Hello and welcome to Eurosport's live commentary from Thursday's Europa League Round of 16 first leg between Liverpool and Manchester United. This is Nick Royle (@nickaroyle) taking you through all the action from Anfield.

1999 was the last times the two sides met in a night game at Anfield - and the atmosphere matches the occasion.

This is frantic at Anfield - Varela makes a good challenge for Coutinho, then the ref blows a whistle for a United foul as Can pulls Rashford back.

Martial is the lone striker for United, with Mata in the playmaker and link man role. Smalling clears from Lallana after good work by Coutinho.

A yellow card for Henderson, in his 300th match for Liverpool, for a challenge on Schneiderlin. This referee likes to give a card!

Fellaini catches Lallana and is too strong for the Liverpool midfielder. The Liverpool crowd want a foul, but the Belgian just outmuscled him.

Off we go, United kick off from right to left attacking the Kop. Memphis attacks down the right and Rashford almost scores within seconds, but the ball hits his knee.

Big smile and a hug from Klopp to van Gaal in the tunnel. The Dutchman barely cracks a smile...Liverpool will be in all red, United in their away kit of white.

That was an amazing chorus of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' from the Liverpool fans..wow...

This is the first time in almost 43 years that two teams from England have met in the competition, or its forerunner the Uefa Cup. The last all-England tie was Liverpool v Spurs in April 1973.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal, speaking to BT Sport Europe: "Herrera was a little injured, Fellaini can maybe play 60-70 minutes and the same with Marcos Rojo. The players are coming back from injury, but I have to build them back to fitness, But we have games to play, so I have to dare something."

This is the first time the two sides have ever met in European competition, although they have met 22 times in domestic cup matches, with United winning 11, Liverpool winning seven, and four draws.

United manager Louis van Gaal says the prospect of a Champions League place for the Europa League winners has added an extra dimension to the tie against their old enemies. “United and Liverpool is always a big game. It’s historical and even bigger now because both teams are fighting for a Champions League place,” he said.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, speaking to BT Sport Europe. "These two games are the reward for the work we have done - but we don't want that to be the end of it. It is important for us and for the crowd - let there be no misunderstanding. We know of their expectations, and we have the same expectations."

The Liverpool media team have pulled out all the stops for tonight's match programme. That's pretty impressive.

Liverpool defender Nathaniel Clyne says away goals could prove crucial over the two legs. "Everyone loves to play European football, so it’s going to be exciting against our rivals United,” he said. I think we owe them from the Premier League games. We need to take it to them, especially in the first leg when we’re at home. We don’t want them to get an away goal."

Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has played 12 games in the Europa League (eight of which were with Manchester City) and has yet to score in the competition..but his record against Manchester United is pretty good.

Louis van Gaal leads Jurgen Klopp 3-2 on the head-to-head between the two managers. The pair each won two games while in charge of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund respectively between 2009 and 2011, but the Dutchman leads after United's 1-0 Premier League win at Anfield in January.

LIVERPOOL: Mignolet, Clyne, Lovren, Sakho, Moreno, Firmino, Henderson, Lallana, Can, Coutinho,Sturridge Subs: Ward, Touré, Smith, Allen, Ojo, Benteke, Origi.///MANCHESTER UNITED: De Gea, Rojo, Smalling, Varela, Juan Mata, Blind, Fellaini, Schneiderlin, Depay, Martial, Rashford Subs: Romero, Darmian, Riley, Carrick, Ander Herrera, Schweinsteiger, Weir.

Van Gaal has won all four of his matches against Liverpool since taking charge in the summer of 2014, and if United win at Anfield he will become the first United manager to win five consecutive games against Liverpool.

German World Cup winner Bastian Schweinsteiger makes the bench, after returning to full training this week. Schweinsteiger, 31, has not played for United since suffering a knee injury in the FA Cup third round win over Sheffield United on 9 January.

Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal makes three changes from the side beaten 1-0 by West Brom at the Hawthorns on Sunday. Guillermo Varela, Morgan Schneiderlin and Marouane Fellaini come in as Matteo Darmian, Michael Carrick and Ander Herrera drop to the bench.