Liverpool FC: An 'A-Z' of Memorable Moments Since the EPL Era Began

Liverpool Football Club: so much has happened to our beloved club over the past twenty years or so.

It hardly seems like almost two decades have passed since the Premier League began and top flight English football went global, but looking back on all that has happened since the old First Division disappeared and it is easy to see how time slips away so quickly.

Liverpool's final competitive fixture pre-Premier League era was the 1992 FA Cup final against Sunderland.

Since then, the Reds have changed manager five times, changed owners twice, have won seven major trophies and have imported the finest players Europe and the rest of the world have to offer, as well as Torben Piechnik and Jean-Michel Ferri.

Whole books, or even volumes of encyclopaedias, could probably be penned about the journey Liverpool FC has undertaken in the past nineteen-and-a-half seasons—but I've picked my most notable 26, one for each letter of the alphabet.

Some might not be the most ground-breaking or even important on the face of it, but all were stand-out moments in time for one reason or another.

Comment below to put in your other favourite moments since August 1992 which haven't been included here, or vote for your favourite which has.

And yes, by the way, I had to cheat somewhat with Q, X and Z!!

A Is For: Athens Despair and Disappointment

Two years after Liverpool had lifted the European Cup for the fifth time, they faced the same opponents, AC Milan, in Athens of Greece.

Expectations were much higher this time around for the Reds who by this stage arguably had the better side, but it was not to be as the Italians got their revenge.

After an well-matched first half where Liverpool were perhaps slightly better it was Milan who took the lead with a deflected free kick just before the break.

A succession of missed chances for the Reds was the story of the game and this time there was to be no comeback after a break-away goal for Pippo Inzaghi made it 2-0 with just eight minutes left on the clock.

Following final wins in 2005 and 2006, it at that point became abundantly clear that Liverpool would not be taking home a third major trophy in three seasons, and disappointment all around was paramount even after Dirk Kuyt's late consolation.

B Is For: Beating Bolton Wanderers in the League Cup "McManaman" Final

Two superb solo goals from Steve McManaman gave Liverpool their first trophy of the Premier League era in 1995 as they beat Bolton Wanderers 2-1 at Wembley in the League Cup final.

Roy Evans' men had beaten Burnley, Stoke City, Blackburn Rovers, Arsenal and Crystal Palace en-route to the final and dispatched of the Trotters with a goal in each half from the number 17 McManaman.

Just for comparisons sake and interest, that final contained one player for each side not from the UK or Ireland; Stig Inge Bjornebye (Norwegian) for the Reds and Richard Sneekes (Dutch) for Bolton.

Last season's final between Arsenal (one Englishman) and Birmingham (five English, two Irish, one Scot) had nine home-based players in total.

C Is For: Cup Wins in Cardiff

Not strictly a single moment but indeed several; Liverpool won both the first and the last FA Cup Finals played at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium while Wembley was being refurbished.

In 2001 the Reds saw off Arsenal 2-1 thanks to a brace of Michael Owen goals after the Gunners had largely dominated proceedings.

Five years later and a thrilling epic was on the cards as Liverpool drew 3-3 with West Ham United, sealing the victory on penalties.

In addition to their two FA Cup wins, Liverpool also secured two league cup titles at the same stadium—in 2001 and 2003.

D Is For: Dudek's Double Denial of Andrei Shevchenko

Of all the many, many incredible moments during Liverpool's 2005 Champions League final victory over AC Milan, this one was surely the most amazing which didn't result in a goal.

With the scores tied at 3-3, Jerzy Dudek somehow managed to pull off an amazing double save to deny Andrei Shevchenko—the second off which was from a shot from just a yard out.

Later on, of course, Dudek would go on to deny the same striker in the final penalty during the shoot out, in doing so winning the European Cup for Liverpool for a fifth time.

E Is For: European Cup Final, Istanbul, 25th May 2005

Doubtless the single best night/match/moment/campaign for Liverpool Football Club since the Premier League began.

F Is For: Fowler's Return

Come on, who wasn't completely made up when 'God' returned?!

G Is For: George Gillett and Tom Hicks, the Cowboys from Texas, Buy Liverpool FC

In 2007 Liverpool FC changed hands as the Moores dynasty came to an end and George Gillett rode into town, bringing with him the leveraged buyout king Tom Hicks.

The two Texans bought the club amid a stream of promises and ambitions, none or few of which were ever fulfilled.

An initial outlay on expensive signings such as Ryan Babel and Fernando Torres soon dried up and when it became clear to all Reds fans that the delirious duo were only in it for whatever money they could wangle out of the club, a global war of hatred descended upon them which eventually escalated into their forced departure from the club less than four years after they had bought it.

