Liverpool waited almost a year to get Mark González into their team. When he finally made his competitive debut, he needed only three minutes to score the winner.
His late goal against Maccabi Haifa at Anfield in August 2006 gave Liverpool a narrow lead to take into the second leg of their Champions League qualifier, and the campaign that started that night ended in the final in Athens. González could not build on it. He scored three goals in 36 games in his only season at Liverpool before returning to Spain, but there was plenty more to his career: silverware with CSKA Moscow, a winning goal at the World Cup in the country of his birth and a Copa América winner’s medal with Chile.
Born in Durban
Mark Dennis González was born in Durban, South Africa, on 10 July 1984. His Chilean father, Raúl, was playing for Durban Bush Bucks at the time and named his son after two team-mates, Mark Tovey and Dennis Wicks.
He moved to Chile at the age of ten and made his breakthrough at Universidad Católica, one of the country’s top clubs. He won his first Chile cap in 2003 and then moved to Spain with Albacete.
The permit problem
Benítez wanted the left winger for the 2005-06 season, the first after Istanbul, but the application for a work permit was turned down. Liverpool still agreed a permanent deal with Albacete in October 2005 and loaned him to Real Sociedad for the second half of the season while they waited.
He did well in San Sebastián. In April 2006 he scored the equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Real Madrid at the Bernabéu, pouncing on a mistake by Iker Casillas. On 5 July 2006 the permit finally came through, and González was handed the No. 11 shirt.
Three minutes
His competitive debut came on 9 August 2006, in the first leg of the Champions League third qualifying round against Maccabi Haifa at Anfield. It was not a comfortable night. Gustavo Boccoli put the Israeli champions ahead and Craig Bellamy equalised four minutes later. With five minutes left and the score still 1-1, Benítez sent González on for Steven Gerrard.
Three minutes later, he got on the end of a ball from Xabi Alonso and slotted it past Nir Davidovich. The second leg in Kyiv finished 1-1, and Liverpool went through 3-2 on aggregate. Nine months later, they were in the Champions League final.
In and out
His first Premier League start came against Tottenham at Anfield on 23 September 2006, and he marked it with the opening goal. Bellamy turned Gerrard’s cross against the post and González scored from the rebound, from a tight angle, in a 3-0 win.
His other goal came in December, when he came off the bench and curled in a stoppage-time free-kick to complete a 4-0 win over Fulham at Anfield. He never held down a regular place, though. Of his 20 starts, only four lasted the full 90 minutes.
January brought a miserable night against Arsenal. In the League Cup quarter-final at Anfield, he was stretchered off in the opening minutes with a leg injury after an innocuous-looking challenge, and Liverpool went on to lose 6-3. Luis García, who replaced him, was also carried off later in the game with a serious knee injury that kept him out for the rest of the season.
González recovered and made his last appearance in a 1-0 defeat at Fulham on 5 May 2007. He was an unused substitute in Athens as Liverpool lost the final to AC Milan, but his season did bring a trophy: he had played in the Community Shield win over Chelsea the previous August.
Seville and Moscow
In July 2007 he joined Real Betis, and a month later he scored the only goal, from the penalty spot, as Betis beat Milan, the new European champions, in the match to celebrate their centenary. He spent two seasons in Seville, and when Betis were relegated in 2009, CSKA Moscow outbid Olympiacos for him and signed him on a five-year deal.
He won the Russian Cup in 2011 and 2013 and was part of the side that won the league in 2012-13. He also played in the first half of CSKA’s 2013-14 title-winning season, but went back to Universidad Católica on loan in January 2014, before the championship was won.
A World Cup goal in South Africa
One of the highlights of his international career came in the country where he was born. At the 2010 World Cup, he scored the only goal against Switzerland in Port Elizabeth. With 15 minutes left, Esteban Paredes crossed from the right and González headed in at the far post. Chile went through from their group before losing to Brazil in the last 16.
Six years later, he was a late addition to Chile’s squad for the Copa América Centenario in the United States, replacing the injured Matías Fernández. Chile kept their title, beating Argentina on penalties in the final.
Back to Anfield
His move back to Católica became permanent after the loan. He later played for Sport Recife in Brazil before finishing his career in Chile with Colo-Colo and Deportivo Magallanes.
In November 2019, he announced his retirement in a video filmed at Anfield. He has since worked as a television pundit in Chile and played for the LFC Legends, and in March 2025 he was back at Anfield against Chelsea Legends, crossing for Peter Crouch’s second goal in a 2-0 win.
Once a Red
González made 36 appearances and scored three goals in his only season at Liverpool. The debut promised more than the season delivered, and he left without establishing himself in the side.
But the winner against Maccabi Haifa is still worth remembering: a player who had waited so long for his chance took it within three minutes of coming on. Twelve years after leaving, he was back at Anfield to announce his retirement. His Liverpool career was brief, but the connection lasted.
