Less than a month has passed since a man was accused of tragedy chanting at Old Trafford as Liverpool prepares to play Manchester United on Sunday.
Football fans attending Old Trafford this weekend are asked by manager Jurgen Klopp to “show some class” as he demands an end to the tragic chanting.
The Reds lead the Premier League going into the weekend’s games after beating Luton Town 2-0 at the Emirates on Wednesday and then defeating Sheffield United 3-1 on Thursday night to move ahead of Arsenal.
On Sunday afternoon, Liverpool will be back in action with the goal of defeating Manchester United for the 13th time in the league. However, it has been less than a month since their thrilling 4-3 FA Cup quarterfinal loss at Old Trafford.
Even though the match on March 17 was unforgettable, the Cup classic was tainted by disgusting shouts, and a United supporter was later charged by Greater Manchester police for inciting abuse directed at Liverpool’s traveling supporters.
Following a video that went viral on social media the day after the game, Michael Bernard Avery, 44, was charged by police with a public order offense. Klopp has urged fans who are attending the game to refrain from committing similar offenses during what is known as the most watched club fixture in history.
Klopp stated, “I think [the issue] is super important.”
There are a number of factors, but one of the main ones is that, to be honest, I don’t hear it while I’m on the sidelines, but I have been told that it does happen, which is obviously not good. Nevertheless, in general, it is beneficial that we teach our children certain values like respect and understanding.
“I simply view it this way: let’s play football, if you want to be happy, if you lose, whatever. Let’s just show a little class in these moments, two of the biggest teams in the world. Don’t sing this or that, just show class, have a battle on the field. But aside from all of that, I would really like to see some class displayed.
Phil Thompson and Wes Brown participated in an educational program for schoolchildren from both cities to learn more about the Hillsborough and Munich air catastrophes last month, as part of the two clubs’ recent efforts to help put an end to the shouting.
The charitable foundations of the two teams have since decided to work with the Premier League to create an educational program, and they intend to include it every year in their future interactions with youth in the Greater Manchester and Merseyside regions.
Regarding the match, Klopp continued, “That is how it is in the Premier League.” His team will win if they win their next eight games. Although the outcome of our victory was settled rather quickly, Manchester City may occasionally win, but most of the time these are close races. It appears to be a close contest as well.
It’s great that you’re in it; let’s keep battling; it’s the best place you can be. That’s the reality. They’re all large ones, but this one is the biggest. Someone told me we had the best schedule or fixture list when I was looking at our schedule, but I’m not sure how you could really think so.
Maybe I’m being overly pessimistic? Though difficult, we are prepared. Let’s see what we can make of it; we want to be in that struggle. I appreciate you bringing up [the FA Cup match]. What did I discover?
“that after the game, the ninth interview is preferable to the tenth one! We discussed the game’s plot at the time; they got off to a stronger start before we seized control. Even though we performed admirably that day, the situations were not resolved.
“We couldn’t avoid the mistakes we could have before [in normal time], and extra time was too much for us.” That was the day we lost all control; United won the match and is a formidable team when they play at home, but we have to perform as we did from minute fifteen to seventy-odd. It’s not easy playing football.
“We need to figure out how to trouble United. They’ll make the same effort. If we want anything from this game, we had better play a really good game against this opponent in this stadium. Do I think I’ll miss these games? No, I had enough of them. If I said that I would miss the games against United or City and not miss the others, what kind of manager would I be? No. Everything is alright. We’ll see how I handle missing football, but I’m sure I’ll miss them all.”
