Fans chants mar day of emotion on Merseyside

POST-MATCH chanting scarred yesterday’s tribute to the 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster, after Manchester United had beaten Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield.

Aside from one chant of “Where’s your Munich song” early in the emotionally-charged match, the United fans had been on their best behaviour. However, long after the final whistle, when most Liverpool fans had left, a couple of home supporters ran across the main stand towards the visiting fans, who had remained on police orders, and made aeroplane signals, a reference to the Munich air disaster in 1958, in which eight United players were among 21 people who lost their lives. United fans responded by chanting “Always the Victims” and “Murderers” in a reminder of the Merseyside club’s own recent tragedies – Hillsborough and Heysel.

United supporters had applauded prior to the game when a tribute of thanks was read out for the Hillsborough families, whose campaign to discover the truth of what happened in Sheffield 23 years ago has now been vindicated. Prior to kick-off, both sides wore tracksuits with the number 96 on the back. Sir Bobby Charlton then presented Ian Rush with a bouquet of flowers before respective captains Steven Gerrard and Ryan Giggs released 96 balloons and a mosaic was unveiled which ran across three sides of the ground.

Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra shook hands to end their own personal feud. “The most important thing today was respect,” said Evra.

United were unavailable for an immediate comment on the post-match difficulties. However, Ferguson had said he felt the day had gone well. “Liverpool FC have done a fantastic job,” he said. “The fans were terrific. Our fans paid back that respect. It demonstrates that two great clubs can unite and do these things and then get on with the game of football with both teams trying to win.”