Liverpool's Most Memorable Matches Against Spanish Opposition

Liverpool will renew acquaintances with Real Madrid on Wednesday when they host the European Cup holders at Anfield.

The Reds have a remarkable record against Los Blancos, and as a matter of fact they’ve tended to do exceptionally well against Spanish opposition.

Many of the English club’s most memorable moments have come either in Spain or in a matchup with one of that country’s sides, and in the following slideshow we’ll look back on a few of them.

Following are 10 of Liverpool’s best matches against Spanish opponents.

10. 2005: Real Betis 1-2 Liverpool

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Liverpool played the 2005-06 Champions League from the earliest qualification rounds—the result of a poor finish in the Premier League despite their status as European champions.

But they made a quick start to their group stage campaign—Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Luis Garcia scoring within the opening quarter-hour of their first Group G schedule away to Real Betis.

Arzu pulled one back for the Seville side after the restart, but the Reds wound up 2-1 winners.

9. 2007: Barcelona 1-2 Liverpool

The Liverpool players had been out on the town after arriving in Barcelona for a February 2007 Champions League round of 16 match at Camp Nou.

As recalled by the Daily Mail, the evening’s revelries had boiled over late at night when striker Craig Bellamy whacked left-back John Arne Riise with a golf club after the latter refused to sing karaoke.

By kick-off the incident had been revealed in the press, and when Deco opened the scoring for the Catalans in the 14th minute it seemed as though the gig was up for the Reds.

But Bellamy equalised just before the break and marked his goal with a golf club-swinging celebration.

To cap off a memorable evening, Riise got the winner with 16 minutes remaining.

8. 1975: Liverpool 6-0 Real Sociedad

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Liverpool’s most lopsided victory over a Spanish opponent came during the 1975-76 UEFA Cup, when they met Real Sociedad in the second round of the competition.

Following a 3-1 victory in San Sebastian in the first leg, the Reds cranked it up a notch in the return fixture, thumping their guests 6-0 at Anfield.

The hosts boasted five different scorers on the night, with John Toshack, David Fairclough, Steve Heighway and Phil Neal finding the target, while Ray Kennedy earned himself a brace. 

7. 2009: Real Madrid 0-1 Liverpool

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Liverpool’s most recent run-in with Real Madrid came in the round of 16 of the 2008-09 UEFA Champions League.

Despite captain Steven Gerrard’s absence, the Reds put up a stubborn display at the Bernabeu and went into the final minutes of the match preserving a scoreless draw.

That’s when Yossi Benayoun popped up with an 82nd minute header that proved the first-leg winner.

6. 2001: Liverpool 1-0 Barcelona

Liverpool’s route to the 2000-01 UEFA Cup final took them through Barcelona, who they drew 0-0 in Camp Nou in the first leg.

Two weeks later, they welcomed their Catalan guests to Anfield, where Gary McAllister scored the winning goal of the semi-final from the penalty spot in the 44th minute.

5. 1976: Barcelona 0-1 Liverpool

Liverpool first faced Barcelona in March of 1976, at the semi-final stage of a UEFA Cup competition they’d end up winning.

John Toshack scored the only goal of the Reds 1-0 win at Camp Nou, and the two sides played to a 1-1 draw in mid-April.

Later that spring they defeated Club Brugge over two legs to win the trophy.

4. 1983: Athletic Bilbao 0-1 Liverpool

Liverpool’s fourth European Cup success came at the end of the 1983-84 season, when they beat AS Roma on penalties in the Stadio Olimpico final.

But during the second round of the competition they were drawn with an Athletic Bilbao side that had won the Spanish league the year before and would repeat as champions in the spring.

The two sides played to a scoreless draw at Anfield—setting up the decisive game at San Mames.

Who else but Ian Rush played the hero that November night, scoring the only goal of the tie in the 66th minute of the second leg.

3. 2009: Liverpool 4-0 Real Madrid

Liverpool’s Premier League campaign had begun to flounder in early 2009 when they went up against Real Madrid in the last 16 of that season’s Champions League.

But against the Spanish giants the Reds seemed to turn things around, winning 1-0 in the first leg at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu.

Incredibly, they recorded an even more decisive win in the return fixture—Steven Gerrard scoring twice and Fernando Torres and Andrea Dossena once apiece in a memorable 4-0 win.

2. 2001: Liverpool 5-4 Alaves

Liverpool’s third UEFA Cup victory came in the spring of 2001.

They had made their way through Rapid Bucharest, Slovan Liberec, Olympiakos, Roma, Porto and Barcelona en route to the final, where they met upstarts Alaves.

What followed was one the most entertaining European finals in history.

Leading 3-1 at the interval, the Reds allowed their opponents back into the match when Javi Moreno scored a pair of quick goals.

The two sides went into extra time knotted at four goals apiece, which is when Delfi Geli scored the fateful own-goal in the 116th minute that handed the trophy to Liverpool.

1. 1981: Liverpool 1-0 Real Madrid

Real Madrid came into the 1981 European Cup final having won three Spanish titles in a row.

But they hadn’t won the continent’s biggest prize since 1966, and Juanito, Santillana and Jose Antonio Camacho et al. were eager to end the drought.

Their opponent that spring at Parc des Princes was Liverpool, who had won the competition in both 1977 and 1978.

In the end, what transpired was a cautious, overly-tactical match that produced just one goal.

It was scored with eight minutes remaining by Alan Kennedy, who sealed the Reds’ third European Cup triumph.