Liverpool rewrote the Champions League record books on this day in 2007, thrashing Beşiktaş 8-0 at Anfield for what remains a joint-record winning margin in the competition.
Ian Rush scored four times in a 5-0 derby rout at Goodison Park in 1982, Graeme Souness’s side turned round a two-goal deficit against Auxerre in 1991, and Sir John Smith, the chairman through the club’s most decorated years, was born in 1920.
2007: Record-breakers at Anfield
Liverpool went into the night with their backs against the wall. Rafael Benítez’s side, European champions in 2005 and beaten finalists only the previous May, had taken a single point from their first three group games and needed a win to keep their hopes alive.
Benítez left Fernando Torres on the bench, and Peter Crouch settled the nerves on 19 minutes, tucking in the rebound after his first shot was saved. Yossi Benayoun made it two before the break, controlling Andriy Voronin’s cross at the far post and lashing it in.
The Israeli completed his hat-trick within 11 minutes of the restart. Hakan Arıkan blocked John Arne Riise’s shot into Benayoun’s path for the third, then failed to hold Steven Gerrard’s free-kick for the fourth. Gerrard then finished a neat one-two with Voronin, substitute Ryan Babel back-heeled in Benayoun’s low cross and added another when a clearance struck him and looped into the net, and Crouch glanced in Benayoun’s cross for the eighth late on.
The 41,143 inside Anfield had seen Liverpool’s biggest European win for 27 years, and it sparked a revival. Real Madrid equalled the eight-goal margin against Malmö in 2015, and Como matched it with a 9-1 win at Lens two days ago. Benítez’s side beat Porto 4-1 at Anfield and won 4-0 in Marseille to reach the knockout stage.
1982: Rush runs riot at Goodison
Forty-four years ago today, in 1982, Bob Paisley’s champions went to Goodison Park top of the table and came away with a result the Kop still sings about.
Rush, an Evertonian as a boy, put Liverpool ahead on 11 minutes, and before half-time Everton were down to ten men. Glenn Keeley, on loan from Blackburn Rovers and making his debut, hauled down Kenny Dalglish as he raced through on goal and was sent off.
After the break Rush made it two on 51 minutes, Mark Lawrenson added a third four minutes later, and Rush struck again on 71 and 85 to complete a 5-0 win in front of 52,741, Everton’s heaviest derby defeat at Goodison. “Rush scored one, Rush scored two…” is still celebrated in a famous Kop chant.
1991: Auxerre turned over
It was 1991, and Souness’s Liverpool looked to be on their way out of the UEFA Cup after losing the first leg 2-0 in France. Only 23,094 turned up at Anfield for the return, but the ones who did saw something special.
Jan Mølby smashed in a penalty after four minutes, and on 29 minutes Mike Marsh, filling in at right-back, headed in Ray Houghton’s cross for his first goal for the club to level the tie.
Auxerre had Frédéric Darras sent off with a quarter of an hour left, and seven minutes from time Mark Walters ran on to Mølby’s pass and scored in front of the Kop to make it 3-2 on aggregate. It was the first time Liverpool had overturned a two-goal first-leg deficit in Europe.
Born on this day
Born on this day in 1920, Sir John Smith was Liverpool’s chairman from 1973 to 1990, overseeing the glory years under Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish.
Jimmy Stott, born in Darlington in 1870, joined from Middlesbrough in August 1893 and scored 14 goals in 17 games as Liverpool won the Second Division title in their first season in the Football League. He moved on to Grimsby Town in 1894.
Midfielder Jordan Williams, born in Bangor in 1995, came through the Academy before joining Rochdale in 2018.
Also on this day
- 1897: Dan Cunliffe scored, but Nottingham Forest won 2-1 at Anfield.
- 1909: Jack Parkinson and Arthur Goddard scored in a 2-2 home draw with Bury.
- 1909: Frank Becton, the former Liverpool and England inside-forward, died.
- 1920: Bradford Park Avenue won 1-0 at Anfield.
- 1926: Dick Forshaw scored twice, but Huddersfield Town won 3-2 at Anfield.
- 1937: Alf Hanson, Willie Fagan and John Shafto scored, but Brentford won 4-3 at Anfield.
- 1948: Billy Liddell, Jack Balmer and Cyril Done scored in a 3-1 win over Portsmouth at Anfield.
- 1954: Geoff Twentyman and Eric Anderson scored in a 2-1 Second Division win over Hull City at Anfield.
- 1959: Dave Hickson crossed Stanley Park from Everton, and scored both goals in a 2-1 win over Aston Villa at Anfield the next day.
- 1965: Roger Hunt and Peter Thompson scored in a 2-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday.
- 1971: Emlyn Hughes, Ian Callaghan and Ian Ross scored in a 3-2 win over double winners Arsenal at Anfield, with future Red Ray Kennedy on target for the visitors.
- 1973: Red Star Belgrade won 2-1 at Anfield to go through 4-2 on aggregate in the European Cup second round, with Chris Lawler scoring Liverpool’s goal.
- 1976: David Fairclough scored the only goal at Sunderland.
- 1983: Rush, Michael Robinson and Steve Nicol scored in a 3-0 derby win over Everton at Anfield.
- 1993: Nigel Clough scored and Alvin Martin put through his own net in a 2-0 win over West Ham United at Anfield.
- 1999: Danny Murphy and Jamie Redknapp scored in a 2-0 win over Derby County at Anfield.
- 2002: Patrik Berger, El-Hadji Diouf and Milan Baroš scored in a 3-1 League Cup third-round win over Southampton at Anfield.
- 2003: Djimi Traoré scored in a 1-1 draw with Steaua Bucharest in the UEFA Cup second round.
- 2004: Darren Anderton scored the only goal as Birmingham City won at Anfield.
- 2015: Bobby Campbell, who started out at Liverpool and went on to manage Chelsea, died.
- 2016: Sadio Mané scored twice, with Philippe Coutinho, Emre Can, Roberto Firmino and Gini Wijnaldum also on target, in a 6-1 win over Watford at Anfield.
- 2018: Red Star Belgrade beat Liverpool 2-0 in Belgrade in the Champions League.
- 2022: Mohamed Salah scored twice in a 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur.
