By Tom Slatcher

Liverpool 0-1 Manchester United – 11th May 1996

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We start with an FA cup final 20 years ago. Looking at the result, you may be questioning how a scraping 1-0 win can be classed as memorable. However, if you look at the picture just below, you’ll understand. It’s fair to say the fashion disaster took most of the spotlight over the game itself, with the infamous white suits taking centre stage. Sir Alex Ferguson later revealed that he knew his team would end up lifting the trophy once he saw what Liverpool had arrived in.

Anyway, lets talk about the game itself. United had already won the Premier League at this point, and were the first club to complete the league and FA cup double TWICE after an Eric Cantona volley in the 85th minute of the game, to send Liverpool and their hideous white suits back to Merseyside.

Liverpool 3-1 Manchester United – 6th March 2011

Scoring a hat-trick in such a prestigious fixture isn’t something which happens everyday in your footballing career, but that’s just what happened to Dirk Kuyt, who scored all three of Liverpool’s goals in their win over United back in 2011.

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At the time, United were up against Arsenal in a rollercoaster title race, which they would later win, whilst Liverpool were struggling to compete for the top four. The hat-trick could be argued as one of the easiest scored in Premier League history, with all three goals being no more than 6 yards out, virtually all being tap ins. The first came from some sublime skill from Luis Suarez that saw Kuyt tap in on the goal line, the second was a mistake from Nani heading the ball into the path of Kuyt to nod in and finally, the third Kuyt slammed home the ball when Edwin Van Der Sar fumbled a Suarez free kick. A game many Liverpool fans have not forgotten in a hurry.

Manchester United 3-2 Liverpool – 19th September 2010

From one hat-trick to another, but this time for Manchester United and Dimitar Berbatov. The Bulgarian scored all three goals for United in a thriller at Old Trafford, seeing off a brave Liverpool side.

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The £30m man scored from a set piece in the first half to give the dominant United the lead. The best was yet to come with his second being a delightful bicycle kick in the second half, firing United into a comfortable 2-0 lead. This didn’t stop Steven Gerrard pulling Liverpool back into the game with a penalty and trademark Stevie G free kick to get the Reds back onto level terms. But up stepped Berbatov to steal the show once again, a header from an 84th minute corner saw him complete his hat-trick and claim the three points for United against a struggling Liverpool under Roy Hodgson.

Liverpool 3-3 Manchester United – 3rd January 1994

Liverpool have had many classic comebacks in their history, you only have to look to last season against Dortmund and the most famous comeback in football history back in the 2005 Champions League final against AC Milan. This was no different in the 1993/1994 season, where United took a breath taking 3-0 lead inside the first twenty-five minutes with goals from Steve Bruce, Ryan Giggs and a free kick from Dennis Erwin.

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However, Liverpool fought their way back into the game scoring two before the first half came to a close, with Nigel Clough scoring both goals. It stayed that way right until the final minutes of the game, until Neil Ruddock popped up with a header to earn Liverpool a point in an unforgettable encounter. United would go on to win the league for the second time in two years, as Fergie begun his dominance of the Premier League.

Manchester United 1-4 Liverpool – 14th March 2009

We finish with a match that will live long in the memory of the red side of Merseyside for years to come, with both United and Liverpool fighting it out for the league, Liverpool grabbed three points at Old Trafford with a dominant display.

Things started well for United, as Cristiano Ronaldo converted a penalty early on, looking like they would extend their lead at the top of the table. However, a Nemanja Vidic mistake saw Fernando Torres level the scores just eight minutes later. Liverpool then took the lead just before half time, as Gerrard scored a penalty. Then another Vidic mistake in the second half saw him sent off and Aurelio score from the resulting free kick. It then went from bad to worse for United in injury time as Andrea Dossena (remember him?!) lobbed the helpless Van Der Sar to complete the embarrassment for United.

Despite the win, Liverpool still fell short as United went on to win the Premier League yet again. However, its fair to say this is only a few of the great encounters the two sides have had over the years, with many more yet to come.