrei Kanchelskis and Brian McClair secured victory for Fergie’s men.

After an F.A. Cup defeat at Old Trafford continued the Reds misery in the 1990s, the following meetings at the Theatre of Dreams finished 1-1, 2-1 and 2-0, meaning Graeme Souness, Roy Evans, and Gerard Houllier all failed to win at the ground of the Premiership dominators and eventual champions of Europe that decade.

Tomorrow, we will look at the early 2000s, and how Liverpool began to pull back their Premier League deficit at Old Trafford.

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