NewsLiverpool's Greatest - No.42: Bruce Grobbelaar

• Years: 1981-1994

• Appearances: 628

• Trophies: League Cup (1982, 1983, 1984), First Division (1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1985-86, 1987-88, 1989-90), European Cup (1984), FA Cup (1986, 1989, 1992)

Thirteen major trophies and 628 appearances were the headline figures of a brilliant Liverpool career for goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar.

Only eight men in history have played more times for the club. Few have claimed more honours. Perhaps none have ever been quite so eccentric.

The Zimbabwean arrived at Anfield from Canadian outfit Vancouver Whitecaps in 1981, brought in by Bob Paisley – who first spotted him during a loan at Crewe Alexandra – to take on a challenging assignment: replacing the legendary Ray Clemence between the Reds’ posts.

After a shaky start and frank feedback from Paisley, Grobbelaar soon proved himself equal to that task and became the last line of defence for the rest of a decade laden with success.

In fact, following his Liverpool debut in August 1981, Grobbelaar played in more than 300 consecutive matches over five years – an astonishing sequence.

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Underneath the bravado that occasionally led to an error was a student of the goalkeeping craft whose athleticism and shot-stopping allowed him to produce remarkable saves when his team needed him and who was his own harshest critic.

Grobbelaar’s philosophy had been shaped by his experiences serving in the Rhodesian Bush War as a teenager.

“It made you grow up a lot quicker and realise life is very, very precious,” he said. “To stay alive is a gift. You have to. If you can stay alive and enjoy life, that’s the whole heart and soul of life.

“That’s why I played with a smile on my face all these years, because in football I was getting paid for a game I loved playing.”

The most iconic moment of Grobbelaar’s 13-year career at Anfield was undoubtedly the 1984 European Cup final, when he deployed a ‘spaghetti legs’ routine in the penalty shootout against AS Roma.

His unorthodox wavy movements on the goalline in an attempt to unsettle the home team’s spot-kick takers at Stadio Olimpico led to two misses and the Reds lifting the trophy for a fourth time.

What’s more, they aided another victory for the club in the competition’s decider some 21 years later, as Jerzy Dudek emulated Grobbelaar’s wobbly antics to help Liverpool beat AC Milan from 12 yards in Istanbul.

A stunning reaction dive to deny Graeme Sharp’s looping header in the 1986 FA Cup final against Everton – with the score level – was another supreme contribution as the Reds went on to prevail 3-1 and wrap up a Double.

By 1990, Grobbelaar had won six league titles and a dozen medals overall.

He was still in goal when Liverpool clinched another FA Cup – his third – two years later, before his supremacy as No.1 was finally tested by the signing of David James.

Grobbelaar pulled on the jersey for the final time in February 1994 and moved to Southampton a few months later with his status as one of the Reds’ best ever goalkeepers cemented.

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