4th August

Happy birthday John
1957 - John Wark was born in Glasgow. He struck an impressive 42 times in his 108 games for the reds following his £450,000 capture from Ipswich Town in March 1984, where he had been named PFA Player of the Year three years earlier. He left Anfield in January 1988 to return to Portman Road, having won a League championship medal with us.

Striking German debuts
1967 - Tony Hateley made his reds bow in our 1-0 friendly defeat by 1. FC Köln at the Müngersdorfer Stadion, following his record signing from Chelsea for £96,000 the previous month. Emlyn Hughes was sent off in the seventeenth minute for retaliating after being kicked by Wolfgang Overath.
1997 - Karl-Heinz Riedle made his first appearance in a 3-1 friendly win at Crewe Alexandra, when Michael Owen and Paul Ince added to a Danny Murphy penalty.

Beating Roma again
2004 - We beat Roma 2-1 in a ChampionsWorld Series game in the Giants Stadium in New Jersey. Michael Owen netted in his final reds game, while right-back Josemi made his first appearance for us. Dietmar Hamann was skipper briefly, the first time he had received this honour, while Djibril Cissé grabbed our first goal.

Milan at the treble
2002 - We beat AC Milan 2-1 in the third-place play-off of the Real Madrid Trofeo Centenario. Milan scored all three goals, as a Dario Šimić own goal put us in front, before Milan Baroš doubled our advantage. Jon Dahl Tomasson pulled one back for the Italians, but we held on to win.
1998 - We also faced Italian opposition, beating Internazionale 2-1 at Anfield to claim the pre-season Pirelli Cup. Ex-Inter player Paul Ince and Steve Harkness netted that day.

Losing to the Mancs
2014 – We lost the International Champions Cup Final 3-1 to Manchester United in Miami, with our score being a penalty converted by Steven Gerrard.
2019 – We lost a penalty shoot-out 5-4 to Manchester City after the FA Community Shield ended 1-1 at Wembley. Ex-red Raheem Sterling opened the scoring early on with the first of his two goals past us to date, with Joël Matip equalising shortly after Virgil van Dijk had struck the bar. Mohamed Salah had an effort cleared off the line, the closest either side came to securing victory. Xherdan Shaqiri, Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Salah all converted their spot-kicks, with Gini Wijnaldum having his saved.

Al starts out
2018 – Brazilian keeper Alisson Becker played his first reds game as we thumped Napoli 5-0 in a friendly in Dublin. James Milner and Gini Wijnaldum struck early on, with Mohamed Salah, Daniel Sturridge and Alberto Moreno on target after the break.
2021 – Alisson signed a new contract, having kept 87 clean sheets in 130 games to date, as he helped us to claim the Premier League, UEFA Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup. He also dramatically headed in an injury-time winner at West Bromwich Albion in May 2021 to help secure qualification for the UEFA Champions League again.

Off on loan
2008 – Reserves keeper David Martin joined Leicester City on loan. He played thirty times as they claimed the League One title, leaving Anfield permanently in May 2010 to re-join MK Dons.
2015 – Winger Sheyi Ojo moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers, netting three times in nineteen outings before being recalled to Anfield the following January.

Pre-season routs
We have twice run amok in friendlies on this day in history.
1970 - We won 5-0 at Preston North End in a ‘public practice match’. Emlyn Hughes and Peter Thompson both netted twice, with Alun Evans also on target.
1992 - We ran riot at Tranmere Rovers, thrashing them 7-1, with Ian Rush and Dean Saunders both grabbing a brace. Paul Stewart, Mike Marsh and Ronnie Rosenthal all also scored.
2006 - Less happily, we were humbled 5-0 at Jürgen Klopp’s 1. FSV Mainz 05 in our final pre-season friendly.

Scandinavian victories
We have twice overcome Scandinavian opponents on pre-season tours on this day over the years.
1991 - We won 2-1 at Swedish side Elfsborg, thanks to goals from John Barnes and Dean Saunders.
1993 - We won in the Norway Cup at Rosenborg BK, with Ian Rush grabbing the only goal of the game.

