Luis Díaz lit up Bonfire Night at Anfield on this day in 2024, scoring a second-half hat-trick as Liverpool swept aside Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 in the Champions League.
Díaz was the hero again a year earlier with an emotional stoppage-time leveller at Luton in 2023, Bob Paisley’s side put four past Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen in 1980, and Rob Jones was born in 1971.
2024: Lucho lights the fuse
Arne Slot’s side went into the night with three wins from three in the new league phase, but for 45 minutes the Bundesliga champions made life awkward. Alonso, a Champions League winner with Liverpool in 2005, was back at Anfield in the visitors’ dugout, and his side went in at half-time level at 0-0.
The game turned just after the hour. Curtis Jones slipped Díaz through on 61 minutes and he calmly lifted the ball over Lukas Hradecky, and two minutes later Cody Gakpo headed in Mohamed Salah’s cross, the goal given after a VAR check overturned the offside flag.
Seven minutes from time Díaz brought down another Salah cross and scored from close range, and in stoppage time he completed his first hat-trick for the club, turning in the rebound after Darwin Núñez’s shot was blocked. The win kept Liverpool’s record perfect, with 12 points from four games, and took them to the top of the table.
2023: Freedom for Dad
It was 2023, and Díaz had been through a week no footballer should ever face. Armed men had seized his parents in their home town of Barrancas in Colombia eight days earlier. His mother was freed within hours, but his father was still being held by the ELN guerrilla group when Liverpool went to Luton.
Díaz had missed the previous two games, but he was back among the substitutes at Kenilworth Road, and Jürgen Klopp sent him on with Liverpool trailing to a late Tahith Chong goal.
In the fifth minute of stoppage time he rose to head in Harvey Elliott’s cross, then lifted his shirt to reveal the message “Libertad Para Papa”, freedom for Dad. Four days later, his father was released.
1980: Ferguson’s Aberdeen swept aside
Forty-six years ago today, in 1980, Paisley’s Liverpool took a 1-0 lead from Pittodrie, courtesy of Terry McDermott, into the second leg of their European Cup second-round tie with Ferguson’s Aberdeen, a side including Jim Leighton, Alex McLeish, Willie Miller and Gordon Strachan.
The 36,182 at Anfield saw little of a contest. Miller turned the ball into his own net in the first half and Phil Neal made it two before the break. Kenny Dalglish added a third after the break and Alan Hansen got the fourth for a 5-0 aggregate win.
Paisley’s side went on to lift the trophy in Paris the following May.
Born on this day
Born on this day in 1971 in Wrexham, Rob Jones was the grandson of post-war Red Bill Jones. Graeme Souness signed him from Crewe Alexandra for £300,000 in October 1991, and within 48 hours he was up against Ryan Giggs at Old Trafford on his debut. He made his England debut against France only four months later.
Jones won the FA Cup in 1992 and the League Cup in 1995, and played 243 games for Liverpool without ever scoring, before injuries cut his career short.
Berry Nieuwenhuys, born in 1911, was the South African outside-right who scored 79 goals for the Reds and won the League title in 1947.
Also on this day
- 1892: In the club’s first season, Liverpool lost 3-0 at Blackpool in the Lancashire League.
- 1898: Jock Peddie scored twice and Sandy MacFarlane once as Newcastle United won 3-0 at St James’ Park.
- 1904: Bobby Robinson scored twice and Jack Parkinson once in a 3-0 Second Division win at Blackpool.
- 1910: Sam Bowyer and Arthur Goddard scored in a 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough.
- 1921: Danny Shone scored in a 1-1 derby draw at Goodison Park.
- 1927: Willie Devlin scored in a 1-1 draw at Cardiff City.
- 1932: Leeds United won 1-0 at Anfield.
- 1938: Berry Nieuwenhuys marked his 27th birthday with a goal in a 1-1 draw at Portsmouth.
- 1949: Billy Liddell scored twice, one a penalty, with Kevin Baron and Ken Brierley also on target, in a 4-0 win over Manchester City at Anfield.
- 1955: Alan Arnell scored, but Swansea Town won 2-1 in a Second Division match.
- 1956: Bill Shankly was appointed manager of Huddersfield Town.
- 1960: Roger Hunt scored twice, with Alan A’Court and Dave Hickson also on target, in a 4-0 Second Division win at Plymouth Argyle.
- 1966: Roger Hunt scored twice, and Geoff Strong and Peter Thompson once each, in a 4-0 win over Nottingham Forest at Anfield.
- 1974: A goalless draw in Hungary saw Ferencváros through on away goals in the European Cup Winners’ Cup second round, after a 1-1 draw at Anfield.
- 1977: Andy Gray scored twice as Aston Villa won 2-1 at Anfield, with Liverpool’s goal a Frank Carrodus own goal.
- 1988: Ian Rush, John Aldridge and Peter Beardsley scored in a 3-0 win over Middlesbrough at Anfield.
- 1994: Robbie Fowler scored the only goal against Nottingham Forest at Anfield.
- 2005: A late Steven Gerrard penalty and a Xabi Alonso goal earned a 2-0 win at Aston Villa.
- 2011: Swansea City held Liverpool to a goalless draw at Anfield.
- 2015: Jordon Ibe scored the only goal at Rubin Kazan in the Europa League.
- 2019: Gini Wijnaldum and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored in a 2-1 Champions League win over Genk at Anfield.