Though it was Gillett who had first approached the club with a view to buy, there was little doubt that by the end of their reign it was Tom Hicks who was much the more despised amongst Liverpool supporters.

H Is For: Hansen: The First Foreign Player Signed to Liverpool's Academy

In 2006 Liverpool took a step which, although it might have gone unnoticed to those who tend not to look lower down than the first-team players at the club, has gone on to shape the past five years at Melwood and Kirkby.

Danish goalkeeper Martin Hansen, aged just 16, became the first overseas player to be signed to the club's academy system when he joined from Brondby.

Now a reserve 'keeper for the club who has spent time out on loan at Bradford City, Hansen has seen countless foreign players follow the path that he was the first to tread.

Current starlets Suso and Toni Silva are more recent examples of imported youth players, while previous members of the Academy who seemed once-promising when signed from afar include Christopher Buchtmann, Marvin Pourie, Lauri Dalla Valle and Dean Bouzanis.

I Is For: In Court

QC Grabiner.

If you didn't read some of the quotes he came out with in court when placed at the head of Liverpool's legal team when NESV were attempting to take over from Gillett and Hicks, I suggest perhaps you should check the link and do your own searches now.

Very amusing—and we won at the end of it.

J Is For: Jeremy Goss Scoring the Last Goal in Front of the Standing Kop

In April of 1994 Liverpool played their final home game of the season in front of the standing Kop—and what was to be the final game before the famous end of Anfield was converted to all-seater.

Norwich City were the opponents, and as it turned out the final scorer in front of the standing Kop was not a Red but a Canary, as Jeremy Goss scored the only goal in a 1-0 loss—and a fine strike it was too, not that that was of much consolation to the home crowd.

K Is For: Kenny Dalglish Returns

In January of 2011 a moment came to pass which had been almost 20 years in the making:

Kenny Dalglish returned to Liverpool as manager.

Roy Hodgson's disastrous spell in charge had left the club closer to the relegation zone than the European positions in the league and the Englishman was dismissed just six months into his reign.

New club owners Tom Werner and John W. Henry took the opportunity to hand Dalglish a short-term contract as caretaker manager of the club, later awarding King Kenny a longer term deal after he oversaw a quick rise up the table.

L Is For: League Cup Triumphs

Coca-Cola Cup, Rumbelows Cup, Worthington Cup, Carling Cup—call it what you will, but nobody in English football has won the League Cup more times than Liverpool.

Another collection of moments rather than a single one but well worth mentioning.

With a total haul of seven wins, the Reds are two clear of their nearest challenger (Aston Villa) for the most wins of all time.

Since the Premier League began, the many-named trophy has been added to the cabinet three times: firstly in 1995 in the so-called Steve McManaman final with victory over Bolton Wanderers; next in 2001 in a penalty shoot-out win over Birmingham City as the first of five trophy wins in six months; and most recently in 2003 with victory over Manchester United.

Who knows, if Kenny Dalglish's charges can overcome Manchester City in the two-legged semi-final in early 2012 we could soon extend that number to eight competition wins.

M Is For: Mascherano the Mad and Magnificent Midfielder

Signed on loan from a club that didn't fully own him and certainly couldn't appreciate him, then captured permanently, he starred in our midfield and then dumped us for a brighter, shinier light.

Javier Mascherano was a once-in-a-, well, a-long-time kind of player for Liverpool.

He gave everything in every match, was one of the best readers of the game around and could put in a great tackle or a strong run forwards to change the rhythm of a game in a heartbeat.

Never the most sound when shooting from range, he nevertheless scored a couple of belters before leaving in 2010 with a somewhat sour ending to his Reds career.

N Is For: NESV

Just as Liverpool were staring into the abyss of financial free-fall, off-field civil wall and on-field disaster, a beacon of hope shone through: there was a new buyer for the club.

New England Sports Ventures (later Fenway Sports Group) came in and performed an "epic swindle" in the words of usurped owner Tom Hicks, who was forced to sell as a result of having put full authorisation of execution in any sale at the foot of Chairman Martin Broughton.

In came John W. Henry and John Werner, along with their associates, and on deadline day for a loan repayment to RBS ushered in a new era in the long tale of Liverpool FC.

Whether that era is to be a successful one is yet to be determined, but at least the start has shown that the club as a whole has undergone a 180 degree turn and is back on the right path.

O Is For: Old Trafford, 14 March, 2009. Manchester United 1-4 Liverpool

A game Reds fans will not forget in a hurry.

Just four days after dismantling Real Madrid 4-0 at Anfield in the Champions League, Liverpool followed it up with a 4-1 battering of great rivals Manchester United on their own turf.

