Live coverage of the FA Cup match between Manchester United and Liverpool, with updates on team news and line-ups.

Virgil van Dijk, the captain of Liverpool, discusses the intense competition between Liverpool and Manchester United.

“Our matches against them are always challenging and I anticipate Sunday’s will be as well.”

“I am directing my attention towards our strategy against their team, as they are continuously seeking ways to succeed. The matches against them are consistently challenging and intense.”

“The past matchups between the top two clubs in England have heightened anticipation and demands, but instead of succumbing to the pressure, why not simply relish the opportunity and play our game, with the ultimate goal of advancing to the next stage?”

“We have, tomorrow [Saturday], one [training] session. We have to see how they recover from this, but it looks good,” said Ten Hag ahead of the Liverpool quarter-final.

“Certain matches hold more significance than others, and in my opinion, the Manchester United versus Liverpool match is always a highly anticipated event. I am eagerly anticipating it.”

“In such games, we always achieve good performances. I don’t think in any really high-rated game that we had any lows. They are very consistent, we need our best to beat them.”

The 26-year-old player, who came up through the academy, signed a new contract for five years after scoring 30 goals last season. However, he has only scored seven times in a disappointing season for the team and its fans.

There was speculation this week that Rashford may transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, potentially bringing in a significant amount of money for United while they are dealing with financial concerns in the Premier League.

The monetary gain for having a player who was developed within the club may be significant, but Ten Hag states that the value of the striker to the team’s future is more important than any financial gain.

Eric Ramsay thinks that Manchester United possesses everything necessary to elevate to a higher level with Ineos. However, Erik ten Hag’s previous mentor believes that he had to depart for his dream initial managerial role at Minnesota United.

After his team’s loss to Manchester City in March, the 32-year-old changed teams to the Twin Cities and now holds the record for the youngest permanent manager in Major League Soccer.

It is an exciting new chapter in an impressive coaching journey that led Ramsay to Swansea, Shrewsbury and Chelsea before joining Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s coaching set-up in June 2021.

Virgil van Dijk wants to take back what he said. In the midst of celebrating their victory, in the Wembley locker room after he had exemplified leadership, when his header in extra time secured a win for a makeshift Liverpool team in the Carabao Cup, as he got ready to celebrate with his teenage teammates, he had stated: “They believed I was done.”

Van Dijk initially believed that he had shown his detractors incorrect, but later recanted by stating, “I should not have made that statement.” In his detailed response, he acknowledged that his performance for Liverpool in the 2022-23 season was varied, not meeting his own standards consistently. Additionally, with the defender turning 32 during the summer and his significant injury leading to minimal play time in the 2021-22 season, there were concerns that he may be on a natural decline.

Currently, Van Dijk has experienced a resurgence and has established himself as a dominant presence, as seen when he helped secure Liverpool’s first trophy as captain. His impact extends beyond this achievement, reclaiming his title as the top centre-back in the Premier League and being a strong contender for Player of the Year.

The Egyptian shone on his return to the Liverpool starting line-up for the first time since New Year’s Day on Thursday against Sparta Prague and scored one goal and made three others in a 6-1 rout.

United has consistently been his preferred adversary throughout his career, as he has scored a total of 12 goals against them. This is more than he has scored against any other club, and in his last five games, he has netted eight times. In fact, in their last encounter, he scored a hat-trick in a decisive 5-0 victory at Old Trafford. In addition, he also netted two goals in last season’s dominant 7-0 triumph at Anfield.

When Mohamed Salah became a member of Liverpool, scoring 20 goals seemed like a daunting task. For five out of the seven previous seasons, the top scorer for Liverpool finished with a number in the teens. In the 2016-2017 season, when Liverpool was observing Salah at Roma, their leading scorer was Philippe Coutinho with 14 goals.

In the 2023-24 season, during a game against Sparta Prague, Salah scored his 20th goal. This may not be seen as remarkable, considering it is something he consistently achieves. He has set the standard so high that scoring 30 goals can now feel like scoring 20 for him. Salah has reached this milestone four times already and he could potentially reach it for the fifth time. When Jurgen Klopp learned of Salah’s 20th goal, he didn’t react with much surprise. He simply stated, “This statistic is not unexpected because he is an exceptional player.”

However, the number 20 remains a significant achievement. None of the past Liverpool players, including Ian Rush, Kenny Dalglish, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Kevin Keegan, or Roger Hunt, were able to reach this milestone over the course of seven consecutive seasons. Even the numerous talented forwards who have played at Anfield could not accomplish this feat. Mohamed Salah has solidified his position as the go-to player for Liverpool throughout all seasons.

“In seven years together with him, the one problem we never had was consistency,” said Klopp. Salah, who never got 20 goals in a campaign before signing for Liverpool, has never failed to do so since then. His astonishing debut campaign on Merseyside yielded 44 but he has proved no one-season wonder.

“Mo is just delivering and delivering and delivering, his desire doesn’t stop, his quality is there and his desire to score doesn’t stop,” added Klopp. “He has improved in so many aspects since he started here. That’s how it is, he will not stop.”

Maguire has not played in the team’s previous three matches and is now back since United has announced that their center-back, Jonny Evans, was dealing with a small problem in the last few games.

Reworded: The FA Cup represents United’s final shot at claiming a trophy this season, while Ten Hag’s team has the chance to prevent Liverpool and Klopp from achieving a quadruple victory in a highly anticipated match at Old Trafford.

For Erik ten Hag, Liverpool has represented the first high and perhaps the lowest low. His maiden win as Manchester United manager, nine days after the 4-0 shellacking at Brentford, came against Liverpool. So did his heaviest defeat, and United’s record loss in a fixture that dates back to the 19th century: 7-0 at Anfield last March.

If Ten Hag is fired this summer, it may be easy to attribute it to their match against Liverpool, as Manchester United had only lost two out of 32 matches before being defeated by them 22 times in just over a year. If he does leave, it would be a first in history, as United and Liverpool have never hired new managers in the same year. Both teams, being widely recognized, would likely be vying for the same candidates in an attempt to secure them.

Ten Hag does not agree with this. At Old Trafford, there is an ongoing debate about giving managers sufficient time, and Sir Alex Ferguson is evidence that the path to success can be challenging: his United team came in second place behind Liverpool led by Kenny Dalglish in 1988, and dropped to 11th place the following season. While Ten Hag’s drop from third to sixth may appear minor, it is important to note that this occurred during a time when the top teams have significantly larger budgets than the rest of the division.