3rd December

Crouchie off the mark
2005 - Peter Crouch finally scored his first goals for the club after eighteen goalless outings with a brace in our 3-0 defeat of Wigan Athletic at Anfield, our first ever League encounter with the Latics. Luis García completed the scoring.

Happy birthday Christian
1990 – Centre-forward Christian Benteke was born in Kinshasa in Zaire. The Belgian international signed from Aston Villa for £32.5m in July 2015, bagging ten goals in 42 outings and featuring in the UEFA Europa League Final in Basel. He moved on to Crystal Palace for £27m in August 2016.

A humbling defeat
1991 - Third Division Peterborough United knocked us out of the League Cup as a single Garry Kimble goal, gifted by a blunder by Bruce Grobbelaar, gave them victory in our Fourth Round tie at London Road.

Spud no longer the lucky omen
2003 - Bolton Wanderers knocked us out of the Carling Cup in a Fourth Round tie at Anfield, 3-2. Vladimír Šmicer and Danny Murphy both scored equalisers, but it was not enough. Danny’s goal was his fortieth reds strike, and his first in a game that we lost. Afterwards, Gérard Houllier fired a rare salvo at his underperforming players, “We let the fans and the club down and there’s no excuse! We didn’t deserve to go through tonight and we let ourselves down. I’m angry with my players and I am not happy with the performance.”

1898 - We beat the Trotters 2-0 at home in the top flight, with Andrew McCowie nabbing his eleventh and final goal for the club, as Hugh Morgan also got on the scoresheet.
1904 - We lost by the same score at Burnden Park in a Second Division meeting, with Sam Marsh bagging a brace, including a penalty.

Five for Miller
1892 - John Miller bagged five goals as we thumped Fleetwood Rangers 7-0 in a Lancashire League match at Anfield. Matt McQueen scored his first goal for the reds, with Malcolm McVean also on target.

Red centurions
1983 - Bruce Grobbelaar made his hundredth consecutive reds appearance, also reaching a century of League games for the club, keeping a clean sheet as a late Ian Rush strike beat a Birmingham City side including ex-red Howard Gayle in a League fixture at Anfield, with Ronnie Whelan rattling the crossbar as we moved four points clear at the top of the table.
1977 – Emlyn Hughes played his 600th reds game in our 2-0 victory over West Ham United at Anfield, thanks to goals from Kenny Dalglish and David Fairclough.
1910 – We lost 3-1 at Oldham Athletic with Arthur Goddard netting as right-half Bobby Robinson appeared for us in the League for the 200th time.

Ex-reds loaned out
1999 - Gary Ablett joined Second Division Wycombe Wanderers on loan from Birmingham City. He made four appearances while at the Causeway Stadium. On the same day, ex-reserves forward John Durnin temporarily joined Third Division Carlisle United from Portsmouth. He scored once in seven first-team outings, and later signed permanently for the Cumbrians.

Award winners
2008 - Sami Hyypiä was named Finland’s Player of the Year for the seventh time in ten years.
2018 - Mohamed Salah was named as the Football Supporters' Association Men's Player of the Year for the first time, winning it again three years later. On the same day, Salah was voted sixth in the Ballon d'Or, with ex-red Luis Suárez coming thirteenth, Roberto Firmino joint nineteenth, Sadio Mané equal 22nd and Alisson Becker joint 25th. Real Madrid’s Luka Modrić claimed the trophy that year.

New contracts
2010 - Martin Kelly and Dani Pacheco both signed new contracts to keep them at Anfield until 2014. Kelly struck once in 62 senior appearances before moving to Crystal Palace for a reported £2m in August 2014, while Pacheco featured on seventeen occasions before moving on to AD Alcorcón in September 2013.

Norman’s last
1932 – Centre-half Norman James played his eighth and last reds game in our 3-3 draw with Sunderland at Anfield, with centre-forward Harold Barton, inside-left Syd Roberts and forward Dave Wright on target. James Connor nabbed two of his five goals past us, with Raich Carter scoring the first of his six against the reds.

New keeper
1901 – Liverpool-born custodian Bill Marshall signed on with the reds. He only made one senior appearance before leaving the club the following year.

Stig the boss
2003 - Stig Inge Bjørnebye was named Norway’s Assistant Manager under former Rosenborg BK manager Åge Hareide, who also took over that day following their Euro 2004 play-off defeat to Spain the previous month.

Happy birthday Mr Kozma
1964 - Istvan Kozma was born in Paszto. The Hungarian international spent two seasons at Anfield, having impressed Graeme Souness while playing for Dunfermline Athletic, but made just ten first-team appearances for the reds after signing for £300,000 in February 1992. He returned to his homeland to sign for Tatabánya after he failed to secure a new work permit in England in June 1993.

Management moves
2001 - Bruce Grobbelaar took over as coach of struggling South African top flight side Hellenic. He remained in the post for just five months.
2012 - Markus Babbel was sacked as Manager of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, having been in charge for just ten months.

Igor returns home
2007 - Igor Bišćan re-signed for Dinamo Zagreb, having been released by Panathinaikos. He became club captain, netting eight times in 104 games as they dominated Croatian football, retiring in April 2012.

Jari at last
2004 - Jari Litmanen won his 93rd cap, and final one in his first spell as a Lahti player. He skippered his country to a goalless draw against Oman, but the Finns lost this Final of the Bahrain Prime Minister’s Cup 4-3 on penalties.

Other reds games
1994 – Ian Rush netted as we drew 1-1 at Coventry City.
1985 – We beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in a Screen Sport Super Cup group game at Anfield thanks to goals from Kevin MacDonald and Paul Walsh.
1968 – Ian Callaghan was on target as we beat Southampton 1-0 in L4.

1966 – Ian St. John struck the only goal of Sheffield United’ visit late on.
1955 – We drew a Second Division encounter 1-1 at Port Vale, with Billy Liddell scoring.
1949 – Cyril Done bagged a brace as Portsmouth held us to a 2-2 draw at Anfield. Peter Harris struck one of his eight goals against the reds, with Ike Clarke nabbing one of his four.

1938 – We drew 2-2 at Derby County as Phil Taylor and Bill Kinghorn scored. Dave McCulloch netted one of his seven past the reds with Sammy Crooks striking the last of his six.
1927 – We held Newcastle United to a 1-1 draw at St. James’ Park. Gordon Hodgson scored, with full-back Tommy Lucas having a spot-kick saved.
1921 – Harry Chambers scored as we drew 1-1 at Aston Villa.

At the World Cup
2022 – Virgil van Dijk skippered the Netherlands to a 3-1 win over the USA in Qatar to reach the Quarter-finals, with future red Cody Gakpo also playing. Meanwhile, future red Alexis Mac Allister appeared in Argentina’s 2-1 defeat of Australia as they edged towards clinching the trophy for the third time.

Also in international action
1992 – Future red Bjørn Tore Kvarme played for Norway Under-21’s as they beat a Singapore A side 1-0 in Singapore.
2008 – John Barnes took charge of Jamaica as they beat Barbados 2-1 in a Digicel Caribbean Championships group game in Kingston.
2009 – Future red Suso featured as Spain Under-17’s lost a friendly 4-1 to Portugal.

2011 – Future red Mohamed Salah played in Egypt’s 2-0 Africa Cup of Nations group defeat of South Africa in Morocco.
2016 – Future reds centre-half Ozan Kabak featured as Turkey Under-17’s were thumped 5-1 by the USA in Florida.
2017 - Fábio Carvalho faced fellow future reds Ryan Gravenberch and Ki-Jana Hoever as the Dutch Under-16’s beat England 3-1 in a friendly in Florida.