Jose Mourinho has called for an end to offensive chants concerning the Hillsborough and Munich tragedies when Manchester United takes on Liverpool on Monday.

Clashes between the two rivals have been marred in recent years by United supporters' songs about the 1989 stadium disaster, which resulted in the deaths of 96 fans, and their Liverpool counterparts' taunts in relation to the plane crash which killed 23 people in 1958.

The two clubs issued a joint statement on Thursday calling for respect between the two sets of supporters ahead of United's latest visit to 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 told reporters. "But human tragedy is something much more serious, and I think is the last thing somebody should use on 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."

Mourinho is an unpopular figure with Liverpool fans on the back of past visits to Anfield with Chelsea, and admitted he was excited to now be part of an even bigger rivalry.

"I look forward to it, yes, I always like to play at Anfield," he added. "I won many times there, I also lost. I won big matches, I lost big matches, so I cannot say I like to go there because I'm always successful, because it's not true.

"I like the atmosphere, normally the characteristics of the matches, but being Manchester United manager means something more because we cannot compare the historic rivalry between my former club and United and Liverpool. It can be comparable to Real Madrid v Barcelona, Benfica v Porto, these kind of matches."