Manchester United might not be anywhere near the level of Liverpool in 2022 but it still remains one of the biggest rivalries in the Premier League.
Both sides will square off against each other at Anfield on Tuesday night with plenty at stake as United vie for a top-four finish, while Jurgen Klopp's men try to keep the heat on Manchester City in the title race.
It's been a while since both sides challenged each other for the league crown, the last time coming during the 2008-09 season as Sir Alex Ferguson's men edged out the Reds in what was a hard-fought fight.
Rafa Benitez was in charge of Liverpool on that occasion and emotions were running high between the Spaniard and Fergie. The legendary manager was renowned for his mind games and when he insinuated Benitez was bitter about fixtures and refereeing decisions, the Liverpool boss responded with an infamous rant.
He read off a list of "facts" during a press conference in what was an astonishing outburst criticising Ferguson.
Benitez said: "I have to talk about facts because I think it is important. They are nervous because we are top of the table. I want to be clear that I don't want to play mind games too early, I think they want to start them. I have some facts so it is easy to talk about this.
"November 1st, they play against Hull City and Mr Ferguson got a touchline ban and fined £10,000 after confronting Mike Dean the referee for improper conduct. We started a respect campaign with the sending off of Javier Mascherano at Old Trafford by Mike Bennett. This was the referee against Wigan who couldn't see the handball of Rio Ferdinand.
"He didn't give a penalty and they won this game and the title. During the respect campaign, Mr. Ferguson and, this is a fact, he was charged by the FA for improper conduct against Martin Atkinson, he was not punished. He's the only manager in the English league that cannot be punished for these things.
"He was also talking about the fixtures. Two seasons ago, we had a lot of early kick-offs on Saturday away, while United were playing on Sunday and nobody was saying anything. Now he is complaining that everyone is against United.
"The second half of the season they would play at home against all the teams at the top of the table which I think is a fantastic advantage. Why do they on the 29th when the rest of the teams play on the 28th? We play away against Newcastle after Bolton, 42 or 44 hours after it. He was not complaining this day.
"About his behaviours with the referee, the Southampton manager knows how Mr Ferguson works and was very clear about it the other day. It's fact, I have not played mind games, I am talking about facts.
"If we don't want problems with the fixtures to create a level playing field, we have two options. The first half of the season will be against each team, either home or away, and then the second half the opposite so then every team will know. Sky and Setanta can then choose which games they want. Then Mr Ferguson will not be complaining about the fixtures because it will be the same for everyone.
"Or, maybe the other option is Mr Ferguson can organise the fixtures in his office and send them to us so everybody knows and nobody can complain. Simple.
"All the managers need to know, only Mr Ferguson can talk about the referees, talk about the fixtures. You need to know I am talking about facts, things that people can see every single week."
At the time, Ferguson refused to be drawn into a war of words but would respond years later writing about the incident in his autobiography. He believes Benitez's outburst saw him lose control of the title race calling him a "control freak." The 71-year-old has also expressed his belief that Jose Mourinho is a superior manager to him.
Ferguson wrote: "So, on television puts his glasses on and produces this sheet of paper. Facts. The facts were all wrong. All I said in reply was that Rafa was obviously bitter about something...That was me saying to him: look, you're a silly man. You should never make it personal.
"The advance publicity was that Benitez was a control freak, which turned out to be correct. Jose Mourinho was far more astute in his handling of players. And he has personality. If you saw Jose and Rafa standing together on the touchline, you knew you could pick the winner."
