10. Manchester United v Liverpool
Another relatively recent rivalry that displaced the affection between Matt Busby and Bill Shankly in the Sixties and the historic see-sawing economic dominance of the two Lancastrian cities with naked hostility in the Eighties, symbolised by the tear gas attack on the Manchester United players as they got off the coach at Anfield in 1985. Liverpool’s extraordinary run of 10 titles in the 15 years from 1976-90 bred envy and resentment at United whose continued high profile in the press and on TV irritated fans at Anfield. Along came Alex Ferguson and his perch-ejection plan and roles were reversed, which poured yet more petrol on the fire. Nothing, in an age when social media fans those flames, will extinguish them now.
Picture: AMA