Manchester United face Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and would love nothing more than to eliminate their arch-rivals. There are also statistical reasons for this.
Manchester United certainly hasn’t had it easy in recent years. This is mainly due to rivals Manchester City, who have overtaken the “Red Devils” in the city. The “Skyblues” recently became English champions three times in a row and celebrated the triple for the first time last season with victories in the championship, cup and Champions League.
United are still record champions
But – and United is still very proud of this – the club is still the most successful in history in England. There are 20 championships, twelve victories in the FA Cup and six successes in the League Cup. That’s a total of 38 titles, and Manchester City is nowhere near that number.
The arch rival is Liverpool
But Liverpool FC. The “Reds” are United’s real arch-rivals anyway. It is a deep enmity that began a long time ago when the two cities wrestled over the question of who was the most important economic and cultural center in the north of England. In terms of football, the Northwest Derby is one of the most watched rivalries in international football. A famous quote from former United team manager Sir Alex Ferguson shows how deep the dislike and rivalry runs. When he took office in 1986, he said: “My biggest challenge is to knock Liverpool off their damn throne.” Then he did that too.
“Reds” more successful internationally
Liverpool have amassed 19 league titles, eight FA Cup wins and ten League Cup successes. That’s 37 in total, just one less than United. But since the “Reds” are ahead when it comes to international success, they also consider themselves to be the best and most successful club in England, which United is extremely annoyed about.
It wasn’t until the end of February that Liverpool won the League Cup again. In the final at Wembley Stadium there was a 1-0 win after extra time against Chelsea FC. A few weeks earlier, team manager Jürgen Klopp had announced that he would be leaving the club at the end of the current season after nine years. Since then, his team has been determined for him to do so with four titles in hand. As currently second in the Premier League, the “Reds” have a good chance of winning the championship, are also still in the running in the FA Cup and the Europa League and are highly rated there. The whole of football England is already discussing how many titles the coach will now say goodbye to Anfield Road with.
Duel in the FA Cup quarter-finals
If it goes to Manchester United, then not a single one will come. Because then you would lose the title as the best national title collector. At least when it comes to the FA Cup, United now have it in their own hands. Because in the quarter-finals of the prestigious cup competition, the team awaits – you guessed it – Liverpool FC on Sunday (4.30 p.m.) in their home stadium Old Trafford. The declared goal is to spit in the rival’s soup and at least ruin his next title win. The FA Cup is of course the last chance for Erik ten Hag’s team to win a trophy this season. Excerpts from the game can be seen on Sunday from 7:15 p.m. in the Sportschau on Erste.
Goalless draw in the league
It’s worked out well in the league lately, spitting in the soup. In mid-December, United stole a point from Anfield in a 0-0 draw, and Liverpool had to give up the league lead to Arsenal.
Let Ratcliff fix it
In a few years, United wants to be back where it sees itself as belonging – at the top. The hope is Jim Ratcliff. The British billionaire has taken over a quarter of the shares in the ailing record champion.
He is the founder and owner of the chemical company Ineos. He already owns the French first division club Nice, FC Lausanne-Sport from Switzerland and has a hand in Racing Club Abidjan from the Ivory Coast. And Ineos is behind Grenadiers, the globally successful cycling team.
In Ferguson’s footsteps
As part of the deal, Ratcliffe will take responsibility for football operations at United. In an interview with the BBC he said something that many United fans will have really liked. He could be forgiven for borrowing from Ferguson. At least he added one more. “We can learn a lot from our noisy neighbor (Man City, editor’s note) and the other neighbor (Liverpool FC, editor’s note). They have smart organizations, great employees, a good, committed and high-caliber team environment they work in. I respect them a lot, but at the end of the day they are the enemy. There’s nothing I’d rather do than knock them both off their thrones,” Ratcliffe said. A win in the FA Cup on Sunday would be a first step.