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In the long and rich history of Liverpool, they have had plenty of European success throughout all UEFA competitions boasting 6 Champions League trophies and 3 Europa League titles, only being bettered by Sevilla, commonly regarded as the kings of the competition.
Throughout history, the red half of Merseyside has enjoyed its fair share of great moments in the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Cup. In this post, we are going to be discussing some of the greatest moments of Liverpool in the Europa League.
In a time when European competitions had to be played over two separate legs, Liverpool’s first UEFA Cup triumph in 1973 was a pivotal moment in the history of the club.
The tie took place between Liverpool and Borussia Monchengladbach in which the Reds won the first leg in a comfortable 3-0. While the scoreline seemed beyond repair for the West German side, they managed to pull back a 2-0 win but just couldn’t find the 3rd to level the scoring before the final whistle was blown.
While both clubs are still steeped in history, this triumph led to a period of dominance in Europe for the Merseyside giants, resulting in a total of 6 European Cups and 3 more UEFA cups, making it one of the most important cup wins in the clubs illustrious history.
While the 1990s were a difficult time for many Liverpool fans who experienced the outstanding highs of their dominance in the 70s and 80s, this did not mean that the decade came without its own incredible moments.
A legend in many people’s eyes, Steve McManaman was one of the shining lights of the Liverpool team in the 90s which enjoyed very little success compared to what the club has become accustomed to.
In a UEFA Cup tie against Celtic in 1997, Liverpool were 2-1 down in the dying minutes of the game when Steve McManaman came charging through the Celtic defence after riding a few tired tackles and curled a beautiful strike off the side of the post and in.
This rescued a draw for the Merseyside club however the second leg at Anfield did not go as planned. While this may be so, this does not take away from the incredible moment that was captured by McManaman in Glasgow.
With Many Years of drought in the 90s, Liverpool came storming back into the trophy room to add more to their excellent collection in the 2000/01 season with a historic treble, picking up the UEFA Cup, League Cup and FA Cup.
This almost perfect season brought an end to a long wait for silverware for Gerard Houlier’s Reds after a three-year wait for Houlier himself and a 6 year wait for the Liverpool fanbase.
The treble began with a victory in the League Cup in February against Birmingham City, a tie which finished 1-1 after extra time and Liverpool finally won 5-4 on penalties. This ended the trophy drought for Liverpool and led to major confidence for the remainder of the season.
Throughout the entire competition of the 2001 FA Cup, Liverpool did not lose or draw a single game, securing victories in each round despite playing the likes of Arsenal, Manchester City and Leeds United.
As expected, the UEFA Cup is where Liverpool faced the most difficulty in getting their hands on the illusive European trophy. This incredible Liverpool side managed to get past the likes of Roma, Porto, Barcelona and Alavés while also going unbeaten until the second leg of the fourth round.
Along with these three incredible triumphs, Liverpool also managed to finish in 3rd place in the Premier League to secure Champions League football for the 2001/02 season. This would lead to much more success for the Merseyside club as well as the emergence of a certain Steven Gerrard among others.
An absolute classic that lives in the Memory of every Liverpool fan worldwide is the Quarter Final second leg against Borussia Dortmund at Anfield. Liverpool went into the tie as the definite underdogs against an incredibly strong Borussia Dortmund side.
With the likes of Marco Reus, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan leading the line, Dortmund were one of the favourites to win the tournament from the very beginning and when Liverpool were drawn against them, the signs looked bleak for the Reds.
After a fairly even 1-1 draw in Dortmund, Liverpool were looking like putting this vastly superior Dortmund side to the sword in the second leg at Anfield - however, this hope from supporters quickly dwindled when the game kicked off.
After the opening 10 minutes, Dortmund were already 2-0 up from goals by Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang giving the Reds little to hope for as the game progressed. This seemed like it could be a demolition.
An early second-half goal from Divock Origi gave the Merseyside giants something to cling onto however even this seemed to be quickly smothered when Marco Reus added a third to Dortmund’s haul.
Just beyond the hour mark, however, Liverpool continued pushing to find a comeback of their own in which Coutinho found the back of the net after a James Milner assist. This then led to the impossible looking very possible.
A hard-fought Mamadou Sakho goal in the 77th minute led to an incredibly nervy last 10 minutes for both Dortmund and Liverpool as they only needed one more to go through as Dortmund led on away goals.
Some incredibly defensive substitutions could not help the German outfit however as a heroic Dejan Lovren header fired the Reds in front in injury time. This has now gone down in history as one of the greatest comebacks the club has ever managed to undergo.
In the same 2015/16 season, Jurgen Klopp brought a dishevelled Liverpool team that started the season with little hope under Brendan Rodgers to a Europa League final without any of his own transfers, an incredible feat for any club but for Liverpool, this was the breath of fresh air they had been calling for.
Klopp took over the Merseyside outfit in October of 2015, after departing from Dortmund shortly beforehand, and led the Reds to two cup finals in that first few months unfortunately missing out on both.
This season would lead to a number of years of excellent success for Liverpool Football Club under Jurgen Klopp, winning an abundance of trophies while playing an excellent brand of football. If you would like to see Liverpool in the Europa League, please click here to find seating prices.