Wednesday 11 October 2017 16:15, UK
Manchester United players must put cross-rivalry friendships aside in the Anfield tunnel when they face Liverpool, says Jaap Stam.
Jose Mourinho's side travel to Merseyside on Saturday looking to extend their unbeaten start to the season against Jurgen Klopp's team, live on Sky Sports Premier League.
Former United centre-back Stam never lost against Liverpool during his time at the club, and while he admits the fiery relationships between the two sides may have eased since his involvement - he has warned against any pre-match niceties.
"Nowadays a lot of players are good friends so it might be quite friendly in the tunnel," Stam, who is manager at Reading, told Sky Sports News.
"When we played a lot of the time it was quite different. Something happened in the tunnel occasionally over there.
"But it's all about rivalry, the way I look at it when you go into that tunnel there are no friends.
"There are rules but some rules are there to be broken occasionally to do everything to get that result."
Despite his successful record against Liverpool, Stam admitted facing United's rivals was not necessarily;y something he enjoyed.
"They're not the favourite games," Stam said. "Everyone is looking forward to this but as a player you know there is a lot of attention, a lot of pressure on these games as well.
"You want to show yourself to the opposition in what you can do as a team."