1986 - We beat Länslaget, a Swedish Select XI, 3-1 thanks to two Jan Mølby penalties and an Ian Rush strike. This match was billed as the biggest football event in the city of Örebro since France played Scotland during the World Cup in 1958.

For Dortmund
1984 - We helped Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund to celebrate their 75th anniversary, although an Ian Rush strike condemned them to a 1-0 friendly defeat at the Westfalenstadion.

Other friendlies
1951 - Billy Liddell netted a brace as we beat an Edinburgh Select side 2-1 in a match at Easter Road, arranged to celebrate Edinburgh Charities Day.
1981 - Terry McDermott and David Johnson got on the scoresheet as we won 2-1 at Sc***horpe United, with ex-Iron keeper turning out for the reds for the last time.
1996 - Steve McManaman grabbed the only goal of the game at Northern Irish side Dundalk.
1976 - We lost 2-0 at Feyenoord.

Farewell Jon
2000 - Reserves forward Jon Newby joined First Division Sheffield United on loan. He made three starts and a further ten substitute appearances in his three months at Bramall Lane, without hitting the net. He left Anfield for good when he joined Bury in March 2001.

Turned down
2005 - Mark González was denied a work permit, having signed on loan from Albacete Balompié two weeks earlier. He was finally given the official go-ahead to move to the reds a year later, though his reds career did not last long.

Future reds on the move
2009 – Midfielder Charlie Adam joined Blackpool from Rangers for a club record £500,000 after a successful loan spell. He netted 36 times in 101 games in total while at Bloomfield Road, before moving to Anfield for an initial £6.75m in July 2011.
2006 – Keeper Brad Jones joined Sheffield Wednesday on loan from Middlesbrough, turning out fifteen times for the Owls.
2005 – Centre-half Ragnar Klavan joined Dutch side Heracles Almelo from Flora Tallinn, scoring five times in 104 games while in the Netherlands.

Ex-reds on the move
2021 – Forward Danny Ings moved to Aston Villa from Southampton for a £25m fee, having struck 46 times in exactly a century of outings for the Saints.
2015 – Left-back Paul Konchesky joined Queens Park Rangers on loan from Leicester City, playing 34 times for them that season.
2012 – Lee Peltier left Leicester City to sign for Leeds United after two goals in 47 games in his one season with the Foxes.

2006 - Former reserves keeper Tony Warner joined Leeds United on loan from Fulham. He played fourteen times as they struggled against relegation from the Championship.
2003 - Ex-reds reserves striker John Durnin joined Accrington Stanley on loan from Port Vale. He netted four times in fifteen Conference games for them, before being released at the end of the season.

Olympian despair
2012 – Craig Bellamy captained a Great Britain side that also included future reds Joe Allen, Steven Caulker and Daniel Sturridge as they drew 1-1 with South Korea in the Quarter-final of the Olympics Finals in Cardiff. South Korea won 5-4 on penalties with Sturridge having his penalty saved. On the same day, future red Sadio Mané played as Senegal lost 4-2 to Mexico after extra time at Wembley, with fellow future red Mohamed Salah also crashing out as Egypt lost 3-0 to Japan at Old Trafford.

Internationals on target
2016 – Takumi Minamino netted as Japan lost 5-4 to Nigeria in a Olympic Finals group game in Brazil, with fellow future red Wataru Endō skippering the side. Tiago Ilori also featured that day as Portugal beat Argentina 2-0 in another group stage game in Rio de Janeiro.
1994 – Future red Haukur Igni Gudnason bagged a brace as Iceland Under-17’s beat England 4-3, his final goals at this level.

Also in international action
2011 – Michael Ngoo featured for England Under-20’s as they were held to a goalless draw by Mexico in their World Championship Finals group game in Colombia.
2010 – Adam Morgan played as England Under-17’s beat Denmark 2-0 in a Nordic Tournament game in Finland.
2007 – Future red Nikola Sarić appeared for Denmark Under-17’s in their 2-0 defeat of Finland in a tournament in Kolding.