Skip to content

Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher's memories from Liverpool v Manchester United

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher relive some classic moments and memories from Liverpool v Manchester United

Ahead of Red Monday, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher have re-lived some classic moments and memories from Liverpool v Manchester United.

The two giants of English football meet live on Monday Night Football for the first time this season and both Sky Sports experts will be part of our team at Anfield.

Former United captain Neville and Liverpool legend Carragher sat down ahead of the game to look through snapshots from some of the most memorable moments throughout the years, and gave their take on events. Here's what they had to say...

Liverpool 3-1 Man Utd, March 2011 - Carragher trips Nani, but avoids a red card

Jamie Carragher holds March 2011 picture

CARRA: Not one of my finer moments. It was a bit of a dive from Nani, wasn't it? I tell you what my best memory of that is...

NEVILLE: Not getting a red card I imagine!

CARRA: Haha. No, not so much the tackle but Wayne Rooney's reaction. I was on favourable terms with the referee Phil Dowd. I got him on my own, pulled him and said 'he just beat me with skills'. Everyone is fighting and I got him over like an experienced pro. Then Rooney comes over and says 'you won't believe it, he's crying'.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Where will you be watching? Liverpool vs Man Utd live on Sky Sports 1, Monday 7pm

NEVILLE: Did you seriously go to do him?

Also See:

CARRA: No, what happened was that someone got injured so I went from centre-back to right-back and as soon as that happened, Alex Ferguson put Nani to the left wing straight away.

So I'm thinking 'I'm either going to get tight, I'm going to tackle him or I'm going to foul him. There's no way I'm letting him get the ball and run at me'. So I've got there and the ball did jump up at me, I went for it and it just disappeared so I caught him on the shin.

Liverpool's fluid formation
Liverpool's fluid formation

Man Utd will face threats from all angles when they face Liverpool. We examine Klopp's tactics

NEVILLE: Did you think it was a red card at the time?

CARRA: Oh yeah. I've seen the reaction of all the players but like I said, I got Phil Dowd on his own, had a word with him and we came to some sort of a deal.

Man Utd 1-0 Liverpool, January 2006 - Neville's infamous badge-kissing after Rio Ferdinand's late winner

Gary Neville holds January 2006 picture

NEVILLE: To be fair, Liverpool had been singing songs about me all game so I thought 'they need to have a bit back don't they?' It was a last minute goal, unbelievable. I got fined £10,000 for that.

CARRA: Worth it?

Watch NOW TV
Watch NOW TV

Watch Sky Sports for just £6.99. No contract.

NEVILLE: Absolutely, it was worth a 120-match ban! It was probably one of the best moments because we were struggling at the time, we hadn't won the league for three years and it just felt like one of the best moments we had in a couple of years. Every time we scored against Liverpool and it was a winner, and you knew it was a winner, I would celebrate. For me personally, that's what it's about. I think Steven Gerrard has celebrated in front of the United fans a few times, Robbie Fowler definitely did and you've just got to take it on the chin.

Man Utd 0-1 Liverpool, December 2000 - Liverpool celebrating after Danny Murphy's winning free-kick

Jamie Carragher holds December 2000 photo

CARRA: I think this was the first win I had at Old Trafford, or that group of players under Gerard Houllier would have won.

NEVILLE: I gave the free-kick away. I think it was the handball into the box. It was shocking.

CARRA: I think we went on a run of four or five games after that. It was like that with Manchester United v Liverpool games where someone would win and they would go on a little bit of a spell, but I think for the people in the picture especially - myself, Michael Owen, Danny Murphy, Steven Gerrard - we were young players playing against United, our biggest rivals and going for so long without a win was a massive psychological boost. I think we won three years on the bounce there after that.

Live Monday Night Football

NEVILLE: That Houllier team were horrible to play against. You used to just play counter-attack, it was a bit like playing Leicester last season, although they were probably better than Leicester, but that was the style of play. A tight back four, tight in midfield and then a counter-attack through Owen.

CARRA: I think it's fair to say in that spell we had with the way of playing and the cup final in 2003, we found a way to beat Man Utd.

