5th April

Happy birthdays all round
1945 - Tommy Smith was born in Liverpool. The ‘Anfield Iron’ signed on as a professional on his seventeenth birthday, and went on to win four League titles, two FA Cups, two UEFA Cups, European Cup, UEFA Super Cup and two FA Charity Shields in his time with Liverpool, netting 48 times in 638 games. He died in April 2019.
1991 – Right-back Nathaniel Clyne was born in Stockwell, south London. He signed from Southampton for £12.5m in July 2015, notching twice in 103 reds games before being released in June 2020.

1976 - Fernando Morientes was born in Cilleros in Spain. He struck twelve times in 61 reds appearances following his £6.3m arrival from Real Madrid in January 2005, but moved on to Valencia in July 2006 after failing to fully convince in a reds shirt. He had helped us to claim the FA Cup and UEFA Super Cup in his time at Anfield.
1968 - Former second-string defender Alex Watson was born in Liverpool. He signed professional terms in May 1985 but made just nine first-team appearances, including being on the winning side in the FA Charity Shield in 1988, before joining Bournemouth for £150,000 in January 1991.

1870 – Outside-right Tom Wyllie was born in Maybole, South Ayrshire. He bagged fifteen goals in 25 senior games after signing from Everton in 1982, as well as scoring the only goal of the first ever derby meeting with his former club, in the Liverpool Senior Cup Final in 1893. He moved on to Bury later that year.

Arrivederci Juve
2005 - We beat Serie A champions-elect Juventus 2-1 at Anfield in the first leg of our Champions League Quarter-final clash. Sami Hyypiä struck a delightful volley from a corner before Luis García’s wonder strike put us two ahead at the break. Scott Carson let in a goal from Fabio Cannavaro to give the Italians hope, although we held firm in the Stadio delle Alpi to reach the Semi-finals for the first time in twenty years.

The club honoured the memory of the 39 victims of Heysel with a number of commemorative gestures in the lead-up to the match, including a fans match at the Academy and a Kop mosaic, while a banner carrying the theme ‘In Memoria e Amicizia’ was carried by Phil Neal and Michel Platini, the captains from back in 1985, from the Kop to the away end prior to kick-off.

The end of Rushie’s record
1987 - A legendary goal streak was broken at Wembley. Ian Rush opened the scoring in our Littlewoods Cup Final against Arsenal. Unfortunately, Charlie Nicholas struck twice to take the trophy to Highbury. This was the 145th match in which Ian Rush had scored, but the first of those that we lost. Future red Michael Thomas came off the bench for the victors while Paul Walsh reached a century of reds outings.
2005 - Rushie resigned as Manager of Chester City. He said, “The club's decision yesterday to terminate the contract of my assistant Mark Aizlewood without my knowledge was the last straw.”

We’re on our way to Wembley
We have twice played FA Cup Semi-finals on this day.
1986 - We beat Southampton 2-0 at White Hart Lane after extra time, thanks to a brace from Ian Rush. Future red Mark Wright broke his leg during the match.
1992 - Our tie with Portsmouth at Highbury also ended goalless after ninety minutes, before Pompey went ahead through the young Darren Anderton in extra time, with the reds down to ten men due to an injury to Steve McManaman. Ronnie Whelan chose the perfect time to score his only goal of the season after Alan Knight had pushed a John Barnes free-kick onto the post to take the tie to a replay, which we went on to win.

Ibou off the mark
2022 – French centre-half Ibrahima Konaté nodded in his first goal as we won the first leg of our UEFA Champions League Quarter-final 3-1 at SL Benfica on our way to reaching the Final in Paris. Sadio Mané also struck before future red Darwin Núñez pulled a goal back. However, Luis Díaz struck late on as we secured a club record eighth consecutive away win in all competitions.

En route to another final
2001 - We came back from the Camp Nou with a goalless draw in our UEFA Cup Semi-final first leg meeting with Barcelona, to set us on our way to a third UEFA Cup triumph. The Spanish giants had only twice previously failed to score at home that season. Future reds keeper Pepe Reina was in the home goal, while Bolo Zenden made an appearance for the home side from the bench. The game kicked off at the unusual time of 8:15pm due to a big storyline on EastEnders on BBC One!

Derby joy
1978 - David Johnson bagged the only goal of the game at Goodison Park to become the first player to net for both sides in the derby, having also struck the only goal of the game at Goodison in November 1971.
1901 - We also beat the Blues, with Charles Satterthwaite and Sam Raybould netting in a 2-1 friendly win at Anfield.

Red farewells
1969 - Gerry Byrne played his 333rd and final reds game as Roger Hunt struck the only goal of our home League meeting with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
1947 - Wing-half Harry Kaye appeared for the club for the second and last time as we lost 3-2 to Blackpool at Anfield.
1924 – We drew 1-1 at Tottenham Hotspur with Danny Shone on target as outside-right Harold Wadsworth appeared for the 55th and final time.
1915 – Tom Miller scored in his hundredth League game for the reds with Jimmy Nicholl netting his fourteenth and final goal for the club and Jackie Sheldon also scoring as we defeated Blackburn Rovers 3-0 in L4.

Off the mark
2019 – We won 3-1 at Southampton as we came from behind to return to the top of the table. Shane Long opened the scoring with the most recent of his four goals past us, the 5,000th goal we had conceded in the top flight, with Naby Keïta equalising with his first reds goal before the break. Mohamed Salah scored his fiftieth League goal for the reds to put us in front late on, with Jordan Henderson also on target.

