Like many, this is the one for me. This game, more than any, conjures up great memories, some good, some bad, but amazing memories none-the-less.
Being 29, my early years were spent supporting United in the shadow of Liverpool's dominance, although to be fair, we often punched above our weight against the Scousers and got some results in those days.
Strachan scoring at The Kop and celebrating by smoking an imaginary cigar with threats of hundreds of enraged Scousers getting ignored right behind him. Hughes, McClair and Beardsmore scoring great goals in a come-from-behind League Cup encounter in the 1988-89 season. Two seasons later, the same scoreline and same competition with another Hughes special beating Grobelaar from near forty yards out, this coming just weeks after they'd twatted us 4-0 at Anfield with Beardsley getting a hattrick and the United supporters singing non-stop that 'We'll Support You Ever More' which was graciously acknowedged by Brian Moore, the famous commentator.
In the Premiership Era, I was sat in the Scoreboard End watching us 2-0 down to the Dippers only for Hughes (again) to grab two stoppage time goals to salvage an unlikely draw.
Despite now living away from Manchester on the other side of the world, I cannot escape the passion of this Derby, not just to me but now as the game has gone global. Last March, I sat in a bar in Western Sydney amidst dozens of Aussies with names Smith, Papadopulos, Ali or Milicevic adorned on the back of their Liverpool and United replica shirts. It took me a second to realise they were their own names of course, not some new signing and they were passionate about their team and what it meant to them also. Perhaps not as much as it does to this old Mancunian Red who's seen the good and the lesser success with our club, but it shows that this game is the biggest in the world.
Forget Real-Barca, forget Boca-River, Celtic-Rangers, United-City, Arsenal-Spurs; none match this match for rivalry, intensity and hatred.
I cannot wait for Sunday night (my time)........
Being 29, my early years were spent supporting United in the shadow of Liverpool's dominance, although to be fair, we often punched above our weight against the Scousers and got some results in those days.
Strachan scoring at The Kop and celebrating by smoking an imaginary cigar with threats of hundreds of enraged Scousers getting ignored right behind him. Hughes, McClair and Beardsmore scoring great goals in a come-from-behind League Cup encounter in the 1988-89 season. Two seasons later, the same scoreline and same competition with another Hughes special beating Grobelaar from near forty yards out, this coming just weeks after they'd twatted us 4-0 at Anfield with Beardsley getting a hattrick and the United supporters singing non-stop that 'We'll Support You Ever More' which was graciously acknowedged by Brian Moore, the famous commentator.
In the Premiership Era, I was sat in the Scoreboard End watching us 2-0 down to the Dippers only for Hughes (again) to grab two stoppage time goals to salvage an unlikely draw.
Despite now living away from Manchester on the other side of the world, I cannot escape the passion of this Derby, not just to me but now as the game has gone global. Last March, I sat in a bar in Western Sydney amidst dozens of Aussies with names Smith, Papadopulos, Ali or Milicevic adorned on the back of their Liverpool and United replica shirts. It took me a second to realise they were their own names of course, not some new signing and they were passionate about their team and what it meant to them also. Perhaps not as much as it does to this old Mancunian Red who's seen the good and the lesser success with our club, but it shows that this game is the biggest in the world.
Forget Real-Barca, forget Boca-River, Celtic-Rangers, United-City, Arsenal-Spurs; none match this match for rivalry, intensity and hatred.
I cannot wait for Sunday night (my time)........
