In football, you hate losing. But losing to your greatest rivals is just unacceptable in the eyes of the fans.

That makes this game an intriguing one as both teams look to better their respective league finishes from last season. We turn back the clock and take a look at five Liverpool-Manchester United games that had such significance attached to it in the pre-match build up.

Our younger readers would have heard of stories about this game often referred to as "The Return of the King". The summer of 1995 was all about Eric "the King" Cantona whose infamous flying kick on a Crystal Palace supporter had ended with United surrendering the Premiership trophy to Blackburn. There were even talks about him returning to France but to the delight of United fans, the controversial Frenchman decided not to cross the English Channel.

Cantona being Cantona took under a minute to bring the crowd to their feet when his cross was calmly finished off by Nicky Butt. However, Liverpool were unfazed by United's blistering start and found the equalizer just after the half-hour mark when Robbie "GOD" Fowler's unstoppable left-footed shot bulged the net.

The Liverpool fan favorite was at it again seven minutes after the interval. After chasing a simple ball played down the channel, Fowler out-muscled Gary Neville to get a run at Peter Schmeichel. The Great Dane lost his footing while coming off his line and Fowler easily placed the ball into the far corner.

The game ended at 2-2 but it will live on forever as one of the most famous games in United's folklore.

Before the famous 6-1 defeat to cross-town rivals Manchester City, this was the game that gave United fans sleepless nights. For the first time in almost a decade, Liverpool looked like they were seriously going to contest for the title, given that United could equal their long-standing record of 18 league titles.

United, on the other hand, were on an 11-game winning streak in the league, and it looked like they were on their way to win their third league title in a row.

The game started as expected with United, high on confidence, controlling the game and pinning Liverpool back. It took them 23 minutes to break down a stubborn Liverpool side through a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty, which was awarded when Pepe Reina brought down Park Ji-sung in the 18-yard-box.

Steven Gerrard gave Liverpool the lead by dispatching a penalty that he won following a mistimed tackle by Patrice Evra. After the interval, Vidic's struggle continued as he rugby tackled the Liverpool captain to the ground and was handed his marching orders by the referee.

The resulting free-kick trebled the trouble for United. Fabio Aurelio curled a sumptuous free-kick past van der Sar, who had expected the right-footed Gerrard to take the shot and was found rooted to his spot.

Even though the title did end up at Old Trafford, the game is still remembered fondly by the Anfield faithful.

Going back to the 1995-96 season, United had already secured the Premier League title "with the kids"(and Eric Cantona) but were still seen as the underdogs for the FA Cup final. Liverpool were full of confidence showing up in cream-colored Armani suits (they were lucky the Twitter wasn't around then).

The match, despite the rivalry between the two teams, was a fairly unmemorable game, rarely sparking into life, with both the playmakers Eric Cantona and Steve McManaman being marked and closed out by Jamie Redknapp-John Barnes and Roy Keane-Nicky Butt respectively. Keane went on to stop virtually every attack the Liverpool midfield threw at United. He covered - as the commentator Peter Brackley described - "every blade of grass" and went on to win the man of the match award.

Even though the game is remembered for the Cantona volley late into the second half, it was a lackluster game where both keepers did not have to make too many saves. The game started at a quick pace with Manchester United coming out with a more positive game plan by creating a few half-chances. Liverpool fought their way back into the game but were not able to test Peter Schmeichel.

As Martin Tyler aptly put it: "One couldn't write this script". Cantona helped his side complete a memorable double in his comeback season.

In 2012, the Premier League was caught up in a major scandal because of an incident involving Liverpool's Luis Suarez and Manchester United's Patrice Evra. Earlier in the season, during a Premier League game at Anfield, Evra had claimed that the Uruguayan had racially abused him on the pitch.

So when the FA Cup draw pitted the two giants together, there was hardly any doubt that it would be a hotly contested match. Both the clubs had advised caution ahead of the game that was scheduled at Anfield with the managers asking for mutual respect between both the sets of fans.

Despite pleas for calm, Evra was booed by the Liverpool faithful every time he touched the ball.

Jose Enrique returned the favor when he was unable to clear a rather straight forward ball that ended up at Rafael's feet. The Brazillian was more than happy to cross the ball in for Park, who put the ball beyond the reach of Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina to level the score.

A replay at Old Trafford looked to be on the cards before Dirk Kuyt managed to get in behind the United backline and drill a powerful shot past de Gea. Ironically it was Evra who should have been marking Kuyt in the build-up to the goal.

Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool, FA Cup 1999

Almost every premier league fan knows about the 1999 season when United completed a treble of League, Cup and Champions League trophies. But not all know that Liverpool had their own chance of a treble way back in 1984. They ended up with a double after losing to United in the FA Cup final.

In 1999, Liverpool headed to Old Trafford to play their bitter rivals in a fourth round FA Cup tie. United, at that point were not favorites for any trophy. Arsenal's rise under a certain Arsene Wenger had made the league interesting again and United's struggles in Europe were well documented so at that time comparing it to the 84 season would have been daft. But we now know what United achieved that season, a feat unlikely to be equaled by any other English side.

However, United came out for the second half with renewed confidence as Liverpool retreated to soak up the pressure and try to hit the home team on the counter. Roy Keane hit the post twice and it looked like Liverpool would end up knocking their rivals out of the Cup as the clock hit 88 minutes.

But two goals in as many minutes courtesy of Dwight Yorke and Ole Gunner Solskjaer turned the game on its head as United won the game and ended the season with everything.