Red debutants
2008 – Damien Plessis debuted in our 1-1 League draw at Arsenal, just three days after a similar result there in the Champions League. Peter Crouch gave us the lead before Nicklas Bendtner equalised.
1920 - Forward Dick Johnson made his reds bow as we were held to a 2-2 draw at Anfield by Oldham Athletic. Harry Chambers netted both our goals as well as missing a penalty, with keeper Ken Campbell playing for the 142nd and final time before joining Partick Thistle. Joe Walters struck the last of his five goals against the reds, with Billy Halligan also on target.

Thumped at Old Trafford
2003 - We lost 4-0 at Manchester United following Sami Hyypiä’s fourth-minute dismissal after he tussled with Ruud van Nistelrooy in the box. The Dutchman converted two penalties, with Ryan Giggs also on target with one of his five goals past us before a last-minute goal from Ole Gunnar Solskjær.
1980 - We also lost at Old Trafford, with Kenny Dalglish opening the scoring in a 2-1 defeat. United capitalised when winger Steve Coppell took advantage of Alan Kennedy pulling up with a damaged hamstring to cross for Mickey Thomas to equalise, before Jimmy Greenhoff’s header gave the home side the victory, the last of his five goals against the reds.

Stig in the dumps
1995 - Stig Inge Bjørnebye broke his leg as we beat Southampton 3-1 at Anfield. Ian Rush bagged a brace, to add to a Robbie Fowler penalty after we had fallen behind to a goal from Richard Hall. Bruce Grobbelaar and former reds reserve Jim Magilton both featured for the visitors.

A win at last
1912 - We beat Sunderland 2-1 at Anfield to record our first victory in twelve matches as we ended the season in seventeenth place. Half-back Harry Lowe struck his first reds goal with Sam Gilligan also on the scoresheet.

Reds awards
2002 - This was a day of awards. Gérard Houllier and Phil Thompson were jointly awarded the Manager of the Month prize for March while Steven Gerrard was nominated for the PFA Young Player Of The Year award, which he had won the previous year.

International bows
1913 - Keeper Sam Hardy won his first cap as an Aston Villa player, and fifteenth in total, as England beat Scotland 1-0 in a British International Championships game at Stamford Bridge.
1987 – Future red Stig Inge Bjørnebye made his debut for Norway Under-19’s as they beat the USSR 1-0 in a tournament game in Poland.

Six-ton Tom
1913 – We won 3-1 at Aston Villa with Arthur Goddard, Jack Parkinson and Arthur Metcalf all scoring in what was Tom Watson’s 600th League game in charge of the club.

A Victory defeat for Ephraim
1919 - Right-back Ephraim Longworth played for the Football League in a Victory match, which a Scottish League team won 3-2 at Ibrox. On the same day, inside-forward Harry Lewis struck for the sixth consecutive game, as we beat Southport Vulcan 4-2 at Anfield in a Lancashire Section Subsidiary Competition fixture, as the Lancashire Senior Cup was then known. Tom Miller and Harold and Walter Wadsworth also scored.

For Ibrox
1902 - Winger Jack Cox played for England, with Alex Raisbeck, and future reds keeper Ned Doig and inside-right George Livingstone all turning out for Scots in a British International Championships game at Ibrox Park that ended 1-1. However, 25 people died and 517 were injured when the back of the new West Tribune Stand collapsed due to heavy rainfall the previous night during the second half. Play continued but the match was later declared void by the two FA’s.

Other reds games
2017 – Bournemouth held us to a 2-2 draw at Anfield with Benik Ofobe giving the Cherries an early lead. Philippe Coutinho and Divock Origi scored either side of the break, but Joshua King bagged a late equaliser.
1999 – We drew 2-2 at Nottingham Forest. Jamie Redknapp gave us a half-time lead, with Dougie Freedman equalising. Michael Owen restored our lead, but Pierre van Hooijdonk levelled with a stoppage-time free kick.
1975 – Kevin Keegan bagged a brace as we won 2-0 at Leeds United.
1958 – Jimmy Melia and Bobby Murdoch struck as we beat Swansea Town 2-0 in a Second Division encounter at Vetch Field.

1952 – We beat Stoke City 2-1 in L4. Bob Paisley and Kevin Baron scored our goals with Willie McIntosh netting the last of his four past us.
1930 – Sheffield Wednesday won 3-1 at Anfield with Jack Allen nabbing one of his five goals past us before Gordon Hodgson immediately equalised. Mark Hooper scored one of his eight against us before Harry Burgess netted the first of his nine.
1926 – We drew 2-2 with Bolton Wanderers at home. Harry Chambers and Fred Hopkin struck as Dick Forshaw missed a penalty.
1902 – Sam Raybould bagged the only goal of Sheffield United’s visit to Anfield.

England beaten on pens
2010 – England Under-16’s lost the Final of the Montaigu Tournament 3-1 to Portugal in a penalty shoot-out, after the game ended 1-1. Matty Regan won his fourth and final cap at this level, with Raheem Sterling playing his seventh and last game.

In charge
2013 – Ex-reds centre-half and first-team coach Mauricio Pellegrino was appointed Manager of Estudiantes de La Plata in his native Argentina.

Sami clogs off the mark
1997 - Sami Hyypiä scored his first goal in the Dutch Premier League. Unfortunately, Willem II lost 3-1 at SC Heerenveen.
2008 – Sami signed a new contract with the reds until the summer of 2009.

Also in international action
1930 – Future red Ernie Blenkinsop played for England in their 5-2 victory over Scotland in the British International Championships at Wembley.
1952 – Billy Liddell featured in Scotland’s 2-1 defeat by England in the same competition at Hampden Park.
1978 – Future reds coach Joe Corrigan featured as England Under-21’s held Italy to a goalless draw in the second leg of their European Championships Quarter-final in Rome to progress to the Semi-finals.