Liverpool 1-0 Man Utd, February 2006 - Neville preparing to take a throw-in in front of Liverpool fans

Gary Neville holds February 2006 photo

NEVILLE: I've got a picture that I tweeted out a few years ago that says 'welcome to Anfield' as a mock of the sign and it was me taking a throw-in and fans behind me with hand gestures, shall we say, and it's quite a good picture similar to this one. They're not happy, the boys and girls. They've got that look of not really hate, more like they feel sorry for me.

Key Battle: Henderson v Pogba
Key Battle: Henderson v Pogba

Will Jordan Henderson or Paul Pogba come out on top of the midfield tussle on MNF?

Liverpool 2-3 Man Utd, September 1999 - Carragher scores his second own goal of the game

CARRA: That's the realisation there, the look on my face and I know it's actually gone in. I think that was Massimo Taibi's first game. I'm trying to change the subject, can we get onto that?  We lost 3-2 and that was Houllier's first summer of signing players and there was a lot of pressure on me as he had bought two centre-backs. It felt like it was only a matter of time before I was out of the team and I think I gave him as good of a reason as you can get.

Jamie Carragher hold September 1999 photo

NEVILLE: Did he move you to full-back after that?

CARRA: Not necessarily straight after that but Stephane Henchoz and Sami Hyypia came in and I basically had to find a new position or probably have to leave and I ended up at right-back or left-back over the next few years. That was the nightmare day. I'm still reminded of it to this day. It was an early game that used to kick off about 11.30 or midday so my dad had probably gone after about 10 minutes and I didn't want to go anywhere local after the game, so I went a bit posh. My dad was in the same pub I went to, he had the same idea to get away from anywhere you know.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Watch match highlights of Liverpool's 2-1 win over Swansea

Man Utd 2-1 Liverpool, March 2010 - Carragher and Neville square off after a Javier Mascherano tackle

Gary Neville holds March 2010 photo

NEVILLE: Mascherano had pulled down or tripped someone, I can't remember who he tripped, maybe Ronaldo [Editor's note: Mascherano tripped Valencia, with referee Howard Webb awarding a penalty to United. Rooney scored from the rebound after Reina saved his spot-kick].

CARRA: He hadn't been sent off yet and you were in the middle trying to get him sent off.

NEVILLE: I went straight to the referee because one of the big things in these games is if you can get someone sent off, you do it straight away. He [Carragher] knew what I was doing and he would've done the same, by the way. In those days, you would go to the referee, talk to him and say 'are you going to make a decision?'

CARRA: I was trying to stop him getting to the referee because I knew what was coming.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Watch match highlights of Manchester United's 1-1 draw with Stoke

NEVILLE: Part of the big games is influencing the referee. You had to. Arsenal did it, Liverpool did it, we did it. Other clubs like Chelsea did it and I genuinely believe you could influence them. Not in a way that makes them a cheat or dishonest, no, but just that the pressure of being in Anfield or Old Trafford with that weight, it's not easy. It can't be easy to cope for one man to think they don't know who is telling them the truth. He's saying one thing, I'm saying exactly the opposite, the fans are saying something different, the managers are all up there and he's got to keep cold and make a decision and you're trying to influence that. It wasn't a massive part of the game, but it was part of the game that was there and this incident was over influencing the referee.

Tyler stats: Red Monday special
Tyler stats: Red Monday special

Are Utd the Anfield specialists? Is this the dirtiest Premier League fixture? Martin Tyler knows.

CARRA: My first reaction was to push Mascherano because he pulled someone's shirt back, and they came at an angle and there was no need to pull the shirt. He didn't have to do what he did.

NEVILLE: It wasn't a red but it was a red. When Mascherano played for Liverpool, would you think he would've gone on to do what he did for Barcelona?

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

The countdown is on to Liverpool's meeting with Man Utd - and celebrity Old Trafford fan Olly Murs fears a win for Jurgen Klopp's men

CARRA: No I wouldn't. I always thought he was a top player, but not a Barcelona type of player. To be honest, when he went there, he wasn't quick enough with the ball to move it so I think they've actually reinvented him at centre-back.

NEVILLE: That was a pretty regular happening in Liverpool v United games, players moving each other away from the referee.

You can watch Liverpool v Man Utd, plus England's tour of Bangladesh and the British Masters on Sky Sports. Upgrade now and enjoy six months at half price!

Around Sky