7 Fantastic Facts You Must Know About the North West Derby

There are important fixtures in the Premier League, rivalries that go back decades and maybe even centuries, and then there is the North West Derby, Liverpool vs Manchester United, a fixture that is essentially the War of the Roses of Football. Liverpool vs Manchester United is more than just a war of two red shirts; it is the flagship fixture in English club football, with a rivalry that dates back long before either team ever lifted a trophy.

The two cities have been competing since the Industrial Revolution, whether over trade, industry, or status, and this tension has clearly found its way into the pitch. Even today, this rivalry is going strong: as of October 2025, the clubs have had 217 meetings, with 84 wins to United and 72 to Liverpool, but the major trophies favour Liverpool 69-68. In this article, we have handpicked 7 jaw-dropping facts to show why the North West Derby is on a different level.

1. The Rivalry Born From a Canal War, Not On the Pitch

The bad blood between Liverpool and Manchester predates any football club. During the 19th century, Manchester’s textile mills relied on Liverpool’s docks to import cotton and export finished goods. Tensions rose when the city backed the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal, which allowed ships to bypass Liverpool and avoid its port fees.

That led to an economic feud, which led to the cities being regional rivals: Manchester as “Cottonopolis”, the industrial powerhouse; Liverpool as a global seaport with immense commercial clout. When club football took off, Liverpool FC and Newton Heath (the former name of Manchester United) became the sporting avatars of the already heated decades-old rivalry, according to Bleacher Report. So fans should remember that the North West Derby has more than just bragging rights at stake.

2. They Once Shared an 11-Goal Madness at Anfield

For recent fans who think recent scorelines were wild? In March 1908, Liverpool and United played an 11-goal classic at Anfield, with Liverpool winning 7-4 in the old First Division; the match remains the highest-scoring between the clubs, according to Sky Sports and LFC History.

Liverpool’s Bill McPherson hit a hat-trick, with Joe Hewitt and Bobby Robinson also among the scorers, while George Wall and Jimmy Turnbull tried to keep United in it. There was a 10,000-person turnabout, which might feel small by today’s standards but actually set a record that stood for more than a century of North West Derby chaos.

On top of this, when you consider Liverpool’s 7-1 win over Newton Heath back in 1895, and you realise that ridiculous scorelines are part and parcel of this derby and that it has been unhinged since Edwardian times.

3. The Trophies See-Saw - But Rarely Peak Together

Between the two clubs, they have effectively hoarded English silverware: a combined total of 40 league titles, 21 FA Cups, 16 League Cups, nine European Cups/Champions Leagues, and more. As of 2025, Liverpool has just edged out United in a 69-68 trophy count, while the Devils have them beaten head-to-head, 84-72.

You know the crazy part? Their periods of dominance almost never overlap. Liverpool dominated the titles in the 1970s and 1980s, whereas the Red Devils ruled the 90s to 2000s under Sir Alex Ferguson. There is an almost hypnotic see-saw effect to them; when one club is on the rise, the other is in rebuild mode. This makes each derby a status check: ‘Are we still the top dog?, or is the power shifting back down the M62?’

4. 5-0 at Old Trafford, 7-0 at Anfield - Clean Sheet Humiliation

Modern History has delivered two of the most brutal scorelines this rivalry has ever seen, with both in Liverpool’s favour.

• On 24 October 2021, Liverpool beat United 5-0 at Old Trafford, a humiliating home loss for the Red Devils. The match was even more shameful as Salah scored a hat-trick, a first for a Reds player to do at Old Trafford since 1936, along with it being the first Premier League away hat-trick there by any player.
• On 5 March 2023, Liverpool smashed United 7-0 at Anfield, their biggest-ever competitive win over United and one of the heaviest defeats in United’s history. Gakpo, Nunez and Salah all scored a brace, with Firmino adding the seventh, according to ESPN

Those two games rewrote the rivalry’s record books and fuelled endless memes, banner slogans and YouTube compilation edits. In a derby that’s usually tight, scorelines like 5-0 and 7-0 are absurd, especially when you remember United still has the overall wins in head-to-head.

5. Giggs Owns the Fixture… But Salah Owns the Net

Two players define the West Derby’s stat sheet: Ryan Giggs and Mohamed Salah.

• Giggs holds the record for most appearances in this rivalry: 48 games against Liverpool in all competitions for Manchester United. That’s more North West Derbies than many pros manage league appearances in their entire careers.
• Salah is the rivalry’s top scorer, with 16 goals for Liverpool against United in 17 games across all competitions as of late 2025, an outrageous strike rate at this level.

So while United can point to Giggs as Mr North West Derby, Liverpool can equally point at Salah and say: this is the man who’s done the most damage on the scoreboard, including starring in those 5-0 and 7-0 thrashings. Find out more about these interesting Liverpool FC facts.

6. The “Forbidden” Transfer Route Between the Two Reds

Despite the shared colour and geography, direct transfers between the clubs are basically banned by culture. The last player to move directly from United to Liverpool was forward Phil Chisnall in 1964, more than 60 years ago.

Since then, a handful of players have worn both shirts, but only by taking detours via other clubs:

• Paul Ince (Manchester United to Inter Milan to Liverpool)
• Peter Beardsley (briefly at Manchester United, then via Vancouver and Newcastle to Liverpool)
• Michael Owen (Liverpool to Real Madrid to Newcastle to Manchester United), among many others.

In 2007, Liverpool attempted to sign Gabriel Heinze from United; the move collapsed after United refused to sell to their biggest rivals, and Heinze’s public push to join Liverpool was viewed by United fans as borderline treason. According to FourFourTwo, no manager has ever coached both clubs, which is almost unheard of for a rivalry of this size. The message from both fanbases is clear: crossing the divide is possible… but not directly, and not without consequences.

7. Anfield Curses, Broken Streaks and Fresh Plot Twists

For all Liverpool’s big wins, the North West Derby still produces shocks the other way. United went nearly a decade without a league win at Anfield after January 2016, turning trips to Liverpool into a psychological hurdle.

That changed last year on 19 October 2025, when Ruben Amorim’s United won 2-1 at Anfield in the Premier League, their first victory there in almost ten years. Maguire scored an 84th-minute header after Gakpo’s equaliser, in a result Reuters and others called Amorim’s “biggest win” as United boss, and a potential turning point in their season.

A Rivalry That Predates Football

The North West Derby has everything: historic thrashings, cup finals, transfer betrayals, see-saw power struggles, humiliating losses and a hold on the English club silverware. Whether you tune in for the tactics, the drama or just the chaos, Liverpool vs Manchester United reliably delivers the kind of “how is this real?” moments that justify its billing as England’s ultimate football classic. Want to attend this fixture? Book your tickets via 1BoxOffice for genuine tickets with a 150% money-back guarantee.