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MANCHESTER. — Jose Mourinho has admitted he is worried under-fire official Anthony Taylor will be unable to cope with the pressure of refereeing Liverpool against Manchester United. Taylor, who lives just six miles from Old Trafford, was handed the impossible job of taking charge of tonight’s game at Anfield. It prompted complaints from Liverpool fans while former referees’ chief Keith Hackett said it was “grossly unfair” to the Manchester-born referee to pick him for this match.

And United boss Mourinho is concerned that it will be hard for the 37-year-old to give United decisions.

He said: “I think Mr Taylor is a very good referee but I think somebody with intention is putting such a pressure on him that I feel it will be difficult for him to have a very good performance.” The Portuguese boss has also urged fans to steer well clear of Hillsborough and Munich disaster chants and remain civil at Anfield.

“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,” Mourinho said ahead of Monday’s showdown.

“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.”

Liverpool versus Manchester United will never be just another game. For Mourinho, however, it is just another big game.

Or so the Portuguese argued. Defeating Liverpool tomorrow would not give him any more pleasure than taking three points against any major rivals, he insisted.

Not after Luis Garcia’s controversial “ghost goal” knocked his Chelsea team out of the Champions League in 2005. Not after his long and bitter rivalry with the Anfield icon Rafa Benitez.

Not after being the subject of taunts on Merseyside. Not after fiercely-contested cup finals, semi-finals and title deciders. Not after managing two of Liverpool’s biggest rivals, in first Chelsea and now United.

But Mourinho claimed he takes no special satisfaction out of beating Liverpool. “No,” he said, explaining: “For me, playing Liverpool is to play against a big club. At (Real) Madrid, I wanted to play against Barcelona, I wanted to play against Atletico (Madrid), I wanted to play against Valencia. “At Inter (Milan), I wanted to play against (AC) Milan, against Juventus, against Roma. At Chelsea, I wanted to play against Man United, against Liverpool, against Arsenal, against all the big clubs in the country. Now at Man United it is the same. I love to play against the big opponents and Liverpool is a big opponent.” If Liverpool may have denied Mourinho another Champions League, he cost them the title. His weakened Chelsea team won 2-0 at Anfield in April 2014 on the day when Steven Gerrard slipped and Merseyside dreams died.

Mourinho ran towards the Chelsea fans in a chest-beating celebration when Willian scored his side’s second goal. Yet that, he is adamant, had nothing to do with Liverpool. He was annoyed the Premier League refused to bring the game forward to aid Chelsea’s bid to conquer Europe.

“I celebrated because of what happened before the match,” he said. “Chelsea had a Champions League semi-final to play and we wanted to play on the Saturday.

“We had to play on the Sunday when Atletico Madrid were playing on the Friday before so we were feeling that that match was for Liverpool to be champions. We went there with the players that were not playing against Atletico because we had no chance and everybody was waiting for something different than what happened.” Mourinho was sent to the stands in Chelsea’s 2005 League Cup final win for inciting Liverpool fans by putting his finger to his lips in a gesture to shut up after his side scored. — DailyMail.