Despite falling behind to an early penalty, the Reds roared back to win courtesy of goals from Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, Fabio Aurelio and Andrea Dossena.

Magic.

P Is For: Penalty Shoot-out Win over West Ham United

In May 2006 Liverpool secured one of the most dramatic FA Cup victories of all time after a 3-1 penalty shoot-out victory over West Ham United.

After an end-to-end game which was turned on its head time and time again, extra-time brought no further goals and the match went to spot kicks following goals in the original 90 minutes from Jamie Carragher (own goal), Dean Ashton, Djibril Cisse, Steven Gerrard, Paul Konchesky and a last minute equaliser from Gerrard again.

The Reds triumphed in the shoot-out thanks to three saves from four penalties from goalkeeper Pepe Reina.

The full penalty takers list read:

Didi Hamann scored (1-0)

Bobby Zamora saved (1-0)

Sami Hyypia saved (1-0)

Teddy Sheringham scored (1-1)

Steven Gerrard scored (2-1)

Paul Konchesky saved (2-1)

John Arne Riise scored (3-1)

Anton Ferdinand saved (3-1)

Q Is For: Quickest Player to Score for Liverpool...from Birth!

Michael Owen, pictured here in a shirt approximately fourteen sizes too big for him, became Liverpool's youngest goalscorer of all time in May 1997 when he netted a consolation for the Reds against Wimbledon.

At just 17 years and 143 days, Owen beat the previous record holder, Jimmy Melia, by more than 200 days.

The sprightly youngster went on to top score in his first full season before lighting up the World Cup in 1998, and scored over 150 goals for the Reds before his career went severely downhill as a result of injuries and not being first choice striker at Real Madrid, Newcastle United and now Manchester United.

R Is For: Record Signings

Record signings—some have done well, some have done less so.

The one common factor is that at the time of them signing on the dotted line, a massive amount of hysteria and fanfare surrounds them as well as general astonishment that the club should shell out such a fee on one single player; something which was as true back in 1977 when Kenny Dalglish signed for £440,000 as it was last season when the same man was manager as the Reds brought in Andy Carroll for £35,000,000.

Actually, all the names also have another common factor—they are all forwards, and indeed each of Liverpool's record signings have been forwards all the way back to 1987 (Peter Beardsley, £1.9m).

The full list of Liverpool's Premier League-era record signings are thus:

1995, Stan Collymore, £8.5 million from Nottingham Forest, signed by Roy Evans.

2000, Emile Heskey, £11.0 million from Leicester City, signed by Gerard Houllier.

2004, Djibril Cisse, £14.0 million from AJ Auxerre, signed by Houllier but arrived under Rafa Benitez.

2007, Fernando Torres, £20.2 million from Atletico Madrid, signed by Benitez.

2011, Luis Suarez, £22.8 million from Ajax Amsterdam, signed by Kenny Dalglish.

2011, Andy Carroll, £35.0 million from Newcastle United, signed by Dalglish.

Another collection of moments, but all are memorable and especially exciting at the time.

S Is For: Scoring Record Broken, Ian Rush Surpasses Roger Hunt

Barely a couple of months into the newly-formed Premier League, Ian Rush found the back of the net for Liverpool against Manchester United—his first goal against the Red Devils at Old Trafford—to take his personal Reds' tally to 287, surpassing the former top scorer for Liverpool, Roger Hunt.

Rushie went on to net plenty more before finally hanging up his scoring boots for the Reds for good, scoring a grand total of 346 goals in all competitions.

T Is For: Torres' First Goal for Liverpool

With one jet-heeled injection of pace to leave Chelsea defender Tal-Ben Haim trailing in his wake and one smart finish into the far corner past Petr Cech, Liverpool's newest record signing, Spanish striker Fernando Torres, announced himself to the Premier League.

A goal on his Anfield debut was merely a sign of things to come as Liverpool got the very best out of their number 9, who scored four times in his first four Premier League games at home.

U Is For: Unbeatable Pepe Reina

Between 29th October and 15th December 2005 Liverpool's newest goalkeeper, Pepe Reina, clocked up a magnificent 11 matches in a row without conceding a single goal.

A new club record was duly set and has stood as such since then.

The full list of matches which Reina kept clean sheets in are:

West Ham United, home, 2-0

Anderlecht, home, 3-0

Aston Villa, away, 2-0

Portsmouth, home, 3-0

Real Betis, home, 0-0

Manchester City, away, 1-0

Sunderland, away, 2-0

Wigan Athletic, home, 3-0

Chelsea, away, 0-0

Middlesbrough, home, 2-0

Deportivo Saprissa, neutral, 3-0

V Is For: Voice of Anfield, Champions League Semi Final, 2005

Few times in recent years has Anfield been in such fine voice as pre- and post-Chelsea in the second leg of the Champions League semi final in 2005.

