9th March

Heading towards Istanbul
2005 - Luis García netted twice before Milan Baroš struck his 27th and final reds goal as we beat Bayer 04 Leverkusen 3-1 in the BayArena to reach the Quarter-finals of the Champions League 6-2 on aggregate. We were able to take our feet off the gas towards the end, as John Welsh made his Champions League debut and we ended the match with Antonio Núñez at right-back and Igor Bišcan alongside Welsh in the centre of defence, although Jacek Krzynówek grabbed a late consolation – cue “Rocking All Over The World”! Rafa was also able to replace Dietmar Hamann with Vladimír Šmicer on the hour, in a replica of the switch made by his predecessor three years earlier that some people claimed had tipped the balance towards the German outfit.

Yanks in
2007 - It was announced that George Gillett Jr. and Tom Hicks now owned 80.7% of the club’s shares.

John’s bow
1901 – Forward John Davies played the first of his ten reds games as Sam Raybould bagged the only goal of our home top-flight fixture with Wolverhampton Wanderers as centre-half Alex Raisbeck reached a century of reds games.

In and out
2022 – Left-back Calum Scanlon turned pro with the reds, having signed from Birmingham City in February 2021. He made his senior bow off the bench in our 5-1 thumping of Toulouse in a UEFA Europa League group game at Anfield in October 2023.
1999 - Steve Harkness was sold to SL Benfica for £750,000 after three goals in 139 reds games since signing from Carlisle United for £75,000 in July 1989. He only stayed five months in Portugal, playing nine League games for the Eagles before joining Blackburn Rovers.

1972 – Forward Bobby Graham left for Coventry City after 42 goals in 137 reds games, having been pushed down the pecking order by John Toshack and Kevin Keegan.
1964 – Inside-forward Jimmy Melia was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers. After winning England caps at schoolboy and youth level, he broke into the first team, scoring on his debut in December 1955. He went on to net 79 times in 286 reds games, helping us to the First and Second Division titles.

Twice from twelve yards
1991 - We won 3-0 at Manchester City to go joint top of the table, with Jan Mølby scoring two from the spot in a six-minute first-half spell, his 200th game for the reds, and John Barnes netting late on.
1982 - Our previous game on this day was a 5-1 thumping of Stoke City at the Victoria Ground, postponed from the previous December. Five different scorers bagged our goals, with Terry McDermott, Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, Sammy Lee and Ronnie Whelan all on target.
1918 - We also visited the Potters in a Wartime League fixture when George Schofield netted in a 3-1 defeat.

On our way to Wembley
1974 - John Toshack netted the only goal of the game as we won our FA Cup Quarter-final at Bristol City. The reds enjoyed the rare luxury of flying back from the game.

Derby disappointment
1895 – We lost our Lancashire Senior Cup Semi-final 1-0 at Goodison Park.

Happy birthdays
1996 – Centre-half Dan Cleary was born in Dublin. He arrived in 2011, moving up to the Under-21’s for the 2014/15 season. He made his first-team debut against a Malaysia XI in July 2015 but moved on in the summer of 2016. On the same day, Michael Owen played for England Schoolboys as they faced Spain in the Walkers Crisps International Challenge Cup at Wembley.
1983 - Midfielder Michael Foley-Sheridan was born in Dublin. He left Anfield in the summer of 2004, without having broken through into the first-team to return to Irish football.
1950 - Ex-coach Christian Damiano was born in France. He only spent one season with the reds after making the move from Fulham, before moving on for a second spell at Southampton, working as Steve Wigley’s assistant.

International starts against the Irish
1901 - Winger Jack Cox won the first of his three England caps as they beat Ireland 3-0 in the British International Championships at The Dell.
1895 - Future reds right-half Rab Howell netted on his debut as England triumphed 9-0 at Derby, winning his only cap as a Sheffield United player. Fellow future reds inside-forward Frank Becton added a brace on his debut, also his only appearance while with Preston North End.
1889 - Future reds keeper Ned Doig won his second and final cap as an Arbroath player as Scotland trounced Northern Ireland 7-0 at Ibrox.
1949 – Future red Sammy Smyth played for Ireland as they lost 2-0 to Wales in the British International Championships at Windsor Park.

Bish Bash Taff Tosh
1994 - A bittersweet day for John Toshack, who managed the Welsh national team for the first and only time in his initial 47-day reign in charge. The game ended in a 3-1 defeat by Norway with Stig Inge Bjørnebye, Ian Rush and ex-red Dean Saunders all playing at Ninian Park. Meanwhile, Roy Hodgson took charge of Switzerland as they beat Hungary 2-1 in a friendly in Budapest.

Red against red in Cardiff
1903 - Alex Raisbeck captained Scotland for the first time as they lost 1-0 to Wales in the British International Championships at Ninian Park. Richard Morris won his first Welsh cap as a red, alongside team-mate Maurice Parry.

Reds milestones
1994 - Ex-red Peter Beardsley won his fiftieth cap for England as they beat Denmark 1-0 in a friendly at Wembley. Future red Paul Ince also played.
1957 – We beat Barnsley 2-1 in a Second Division meeting at Anfield. Johnny McCann struck one of his four goals against us, with Johnny Wheeler and Billy Liddell scoring our goals as Ronnie Moran reached a century of League outings for the club.

Disappointment in North London
1963 - Goals from Kevin Lewis and Roger Hunt helped us to a 2-2 draw with Arsenal at Highbury.
1929 - Gordon Hodgson and Dick Edmed both scored as we lost 4-2 to the Gunners at Anfield. Joe Hulme struck two of his ten goals against the reds, with Jimmy Brain bagging the last of his eight and Charlie Jones also on target.

We have also twice visited Tottenham Hotspur on this day in history.
1977 – We lost a League fixture as Ralph Coates scored the last of his four goals past us.
1968 - We held them to a 1-1 draw in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup. Tony Hateley struck our goal, and we eventually went out to West Bromwich Albion in the next round, after two replays. Jimmy Greaves scored for Spurs, one of his twelve strikes against the reds.

Wednesday twice
We faced The Wednesday twice at Owlerton on this day in successive years early last century.
1908 - Goals from Robert Robinson and Joe Hewitt handed us a 2-1 League win.
1907 - We lost 1-0 in the FA Cup Fourth Round as Harry Chapman scored his sixth and final goal past us.

Other reds games
1935 – Preston North End held us to a goalless draw in L4.
1912 – We drew 0-0 at Notts County.

Also in international action
1988 – Ex-red Avi Cohen and future red Ronnie Rosenthal both represented Israel as they beat New Zealand 2-0 in an Olympics qualifier in Adelaide.
2005 – Future red Javier Mascherano played in Argentina’s 1-1 friendly draw with Mexico in Los Angeles.
2017 – Keeper Vítezslav Jaroš appeared for the Czech Republic Under-16’s in their 2-2 home friendly draw with Switzerland.