Opinion | Manchester United vs Liverpool: a feud rooted in civic rivalry and still the biggest game in English football

Old Trafford will be buzzing on Sunday. Manchester United may be struggling and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s position under threat but when Liverpool come to town only one thing matters: beating the traditional enemy. A deep-seated antipathy exists between northwest England’s superpowers.

Liverpool are on top at the moment and want to rub it in. Only last month Peter Moore, Anfield’s chief executive, said the club were “back on their perch”. It was a bold – and perhaps reckless – statement that referenced Sir Alex Ferguson’s arrival at United in 1986 when the Scot said his main ambition was to “knock Liverpool right off their perch”.

Like Real Madrid and Barcelona, Liverpool and United define themselves with reference to each other. The roots of the rivalry are long-standing and go beyond football. They are social and cultural. The antagonism is real.

Most supporters have no idea why – aside from the on-pitch clashes – the hostility is so strong. Its foundations are in the economic competition between the cities in the 19th century. Landlocked Manchester was forced to rely on the port of Liverpool to export the products from its mills. The resentment was so strong that Mancunian businessmen built a ship canal down the Mersey to avoid paying the rates Liverpool’s docks demanded.

The ghost of this fiscal competition is visible on United’s badge. It features a three-masted sailing ship – as does Manchester City’s – and has always been a provocative symbol on Merseyside. The friction between the inhabitants of the cities is rooted in commerce.