A pure wall of noise which, depending on your level of romanticism, definitely did or absolutely did not have anything to do with the referee awarding Luis Garcia's early goal.

One thing is for sure, the atmosphere was absolutely belting before and during the game, and afterwards was a unique combination of shock, pride, delight and delirium.

W Is For: Willem II Agree to the Best Value Transfer Deal of All Time

On 19th May, 1999, Gerard Houllier completed the first of his seven summer signings ahead of the 1999-2000 campaign.

A re-shaped squad saw the likes of Sander Westerveld, Didi Hamann, Stephane Henchoz and Vladi Smicer arrive at the club, all who would go on to play vital parts in the club winning several significant trophies over the next half a dozen years.

But arguably the most important signing, and perhaps in terms of quality to value-for-money the best signing Liverpool have ever made, the first arrival of that summer was a Finnish centre-back who went by the name of Sami Hyypia.

Dutch club Willem II were persuaded to part with the Finn for the price of just £2.5 million, and Hyypia went on to represent Liverpool with distinction for ten seasons, totalling 464 appearances and 35 goals.

During his time at Anfield Hyypia rose to become club captain before passing the armband on to Steven Gerrard and lifted countless trophies both as player and captain, including the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup treble in 2001 and the Champions League in 2005.

Sami finally left Liverpool for German outfit Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2009, having won the adulation and respect of fans, pundits and opposition players alike.

X Is For: EXtremely Fast Goalscoring

4 minutes, 33 seconds.

That is how long it took Robbie Fowler to tear Arsenal apart and record the quickest ever Premier League hattrick.

Left foot, left foot, right foot.

Fowler scored the first goal by reacting quickest to a deflected ball and finish smartly with his favoured left boot. His second goal a couple of minutes later was a low finish into the far corner, while the third with his right foot was finished from an acute angle after his initial shot was blocked.

A great hattrick from a great player.

Y Is For: Youth Cup Triumphs in 1996, 2006 and 2007

The first team dream doesn't come off for all players, all the time, but once in a while someone special does make the grade.

Until the ages of 18 or 19 or so, many players offer tantalising glimpses of huge unrealised potential and the ever-increasing popularity in the mainstream of football enthusiasts for under-age matches means that youngsters are in the spotlight at a younger age than ever.

The FA Youth Cup has long been a real chance for promising kids to shine, and three separate crops of youngsters have done that to the fullest extent at Liverpool by winning the entire competition outright.

While success at this level doesn't automatically mean a player will progress to the first team, it does offer a good barometer of how they are measuring up against players of a similar age around the country.

Players who made the step up from youth football to first team with Liverpool (most appearances first):

1996: Jamie Carragher, Michael Owen, David Thompson, Jon Newby.

2006: Jay Spearing, Stephen Darby, Jack Hobbs, Miki Roque.

2007: Nathan Eccleston.

Players who made the FA Youth Cup final squad but did not play for Liverpool's first team:

1996: Roy Naylor, Lee Prior, Phil Brazier, Gareth Roberts, Stuart Quinn, Mark Quinn, Jamie Cassidy, Any Parkinson, Ian Dunbavin, Edmund Turkington, Paul Proctor, Davy Larmour.

2006: David Roberts, Robbie Threlfall, Godwin Antwi, Charlie Barnett, Paul Barratt, Ryan Flynn, Craig Lindfield, Paul Anderson, Adam Hammill, Josh Mimms, Jimmy Ryan, Michael Nardiello.

2007: Martin Hansen, Michael Burns, Lee Woodward, Ray Putterill, Steve Irwin, David Roberts, Sean Highdale, Ben Parsonage.

Z Is For: Z-Cars, Kick Off, Late Gary Mac Winner

A memorable goal for at least four reasons:

it was a last minute winner;

it was a last minute winner away to Everton;

it was a magnificent, long-range, quick-thinking free-kick;

and perhaps most important of all it was the goal which set us on our way towards two wonderful finals and Champions League qualification as Liverpool went unbeaten for the entire remainder of the season.

Gary McAllister's 44-yard free kick won the game for Liverpool 3-2 at Goodison Park (where, for the uninitiated, their pre-match song is Z-Cars) in mid-April and started the Reds off on a ten-game unbeaten streak which included the FA Cup final, the UEFA Cup final and a final-day 4-0 win over Charlton Athletic to guarantee third place in the league and with it the final Champions League spot.