Jose Mourinho has called on Manchester United and Liverpool fans to show respect to each other in Monday's showdown at Anfield.
, calling for both sets of fans to show restraint and not mock the human tragedies - the Munich air crash and Hillsborough disaster - that have blighted both clubs.
And ahead of the biggest encounter in English football, with all the vitriol and rivalry involved, Mourinho has called on both sets of fans to ensure they are on their best behaviour.
“In football we have some football tragedies, if you can speak of them like that, which is the big match we lost, some mistake a player did and you can make fun of that in some way,” said Mourinho.
“But the human tragedy is something much more serious, and I think is the last thing somebody should use in a football pitch, because they were really big tragedies.
“So I would be really sad if in such a big football match that was a negative point.”
Mourinho has managed at Anfield many times in the past, but acknowledged taking charge of United at the home of their fiercest rivals will be a completely new experience for him.
“I have to feel it, to play it, and then take my conclusions, but I have been in England for a long time,” said Mourinho.
“Obviously I have never played this match, but I played many times against Liverpool, many times against Manchester United, I understand the dimension of the clubs and now I understand better the dimensions of two big historical rivals.
“But the season for me is not about the Anfield match and Old Trafford match in January, I think, the season is about many matches, many points to win, many points to lose and targets to achieve.
“I look forward to it, yes, I always like to play at Anfield. I won many times there, I also lost, I won big matches, I lost big matches, so I cannot say I like to go there because I'm always successful, because it's not true.
“I like the atmosphere, normally the characteristics of the matches, but being Manchester United manager means something more, because we cannot compare the historic rivalry between my former clubs and United and Liverpool.
“It can be comparable to Real Madrid v Barcelona, Benfica v Porto, these kind of matches.”