Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has called for an end to the offensive singing between Liverpool and United fans.
Offensive and mockery singing of the Hillsborough and Munich Disaster tragedies has made headlines in the last few meetings of the two heated rivals.
United fans have been taunting about the Hillsborough stadium disaster in 1989 that cost 96 lives, while in retaliation Liverpool fans have been taunting about the Munich plane crash that took 23 lives in 1968.
The two English giants have issued a joint statement that called for respect amongst the supporters of both the clubs.
“But human tragedy is something much more serious, and I think is the last thing somebody should use on a football pitch because they were really big tragedies.
“So I would be really sad if in such a big football match that was a negative point.”
Jose Mourinho is not a very popular with the Liverpool fans, thanks to his visits to Anfield wth former club Chelsea, but the Portuguese was quick to admit that he was excited that the rivalry was now even more intense than with Chelsea.
“I look forward to it, yes, I always like to play at Anfield,” he added. “I won many times there, I also lost. I won big matches, I lost big matches, so I cannot say I like to go there because I’m always successful, because it’s not true.”
“I like the atmosphere, normally the characteristics of the matches, but being Manchester United manager means something more because we cannot compare the historic rivalry between my former club and United and Liverpool.
“It can be comparable to Real Madrid v Barcelona, Benfica v Porto, these kind of matches.”