Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he cannot help but feel "really happy" for Manchester United's Marcus Rashford ahead of Sunday's tantalising Premier League contest at Anfield.
The 25-year-old endured a marked downturn in fortunes under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick last season, leading to talk of a possible departure from his boyhood club.
However, the arrival of Erik ten Hag gave Rashford a new lease of life, and the Englishman has been one of the deadliest attackers in the Premier League during the current campaign.
Rashford has 25 goals and nine assists to his name from 39 matches in all tournaments this season, netting 14 times in 24 Premier League games to sit joint-third in the Golden Boot charts - level with Ivan Toney and behind Harry Kane (17) and Erling Braut Haaland (27).
Rashford enters Sunday's clash at Anfield aiming to score for the sixth Premier League game in a row - a feat only achieved by three previous Man United players in Ruud van Nistelrooy, Cristiano Ronaldo and Eric Cantona.
Speaking to the media in Friday's pre-game press conference, Klopp admitted that it was normally "impossible" to wax lyrical about Man United, but he could not ignore the "incredible" form of Rashford following his tricky spell.
"It's pretty much impossible to be happy about something positive at Manchester United when you are the Liverpool manager - but I am really happy for Rashford because he had a very difficult last year where he was not performing on the level that he is able to perform," Klopp said.
"I knew this would change again but sometimes in life we don't have enough time to change it. Now he is playing incredible.
"His speed, his technique - it is a mix of everything. How calm he is in front of goal. He scores worldies, he scores the simple ones, he can put his head in. All these kinds of things. We have to defend against that collectively. He is not their only world-class player."
With Rashford on song, Man United have already scooped the EFL Cup this season - wrestling the trophy out of Liverpool's grasp - and they are fighting for glory in the Premier League, FA Cup and Europa League.
The third-placed Red Devils boast a 10-point lead over sixth-placed Liverpool in the Premier League table on the same number of games, and Klopp believes that the "whole world" will tune in to watch his side renew hostilities with Ten Hag's "results machine".
"They have turned into a results machine. They are squeezing results out with some really good performances. Top football, and if it is not going so well they still get results," Klopp added.
"The challenge is what I enjoy most. I have mentioned it plenty of times. There are so many things much more important than football in life, but in and around these football games we all pull ourselves out - for a little bit - of this not so nice reality and dig into this game.
"I really like that - when football is the most important thing for 98 minutes or whatever. I love that. The whole world will watch it. I would watch it if I was not here. It's a big game and I am really looking forward to it."
Liverpool will be working without Thiago Alcantara, Calvin Ramsay and Luis Diaz for the visit of Man United, while Joe Gomez will not be ready to return from his hamstring problem either.
Naby Keita (knock) and Arthur (fitness) will also need assessing before Sunday, having both missed Wednesday's 2-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers, which marked a fourth Premier League clean sheet in a row for Liverpool.
Klopp's team fell to a 2-1 loss to Man United at Old Trafford back in August, but the Red Devils have not completed a Premier League double over their Merseyside adversaries since the 2015-16 season. body check tags ::
