2. Steven Gerrard
It’s no surprise that the greatest player to ever pull on a Liverpool shirt would make this list. Whilst most of us dreaded this fixture, he was one of the few who craved it, and it showed in all of his performances. All 30 of them.
He has the most minutes of any Liverpool player in history against United because whichever manager we had at the time instinctively knew that if you put Gerrard in for 90 minutes, you’ll get the impact of having an extra man out there.
During his peak, he was being heralded as one of the greatest English midfielders of all time, and his name still pops up in those debates, many (usually Reds) believing he stands alone at the top of the pile.
The beauty of Gerrard in any Liverpool team, but mainly against United, was his ability to pick up the level of the players around him. He’d make everybody look and play better. We’ve seen performances from players we didn't think were possible, but that was down to Gerrard.
He refused to lose and wouldn’t go down without leaving everything out there. A constant goal threat and defensive wall when needed, he was the perfect rivalry player.
It’s like if you put a shirt on any Liverpool fan in Anfield on derby day and cut them loose. The only difference being, a ‘cut-loose’ Stevie G was one of the most impossible players to stop in history.
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