23rd August

Jan the man
1984 - Midfield maestro Jan Mølby signed from Ajax for £200,000. He struck 61 times in 292 reds appearances, including a remarkable forty of his 42 attempted spot-kicks. He won three League titles and two FA Cups during his time at Anfield before joining Swansea City as Player/Manager on a free transfer in February 1996.

Happy birthday Glen
1984 – Right-back Glen Johnson was born in Greenwich. He signed from Portsmouth for £17.5m in June 2009, striking nine times in 200 games for the reds, helping us to claim the League Cup and reach the FA Cup Final in 2012. He signed for Stoke City in July 2015 having been released by the reds the previous month.

Signing on
1935 - Forward Jack Balmer signed as a professional for the reds, three months after arriving as an amateur from Everton. He went on to score 110 times in 309 games, helping us to the League title in 1947. It was during that season that he netted hat-tricks in three consecutive games, a remarkable feat that has yet to be matched in English top-flight football. He also played in the FA Cup Final three years later.

1962 - Winger Johnny Morrissey was sold to Everton for £10,000. He had signed on as a professional in April 1957, netting six times in 37 reds games. He scored fifty goals in 314 appearances for the Blues, helping them to two League titles.
2023 – Midfielder Trey Nyoni signed from Leicester City. He debuted in our FA Cup Fifth Round encounter with Southampton at Anfield in February 2024, becoming the youngest ever red to appear in the competition, aged just sixteen years and 243 days.

On the case
1975 - Jimmy Case scored his first reds goal as we came from two goals behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 at Anfield. Our other goals came from Steve Heighway and a Kevin Keegan penalty after John Duncan and Chris Jones had given the visitors a half-time lead.
2016 –Joël Matip made his reds bow as we thumped Nigel Clough’s Burton Albion 5-0 at their Pirelli Stadium in the Second Round of the League Cup. Divock Origi and Roberto Firmino both struck before the break. Tom Naylor put through his own net before Daniel Sturridge added a late brace.

Milan off
2005 - Milan Baroš was sold to Aston Villa for £6.5m after 27 goals in 108 reds games. He had helped us to claim the Champions League and League Cup during his four years at Anfield, striking fourteen times in 51 games for the Midlands club, before moving to Olympique Lyonnais in January 2007. On the same day, Stephen Warnock signed a new two-year contract.

Double champions
2008 – Javier Mascherano became the first ever footballer to claim two Olympic gold medals as Argentina beat Nigeria 1-0 in the Final in Beijing.
2020 – Future red Thiago Alcântara and ex-red Philippe Coutinho both featured as Bayern München beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in the UEFA Champions League Final in Lisbon.

Into the Champions League again
2017 – We beat TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 4-2 in the second leg of our UEFA Champions League qualifier at Anfield, on our way to the Final in Kyiv. Emre Can bagged a brace with Mohamed Salah also on target as we raced into a three-goal lead. Roberto Firmino completed the scoring against his former club as we went through 6-3 on aggregate.

Morgo off the mark
2012 – Centre-forward Adam Morgan made his reds bow as Andy Webster put through his own net to hand us a 1-0 victory in our UEFA Europa League Play-off first leg at Heart Of Midlothian, with Charlie Adam playing his 37th and last reds game and Jay Spearing making his 55th and final appearance for the club.

Debuting between the sticks
1986 - Mike Hooper made his League debut, keeping a clean sheet as an Ian Rush brace handed us victory at Newcastle United.
1977 - We also beat them 2-0 at Anfield, with Kenny Dalglish bagging his first home goal and ex-Magpie Terry McDermott also on target.

Fans rewarded
2001 - UEFA gave their fans’ award of the year jointly to Liverpool and Deportivo Alavés supporters, in recognition of the carnival atmosphere at the UEFA Cup Final in Dortmund earlier that year. Unfortunately, Gérard Houllier lost out to Bayern München boss Ottmar Hitzfield for the best coach award while Gary McAllister was pipped by Bayern’s Stefan Effenberg in the award for Europe’s most valuable player.

King Kenny again
1980 - Kenny Dalglish played in his 180th consecutive reds game as we lost 2-0 at Leicester City in a top-flight meeting, before being left out of our 1-0 League Cup Second Round first leg defeat at Bradford City four days later, although he then made an immediate return to the side. Graeme Souness reached a century of League outings for the reds in this game.

Last gasp victory
2008 – We came from behind after Mido’s goal to beat Middlesbrough 2-1 in our first home game of the season thanks to a late equaliser from Jamie Carragher that was later ruled to be an Emanuel Pogatetz own goal by the Premier League’s dubious goals panel. Steven Gerrard then handed us all three points in stoppage time.

Tons up
1997 – Steve Harkness played his hundredth reds game as we drew 1-1 at Blackburn Rovers. Michael Owen put us in front with Martin Dahlin equalising for the home side.
1956 – Alan A’Court played his hundredth League game for the club as we drew 1-1 at Notts County in a Second Division encounter, with Billy Liddell on the scoresheet.

Clarets fight-back
1969 - We took a two-goal lead over Burnley thanks to a Tommy Smith penalty and Bobby Graham header. However, the visitors stunned the crowd with three goals in quick succession to take the lead, before Tommy Smith bagged an equaliser. There was still time for either side to find a winner, but the game ended 3-3.

