Liverpool and Manchester United will take their bitter rivalry on the road again – but what’s changed since they last met overseas? In 2014, just weeks after the appointment of Louis Van Gaal to the top job at Old Trafford, the Red Devils were 3-1 winners over Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool side.
Rodgers’ men were themselves fresh from narrowly missing out on the Premier League title in 2013/14, as arguably the Premier League’s two biggest rivals went head-to-head in Miami, in their only friendly during the modern era. Four years on, Sky Sports looks back on what was the final of the International Champions Cup in 2014 – before the pair meet in Michigan on Saturday night.
What happened last time?
Steven Gerrard scored an early penalty after Raheem Sterling, now of Manchester City, was taken down by Phil Jones in the United box. Philippe Coutinho pulled a superb save out of David de Gea before the break, but even before falling behind United should have been ahead, but for Javier Hernandez’s miss from Ashley Young’s cross with eight minutes on the clock.
New signing Rickie Lambert should have doubled the Reds’ advantage just after the break, but after he shot straight at De Gea, United’s Wayne Rooney – chosen as captain, a role he would end up taking on permanently – levelled within minutes on the volley from Hernandez’s cross. Juan Mata’s shot deflected beyond Simon Mignolet less than two minutes later to put United in front, and Jesse Lingard added a third late on from outside the box to seal the ICC trophy.
Who was playing?
Manchester United: De Gea, Evans, Smalling, Jones, Valencia, Herrera, Fletcher, Young, Mata, Rooney, Hernandez.
Liverpool: Mignolet, Kelly, Skrtel, Sakho, Johnson, Gerrard, Allen, Henderson, Coutinho, Lambert, Sterling.
Having perfected the 3-5-2 formation during his time as Holland boss at World Cup 2014, Van Gaal had deployed it during United’s spell in the USA for the ICC, and stuck with it for the final too.Jonny Evans is the only one of the back three who has since left the club – he lasted only another year before leaving for West Brom.
Elsewhere, only Darren Fletcher, Rooney and Hernandez have departed, with the latter initially spending a season on loan at Real Madrid only weeks after this game. Liverpool’s line-up, forged in the shadow of Luis Suarez’s departure, has changed far more drastically over the last four years. All of the back four who started that evening have left – with Martin Kelly departing the following month for Crystal Palace, and Glen Johnson a year later to Stoke. Gerrard, the Reds’ captain, is now Rangers manager, while Rickie Lambert has also retired.
What’s changed?
Well as much as the personnel on the pitch, off it things are a lot different too. Jose Mourinho and Jurgen Klopp will be in the respective dug-outs in Michigan on Saturday, with both harbouring hopes of a Premier League title challenge this season.
Both have spent heavily since arriving in the north west, with Liverpool spending close to £200m this summer alone on the signings of Naby Keita, Fabinho, Alisson and Xherdan Shaqiri.
Mourinho’s spending has mostly been focused over the last two seasons, breaking the world transfer record to sign Paul Pogba in 2016, before adding Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Nemanja Matic last summer.Of the 22 players who played in the ICC final in 2014, 11 are still with their clubs, while the same number have moved on or retired in the interim.