Liverpool and Arsenal shared ten goals at Anfield on this day in 2019, before 18-year-old Scouser Curtis Jones stepped up to send the Reds through on penalties.
Robbie Fowler hit his first league hat-trick in a 4-2 win over Southampton in 1993, Djibril Cissé suffered a horrific broken leg at Blackburn in 2004, and the Anfield floodlights were switched on for the very first time in 1957. It is also the birthday of Dave Hickson and Glenn Hysén, and we remember Peter Wall, who died two years ago today.
2019: Ten goals and a shootout
Jürgen Klopp sent out a young side for the League Cup fourth-round tie, with four teenagers in the starting line-up, Neco Williams making his debut and 20-year-old Caoimhín Kelleher in goal. What followed was one of the wildest nights Anfield has seen.
Shkodran Mustafi turned the ball into his own net after six minutes, but Lucas Torreira equalised and two goals from Gabriel Martinelli put Arsenal 3-1 up. Sixteen-year-old Harvey Elliott was brought down to win a penalty, and James Milner scored it just before the break.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles restored Arsenal’s two-goal advantage early in the second half, but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain lashed in from long range before Divock Origi turned and fired Liverpool level just four minutes later. Joe Willock’s stunning strike restored Arsenal’s lead, but in the 94th minute Origi met Williams’s cross with a scissor kick to make it 5-5.
Liverpool scored all five of their penalties. Kelleher saved from Dani Ceballos, and substitute Curtis Jones, who had set up Origi’s first goal, coolly beat Emiliano Martínez to win the shootout 5-4. “I enjoyed pretty much each second of the game,” said Klopp afterwards.
1993: Fowler’s first league hat-trick
Earlier that month, Robbie Fowler had scored all five Liverpool goals in a 5-0 League Cup win over Fulham. On this day he showed the league what he could do, with a hat-trick in a 4-2 win over Southampton at Anfield.
The 18-year-old headed in Rob Jones’s cross for the first and then chested down Neil Ruddock’s long ball and drilled a low shot past Tim Flowers for the second. Matt Le Tissier pulled one back with a goal of real skill, and after Ian Rush followed up when Flowers had parried a shot from Paul Stewart, Le Tissier scored again.
Fowler had the last word, curling a free-kick into the net late on to complete his hat-trick in front of 32,818.
2004: Cissé’s long road back
Rafa Benítez’s side had taken an early lead through John Arne Riise at Ewood Park, but Blackburn had equalised by the time Djibril Cissé, the club’s £14m summer signing, went down in a challenge with Jay McEveley. The Frenchman’s foot caught in the turf, and he was carried off on a stretcher with his left leg broken.
Jay Bothroyd and Brett Emerton turned the game around for Blackburn before half-time, and Milan Baroš earned a 2-2 draw early in the second half. The talk afterwards was all about Cissé, who was expected to miss the rest of the season.
Remarkably, he was back less than six months later. On 13 April 2005, Cissé came off the bench against Juventus in Turin as Liverpool secured their place in the Champions League semi-finals. Just six weeks later, he scored in the penalty shootout against AC Milan in Istanbul as Liverpool became champions of Europe.
1957: The lights go on at Anfield
On a Wednesday night in 1957, Anfield staged its first match under floodlights, and fittingly the visitors were Everton. Liverpool were in the Second Division and Everton a division above, and the two clubs had marked the arrival of floodlights with a two-legged contest for a cup donated by the Liverpool County FA to celebrate its 75th anniversary.
Everton had won the first leg 2-0 at Goodison Park three weeks earlier, but Billy Liddell scored twice in quick succession, the first from the penalty spot, and Johnny Morrissey added a third to put Liverpool ahead on aggregate. Everton fought back, though. Dave Hickson headed one in on his 28th birthday, before Jimmy Harris struck late on to secure a 4-3 aggregate victory for the Blues, despite Liverpool winning 3-2 on the night.
The two matches proved so popular that the clubs made the Floodlit Challenge Cup an annual event, and Liverpool kept the trophy for good when the competition came to an end.
Remembering Peter Wall
On this day in 2024, former Liverpool full-back Peter Wall died at the age of 80. Bill Shankly signed him from Wrexham in late 1966, and he had to be patient, waiting until 1968 for his first-team debut.
He made 42 first-team appearances for Liverpool before joining Crystal Palace in May 1970. During eight seasons at Selhurst Park, he recovered from a broken leg suffered against his former club and later captained Palace. He finished his playing career in the United States, where he also went into management.
Born on this day
Born on this day in 1929, Dave Hickson was one of the most controversial signings in Liverpool’s history when he crossed Stanley Park from Everton in November 1959. He scored both Liverpool goals in a 2-1 debut victory over Aston Villa at Anfield, with the crowd of 49,981 around 15,000 higher than usual. Within weeks he was reunited with Bill Shankly, who had previously managed him at Huddersfield Town. He scored 37 league goals in 60 games for the Reds, and he remains one of the very few men to have played for Everton, Liverpool and Tranmere Rovers. He died in 2013, aged 83.
Glenn Hysén, born in Gothenburg in 1959, arrived from Fiorentina in 1989 and was man of the match on his debut in the Charity Shield win over Arsenal at Wembley. The Swedish centre-half went on to be a key part of the 1989-90 title-winning side. Ragnar Klavan, the Estonian defender, was born on this day in 1985.
Also on this day
- 1897: Harry Bradshaw scored, but Aston Villa won 3-1 at Villa Park.
- 1909: Bobby Robinson scored the only goal at Bristol City.
- 1920: Harry Chambers scored twice and Dick Johnson once in a 3-0 derby win at Goodison Park.
- 1926: Harry Chambers scored, but Blackburn Rovers won 2-1 at Ewood Park.
- 1937: Willie Fagan, Berry Nieuwenhuys and Alf Hanson scored in a 3-2 win at Sunderland.
- 1948: Jackie Milburn scored the only goal as Liverpool lost at Newcastle United.
- 1954: Billy Liddell scored twice in a 3-3 Second Division draw at Lincoln City.
- 1965: Willie Stevenson from the spot, Roger Hunt with two and Ian St John scored in a 4-0 win over Nottingham Forest at Anfield.
- 1971: Kevin Keegan scored in a 1-1 draw at Sheffield United.
- 1976: Ian Callaghan, Terry McDermott and Kevin Keegan scored in a 3-0 win over Aston Villa at Anfield.
- 1979: Substitute David Fairclough scored both goals in a 2-0 League Cup fourth-round win over Exeter City at Anfield.
- 1982: Mark Lawrenson scored against his old club and Kenny Dalglish hit two as Brighton & Hove Albion were beaten 3-1 at Anfield.
- 2001: Vladimír Šmicer and Stephen Wright scored in a 2-0 Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund at Anfield.
- 2002: Francisco Rufete scored the only goal as Valencia won a Champions League group game at Anfield.
- 2021: Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mané scored, but Brighton & Hove Albion came back to draw 2-2 at Anfield.
- 2024: Cody Gakpo scored twice and Luis Díaz once in a 3-2 League Cup win at Brighton & Hove Albion.
