Did you know? 23 unusual facts from Liverpool FC history
Do you know why Pepe Reina was once forced to change his Liverpool squad number? How many Reds have scored on their birthday? And who has played for both teams in a Merseyside derby in the same season?
Club statistician Ged Rea has dug out a collection of unusual and interesting facts from LFC history – and here are 23 of our favourites...
Ian Rush played seven times for the Reds on New Year’s Day in his career and found the net each time. His first came in 1983 (a hat-trick at Notts County) and his last at Ipswich Town in 1994.
In 1984-85, John Wark became the first Liverpool player to score a hat-trick in three different competitions in the same season, doing so against Lech Poznan in the European Cup and York City in the FA Cup – both at Anfield – and away to West Bromwich Albion in the league. So far, he is the only man to do it.
In September 1982, Liverpool scored against three different Luton Town goalkeepers in a league game at Anfield. Jake Findlay, who started between the sticks, went off injured after Graeme Souness scored. Rush then netted against full-back Kirk Stephens before centre-half Mal Donaghy replaced Stephens – who returned to his original position – and conceded to Craig Johnston. Astonishingly, the game finished 3-3.
Steve Heighway was the first Reds player to score in two different FA Cup finals. He found the net against Arsenal in 1971 and against Newcastle United three years later.
In 1946, Jack Balmer became the only player to score three consecutive league hat-tricks for Liverpool. He hit three against Portsmouth, four at Derby County and another three in a win over Arsenal.
Abel Xavier is the only player to appear for both Liverpool and Everton in Merseyside derbies in the same season. He played for Everton in their 3-1 home defeat by the Reds at Goodison Park and later for Gerard Houllier’s men in a 1-1 Anfield draw in 2001-02.
Rush scored hat-tricks for Liverpool in six different competitions. He achieved this in the First Division, FA Cup, League Cup, European Cup, Cup Winners’ Cup and Screen Sport Super Cup.
Ian Callaghan’s only booking in 857 games for the club came in the League Cup final replay of 1978 at Old Trafford. He was cautioned by referee Pat Partridge in the 1-0 defeat by Nottingham Forest.
In 2014-15, Steven Gerrard surpassed Billy Liddell’s record by scoring for the Reds in a 16th successive season. Liddell’s landmark had stood since 1960.
Three Liverpool players have made more than 200 appearances without scoring a goal for the club. Eph Longworth appeared in most (370), with Rob Jones (243) and Stephane Henchoz (205) completing the trio.
Antonio Nunez scored only once for Liverpool and it came in the League Cup final defeat by Chelsea in 2005 – he is the only player to score his only goal for the club in the final.
In 2019, for the first time in their history Liverpool played a competitive game during the month of June. On the first day of the month they beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the Champions League final in Madrid.
Liverpool are the only club to contest a major final in three countries of mainland Britain. They have played in Glasgow, Cardiff and London.
In March 1967, more than 100,000 fans watched a Merseyside derby; 64,000 watched the FA Cup clash at Goodison and more than 40,000 watched on closed-circuit relay at Anfield.
Liverpool have scored 21 goals in FA Cup finals with only two – from John Aldridge (1989) and Djibril Cisse (2006) – coming in the first half.
The team the Reds have been drawn against in the FA Cup on the most occasions is Everton. This season was the 19th time the sides had been paired together in the world’s oldest domestic club competition, five of which required at least one replay.
Joe Cole’s first goal for the Reds was the club’s quickest ever in European competition. It was timed at 27 seconds in the game against Steaua Bucharest at Anfield in 2010.
Liverpool’s first ever Football League game in 1893 saw seven ‘Macs’ in the starting XI and the club earned the nickname ‘the team of all the Macs’ due to the number of its Scottish players.
Between 1973 and 1991, Liverpool finished outside of the top two in the top flight in just one campaign, when they finished fifth in 1981. They did, however, win their third European Cup that season.
Three of Liverpool’s substitute goalkeepers in European Cup finals never made an appearance for the club. Peter McDonnell was on the bench in 1977, Bob Bolder in 1984 and Chris Pile was understudy to Bruce Grobbelaar a year later.
Daniel Sturridge is the last of only 20 players to have scored a goal for the Reds on their birthday. He scored the game’s only goal against Manchester United on September 1, 2013.
Only 15 players have ever scored for Liverpool on all seven days of the week during their Reds career. Three of those have completed the set this season – Divock Origi, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.
In the World Club Championship in 2005, Reina wore the No.12 shirt for the duration of the tournament. Squads had to be numbered from one to 23 and the Spaniard’s normal squad number was 25.