Most recently
2010 – We lost 3-0 at Manchester City, with Javier Mascherano being withdrawn close to kick-off. Gareth Barry opened the scoring with the last of his four goals past us, with Carlos Tévez converting from the spot for one of his four strikes against the reds, and Micah Richards also on target as future red James Milner made his City bow. On the same day, second choice keeper Diego Cavalieri was sold to Cesena for £1.2m. He only played once for the Italian side before joining Fluminense back in his native Brazil just four months later.

Reigning in Spain
1987 - We claimed the pre-season Villa De Madrid Trophy by beating Club Atlético de Madrid 1-0 at the Estadio Vicente Calderón, with the transfer-listed John Wark coming off the bench to score.

Onwards via defeat
2005 - We reached the group stages of the Champions League despite losing 1-0 at home to CSKA Sofia in our 250th European game, as we had won the first leg 3-1. John Arne Riise played his fiftieth game in Europe for the reds as centre-half Valentin Iliev bagged the only goal of the game.

Back to Dortmund
2001 - The reds were drawn against Borussia Dortmund, Dynamo Kyiv and Portuguese champions Boavista in our first venture into the new Champions League.

Wark walks
1990 - Ex-red John Wark joined Middlesbrough from Ipswich Town for £50,000. He only netted twice in forty games for Boro, before returning to Portman Road a year later.

Other birthdays
1875 - Centre-forward George Allan was born in Linlithgow Bridge, West Lothian. He signed from Leith Athletic for £100 in June 1895 and was the first red to be capped by Scotland, top scoring as we claimed the Second Division title in 1896, and again the following season. He joined Celtic in May 1897 but returned to Anfield the following April for £50, bagging a total of 56 goals in 96 reds games before sadly dying of tuberculosis in October 1899, aged just 24.
1885 – Winger Harold Uren was born in Bristol. He joined the reds as an amateur in April 1906, turning out 45 times and notching twice before joining Everton in February 1912 for £300 with forward Billy Lacey and centre-forward Tommy Gracie heading in the opposite direction.

1977 - Northern Irish 1990’s youth forward Davy Larmour was born in Dundonald. He never broke through to the first-team at Anfield, although he was part of the victorious FA Youth Cup winning squad in 1996, moving on to Doncaster Rovers in August 1996.

Twice against PNE
We have twice faced Preston North End in opening top-flight matches on this day in history.
1947 - We won 3-1 at Anfield with Albert Stubbins netting twice and Billy Liddell also on target. Willie McIntosh scored the first of his four goals past us.
1952 - John Smith struck as we drew 1-1 at Deepdale. It was also a game of missed penalties, as Billy Liddell failed to convert for the reds, with Charlie Ashcroft saving a penalty from Tom Finney. Forward Arthur Rowley played the first of his eleven reds games, with Charlie Wayman netting one of his six goals against the reds.

Starting out
1958 - We were held to a 3-3 draw by Grimsby Town at Anfield as we kicked off our Second Division campaign. Jimmy Melia netted, with Billy Liddell bagging a brace, including a penalty. We ended the season in fourth position, and this remains our most recent home League meeting.

Putting through their own net
1950 - A Billy Liddell strike helped us to a 2-1 win over Manchester United at Anfield, with our other strike coming when keeper Reg Allen diverted another Liddell effort into his own net. Jack Rowley struck one of his six goals against the reds.
1999 - Rigobert Song gave Leeds United the lead at Elland Road, before Titi Camara equalised. We secured a 2-1 victory thanks to a Lucas Radebe own goal.

Facing the Pilgrims at last
1954 - We played Plymouth Argyle for the first time in our history, going down 1-0 at Home Park in a Second Division fixture with Keith Thomas bagging the goal.

Other reds games
1992 – Arsenal won 2-0 at Anfield. Anders Limpar scored with Ian Wright adding one of his seven goals against the reds.
1989 – We drew 1-1 at Aston Villa with John Barnes on target.
1972 – We won 2-1 at Chelsea as John Toshack and Ian Callaghan both netted early on.
1961 – We beat Sunderland 3-0 in a Second Division encounter in L4. Roger Hunt nabbed a brace with Kevin Lewis also on the scoresheet.

Also on the move
2007 - Young Bulgarian keeper Nikolay Mihaylov joined Twente on loan, having arrived from PFC Levski Sofia only seven weeks before, and has since moved on permanently to the Dutch side.
2012 – New loanee left-back Aly Cissokho joined Valencia from Olympique Lyonnais for an initial €5m after two goals in 134 outings for the French side, helping them to claim the Coupe de France earlier that year.
2017 Former reds loanee midfielder Conor Thomas signed for Indian Super League side ATK, playing twenty times before returning to England to join Cheltenham Town.
2018 – Young right-back Connor Randall joined Rochdale on loan, only playing three times for the Dale.
2021 - Xherdan Shaqiri was sold to Olympique Lyonnais for €6m, having signed from relegated Stoke City in July 2018 for £12.85m, netting eight times in 63 appearances and helping us to claim our first League title for thirty years and the FIFA Club World Cup. On the same day, young Welsh forward Ben Woodburn joined Heart Of Midlothian on loan, netting three times in 29 outings.

Early international outings
2022 – Carter Pinnington played for England Under-16’s in their 2-1 friendly defeat in Italy.
2007 – Future red Christian Benteke scored the only goal of Belgium Under-17’s’ World Championships Finals group stage encounter with Tajikistan in South Korea.
1989 - Stig Inge Bjørnebye, then still with Kongsvinger, won only his second cap for Norway as they were held to a goalless draw in Oslo by Greece in a friendly.
1995 - Future red Markus Babbel played in Germany’s 2-1 friendly win in Belgium.