Mohamed Salah became only the third player in Liverpool’s history to score 250 goals for the club on this day in 2025, pouncing on an Emiliano Martínez error as Aston Villa were beaten 2-0 at Anfield.
Steve McMahon and Peter Beardsley saw off champions Everton in 1987, David Fairclough made his debut in 1975 and Paul Walsh hit a hat-trick against Norwich City in 1986. Salah also drew level with Steven Gerrard’s European scoring record against Napoli in 2022, and it is the birthday of Jimmy Melia.
2025: Salah’s 250th
Arne Slot’s champions went into the game on the back of four straight Premier League defeats, and Villa hit the woodwork early on. The breakthrough, when it came, was a gift. In first-half stoppage time Martínez played the ball straight to Salah, who fired it into an empty net.
Ryan Gravenberch, back in the side after injury, made sure of the win just before the hour with a shot that took a deflection on its way in. The victory lifted Liverpool up to third.
Salah joined Ian Rush and Roger Hunt as the only Liverpool players to reach 250 goals in all competitions. Rush leads the way with 346, with Hunt on 285.
1987: Derby day revenge
Four days earlier Everton had knocked Liverpool out of the League Cup with a 1-0 win at Anfield. Kenny Dalglish’s side gained revenge when the reigning champions returned for a First Division clash the following Sunday.
John Barnes set up former Everton midfielder Steve McMahon to open the scoring after 35 minutes, and in the 70th minute Peter Beardsley, who would later make the move to Goodison himself, added the second, set up by John Aldridge. The win sent Liverpool top of the First Division.
1975: Fairclough’s first bow
It was 1975 when a young David Fairclough made his first-team debut in a 1-0 win at Middlesbrough, with substitute Terry McDermott, on for Brian Hall, scoring the only goal at Ayresome Park.
Fairclough became famous for coming off the bench to change games, and he went on to score 55 goals for the club.
1986: Walsh’s treble
Forty years ago today, Paul Walsh hit a hat-trick as Norwich City were beaten 6-2 at Anfield. Ian Rush added two and Steve Nicol got the other, with Kenny Dalglish coming off the bench to replace Nicol.
2005: A night soured at Anfield
Fernando Morientes, Luis García and Djibril Cissé scored as Liverpool beat Anderlecht 3-0 in the Champions League group stage, but the night was overshadowed by an ugly incident late on.
Anderlecht substitute Nenad Jestrović had been on the pitch for only five minutes when referee Kim Milton Nielsen sent him off for racially abusing Momo Sissoko. UEFA later found him guilty and handed him a three-match European ban.
2022: Salah catches Gerrard
In 2022, Liverpool had already qualified for the last 16 but beat Napoli 2-0 at Anfield, inflicting a first defeat of the season on the Serie A leaders, who had thrashed them 4-1 in Naples earlier in the group.
Salah’s 85th-minute goal, a tap-in after Alex Meret had saved a Darwin Núñez header, was his 41st in Europe for Liverpool, drawing him level with Steven Gerrard’s club record. Núñez added a second deep into stoppage time, awarded after a VAR check. The result confirmed Liverpool as group runners-up on a night when Jürgen Klopp took charge of the club for the 400th time.
Born on this day
Born on this day in 1937, Jimmy Melia was a Liverpool lad who signed professional forms with the club on his 17th birthday in 1954. The inside-forward scored on his debut in a 5-2 win over Nottingham Forest at Anfield in December 1955 and helped the Reds win the Second Division title in 1962.
Melia joined Wolverhampton Wanderers in March 1964 but had played enough games that season to collect a First Division title medal. He later managed Brighton & Hove Albion.
Also on this day
- 1902: Sam Raybould scored three in a 5-0 win over Middlesbrough at Anfield.
- 1913: Liverpool lost 3-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford.
- 1919: Burnley won 1-0 at Anfield.
- 1930: Manchester City won 2-0 at Anfield.
- 1947: Liverpool lost 2-0 at Blackpool.
- 1952: Jimmy Payne and Billy Liddell scored as Wolverhampton Wanderers were beaten 2-1 at Anfield.
- 1958: Louis Bimpson and Jimmy Melia, on his 21st birthday, scored in a 2-0 Second Division win at Stoke City.
- 1969: Derby County won 4-0 at home.
- 1980: David Johnson and Kenny Dalglish scored in a 2-2 draw at Stoke City.
- 1997: Robbie Fowler scored inside the first minute, but Nathan Blake’s late goal earned Bolton Wanderers a 1-1 draw.
- 1999: Titi Camara, a Jamie Redknapp penalty and Vegard Heggem scored in a 3-1 win over Bradford City at Anfield.
- 2000: Danny Murphy scored and Robbie Fowler won it in extra time as Chelsea were beaten 2-1 in the League Cup third round at Anfield, on the way to lifting the trophy.
- 2008: Dirk Kuyt scored early, but Tottenham Hotspur won 2-1 with a Roman Pavlyuchenko winner in the last minute.
- 2014: Ayoze Pérez scored the only goal as Newcastle United won 1-0.
- 2017: Mohamed Salah, Emre Can and Daniel Sturridge scored in a 3-0 Champions League win over Maribor at Anfield.
- 2023: Cody Gakpo and Darwin Núñez scored in a 2-1 League Cup fourth-round win at Bournemouth.
