The 10 Best Liverpool Goal Celebrations During the Rafa Benitez Era

Let's face it—we football fans love a good goal. And there's nothing better to round off a great goal than with a great celebration.

Many choreographed and planned celebrations are unforgettable: Bebeto's "rock the baby" in 1994, and Peter Crouch's renditions of the Robot dance instantly come to mind. Others adopt their own signature moves, like Vincenzo Montella's airplane and Alan Shearer's classic raised palm. And still others choose to rely on their spur-of-the-moment passion: Stuart Pearce's howl after his penalty against Spain in Euro 1996 and Marco Tardelli's cry in the 1982 World Cup.

So what about Liverpool's own celebrations?

Following Nabeel Khokhar's superb blast-from-the-past article that brings us the best of the Rafa Benitez era memories, I decided to add in a list of my favorite goal celebrations from said era.

Enjoy, and don't forget to tell us what your favorite celebration was!

10. Robbie Keane's First Red Cartwheel

While a choreographed and planned celebration, this makes it into my list purely because of the emotions displayed throughout.

Following a difficult start to his Liverpool career, Robbie Keane finally notched his first goal in a Red shirt against PSV Eindhoven in October 2008.

He previously shelved his trademark cartwheel celebration and declared that he would only bring it out again for the most special occasions. But he erupted in a show of pure euphoria after breaking his Liverpool duck and duly performed his cartwheel.

Unluckily for Keane, this would only be one of a few goals he would score while wearing the shirt of his boyhood heroes, and he would return to Tottenham Hotspur in January of that same season. But this acrobatic celebration will always be a YouTube favorite of mine.

9. Craig Bellamy's Golf Swing

Who can forget this?

This makes it into my list purely for comedic reasons.

Craig Bellamy, fresh from a pub spat with teammate John Arne Riise at a training session, scored at the Nou Camp against Barcelona with a fine finish, and rounded off his goal with an even finer celebration.

Laughs all around, and of course he would go on and set up a second goal for just that man, Riise.

8. Pepe Reina's Slip

How often do you remember an iconic celebration from a goalkeeper?

After Steven Gerrard's goal in the Merseyside derby against Everton in January 2009, the cameras turned to the opposite end of the pitch to see Pepe Reina attempt his own knee-slide in celebration.

The catch was that he failed to complete a smooth slide, caught his knees along the way, tumbled to the ground, rolled over and still got up and celebrated like a maniac.

A classic celebration that also shows the love Reina has for the club.

7. Fernando Torres' Folded Arms

In February 2009, Liverpool were up against a stubborn Chelsea side at Anfield.

For 80-some minutes, Chelsea had put up a resolute defence against Liverpool. And just as the Reds needed a goal to spark them back to life in the Premier League title race, up stepped Fernando Torres to score, curiously, his first goal at Anfield for the campaign.

And how would he mark the occasion?

By running off to the corner flag at full speed, suddenly stopping and sitting cross-legged and folding his arms. Coolness and classiness personified.

6. Pepe Reina's Pitch-Length Sprint

Pepe Reina makes the list for a second time.

After Torres' fantastic opener against Manchester United in October 2009, David Ngog was suddenly presented with a one-on-one chance against Edwin van der Sar. He took the ball cleanly and dispatched a tidy finish into the far corner to seal a convincing Liverpool victory.

And as he turned away to celebrate near the corner flag, Reina was the first to arrive at his side and jump on his back.

Yes, Reina ran the full length of the pitch to celebrate ahead of the rest of the Liverpool team.

Another celebration that's written itself into Anfield folklore and secured Reina's place in the hearts of all Reds fanatics.

5. Steven Gerrard's Kiss for the Cameras

This is definitely one for the history books.

A 4-1 mauling of Manchester United at Old Trafford, with goals from Torres, Gerrard, Fabio Aurelio and Andrea Dossena, as well as a sending off for Nemanja Vidic to complete a wretched day for the Red Devils.

As the icing on the cake, Gerrard takes off towards the cameraman after his penalty kick with the Liverpool badge in his teeth and promptly smacks a big sloppy kiss on the camera for the entire viewing audience.

Nothing says "I Love You" more than that.

4. Javier Mascherano's Impassioned Yell

March 15, 2008.

After Marek Matejovsky's world-class strike-from-nowhere to open the scoring for Reading, Javier Mascherano responds with an effort just as memorable.

Receiving the ball inside the Reading half, he dribbles past his challenger and rifles an unstoppable shot into the corner of the net, breaking both his Liverpool and his Premier League duck.

Never one to hide his emotions, Mascherano then embarks on an impassioned (and slightly inappropriate) tirade to mark his thunderbolt strike.

Passion, raw passion from our Argentine Monster.

3. Steven Gerrard's Beauty

This goal needs no introduction.

2-1 up against Olympiakos, with ten minutes left on the clock and needing another goal to seal progress into the 2005 Champions League Knockout Rounds, Steven Gerrard catches a Neil Mellor back-header sweetly and sends the resulting volley crashing resoundingly into the net.

Cue a euphoric Andy Gray, then Sky Sports commentator, who could merely respond with the now-classic "You Beauty" exclamation.

With such a fantastic goal and such marvelous commentary, the only thing left for Gerrard to deliver was a perfect celebration.

And deliver he did, complete with fist pumps and a sprint towards the bouncing Kop.

2. Vladimir Smicer: The Final Badge Kiss

Going into the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul, Vladimir Smicer knew that his Liverpool career was ending.

But he would not have anticipated the match to come, nor the amount of playing time he would get in the biggest match on the European stage, and certainly not the impact he would make.

Following a superlative 20-yard strike to send Liverpool only one goal short of the three needed to equalize, Smicer stayed on the pitch for the rest of the final and was duly selected as one of Rafa Benitez's penalty takers in the shootout.

What came after was a beautiful display of polar extremes.

Cool, calm and collected, he stepped up and finished his penalty with aplomb into the bottom corner.

He then turned around with emotions swelling on his face, before letting out a passionate cry and pulling the Liverpool badge up for a final kiss.

Having arrived at Anfield with a considerable reputation, Smicer admittedly failed to live up to the hype. But he produced his finest performance in a Red shirt in his biggest game of all.

And his celebration was a proud one.

1. Steven Gerrard: Captain's Celebration

May 25, 2005.

We all know the drill: three-nil down at half-time, no hopes whatsoever for the Reds, damage limitation exercise for Rafa Benitez.

Steven Gerrard and co. didn't think so.

To kick-start a frantic six minutes, Gerrard met an inch-perfect left-flank cross from John Arne Riise and powered a sublime header into the far corner of the net, prompting match commentator Clive Tyldesley to label it as a "captain's goal."

Immediately realizing how much of a catalyst this could be for his team, 24-year-old Gerrard showed no signs of euphoria, but instead ran back to the halfway line to usher his troops on.

His celebration was one of hope, one of defiance, one of fighting desire. He moved his arms upwards, in an embodiment of the "come on, we've got this" mentality he was trying to inspire in his teammates.

Inspire he did.

And to this day, Steven Gerrard and his Captain's Celebration still brings a chill down the spine for many a Liverpool fan.