Liverpool and Manchester United may be the two biggest football institutions in the country (and arguably the planet) but it was not until the 1960s until the two clubs really locked horns against each other in battle for supremacy.
Their rise to prominence during that period was due to the guidance of their respective iconic Scottish managers - Bill Shankly and Matt Busby - whose influence and legacy is still felt today at Anfield and Old Trafford, the former propelling the Merseyside Reds out of eight years in the wilderness in the Second Division to league championship triumphs in 1964 and 1966 (with the club’s first ever FA Cup triumph secured in between), while the latter’s second great era of success began in earnest with title triumphs in 1965 and 1967.
Twelve months later United became the first English club to lift the European Cup that Liverpool had come so close to winning three years earlier before being denied in highly contentious circumstances, a moment of supreme triumph for Busby who a decade earlier had seen the heart of his talented young side ripped out following the Munich air disaster while being left close to death himself.
