Ahead of Manchester United's trip to Anfield on Monday, there is an unquestionable buzz of anticipation for the fixture, as both sides can really kick-start their title challenge with a good performance and a win, while a loss could prove to be extremely damaging.
However, the very real possibility of audible mocking of tragedies experienced by both clubs has been addressed in a joint statement released in advance of the match, pleading with fans to be respectful. It should be needed, but it very much is.
How someone can mock the death of any human being is beyond the majority of football fans, but there are always a few who can't help themselves for whatever reason, and this is a puzzling prospect to Jose Mourinho, who was asked about it direct in Friday's press conference.
Mourinho outlined where he stands, and put it in to perspective which is something we fully agree with.
In football you have some 'football tragedies', if you can say, which is the big match that you lost, or the mistake that some player made, and you can make fun of it in a positive way, but the human tragedy is something much, much more serious, and is the last thing someone should use on a football pitch.
Because, with these tragedies, we should not forget, but respect them. So I would be really sad if, in such a big football match, that was a negative point.
Spot on.
Mocking fans of other clubs when they get beaten by a smaller club, or when a player has a brain-fart and costs them a match, is part and parcel of the modern game. However you feel about it, it's not going anywhere, but there is a line, and it needs to be clear to absolutely everyone that if you say certain things, it is unacceptable and you should be punished.
Hopefully the clubs both publicly asking their fans to behave as well as the managers expressing how unacceptable these chants are will be enough to deter the morons who seem to enjoy doing it, but we won't know how much of an effect it has had until after the game.
It's not too much to ask, really, is it? You can watch Mourinho's press conference in full below:
