FORMER MANCHESTER UNITED captain Gary Neville said he would happily break the bank just so he could celebrate in front of the Liverpool supporters again as he reflected on the fierce rivalry between the two Premier League giants.
Neville knows the United and Liverpool rivalry better than most having captained the Old Trafford side between 2005 and 2010 during an illustrious career spanning 19 years.
In that time, he enjoyed some tense and fierce encounters with Liverpool and especially their supporters, namely in 2006.
Neville was fined £5,000 by the Football Association (FA) for running over to Liverpool’s travelling fans to passionately celebrate Rio Ferdinand’s last-gasp winner at Old Trafford.
It is an image that lives long in the memory among both teams and as United prepare to do battle with Liverpool at Anfield on Monday, Neville provided an insight into one of English football’s most-anticipated fixtures.
“In that moment, your mind, your body, your focus are on another level. It’s different from Arsenal. It’s different from Chelsea. It’s even different from City, at least for me. It’s almost an out-of-body experience,” Neville wrote in The Players’ Tribune.
“The tension is immense. It’s a match that’s been in the back of your mind for the last two weeks, in the front of your mind for the last week and punching you straight on the nose for the last three days. If you beat Liverpool, it’s going to be the best day of the season. If you lose, it’s going to be the absolute worst.
“So in the 90th minute, [Ryan Giggs] Giggsy is standing over the ball and all I remember is him bending it into the box, Rio Ferdinand rising up and the ball hitting the back of the net. The place exploded. The rest was just instinct. I turned toward the Liverpool fans in the far corner of the ground and I thought, ‘I’m going for them’. I sprinted 60-odd yards and I was just out of my head.
“When I got to them, well — I looked at the faces of all those travelling fans who had been singing for 89 minutes and in that moment, they had no answer. It was one of the best feelings of my life. The FA fined me £5,000 for my actions [in 2006].”
