As Liverpool gear up for one more gruelling marketing campaign, we have a look again on the Reds’ 5 most dramatic season-openers from the Premier League period.
And identical to that, it’s again.
This weekend, Liverpool start their 2022/23 league marketing campaign with a visit to Craven Cottage to tackle newly-promoted Fulham.
In years passed by, we’ve witnessed some merely loopy opening day matches, some extra profitable than others!
Right here, we record Liverpool’s 5 most dramatic Premier League openers.
5. 2007/08 – Aston Villa 1-2 Liverpool
That Steven Gerrard free-kick.
Rafa Benitez’s Reds travelled to Villa Park with excessive hopes for the 2007/08 season, having managed a third-placed end within the earlier marketing campaign.
Their opening day conflict appeared to be going to plan after half-hour, when Villa defender Martin Laursen turned Dirk Kuyt’s cross into his personal web.
However when Jamie Carragher was deemed to have dealt with the ball in his personal field 5 minutes from time, Gareth Barry levelled the scores from the spot and Liverpool seemed set to be held to a draw.
Gerrard, although, was having none of it. One minute later, he received a free-kick in a harmful place, earlier than stepping as much as fireplace it into the highest nook. Trademark Stevie.
Pandemonium within the away finish.
4. 1996/97 – Middlesbrough 3-3 Liverpool
Fabrizio Ravanelli. A reputation that gave Liverpool followers shudders within the weeks and months after the Reds’ 1996/97 opener.
Middlesbrough supervisor Bryan Robson paraded his new £7 million signing previous to the match, with the Italian ahead arriving from Juventus that summer time.
Ravanelli scored his first objective in English soccer by levelling from the penalty spot, after Stig Inge Bjornebye’s early opener.
John Barnes put Liverpool again in entrance, just for Ravanelli to equalise but once more.
Robbie Fowler thought he’d received it for the Reds within the second half, just for Ravanelli to finish his hat-trick throughout the final 10 minutes.
3. 2017/18 – Watford 3-3 Liverpool
One other six-goal thriller, and one other opener Liverpool actually ought to have received.
This was the kind of efficiency we turned accustomed to seeing through the early phases of Jurgen Klopp‘s time on the membership. Deadly in assault, however not adequate on the different finish of the pitch.
Watford went into half-time with a 2-1 lead, with Sadio Mane‘s roller overshadowed by some shoddy Liverpool defending.
Within the second half, we received a glimpse of what was to come back with Mane, Roberto Firmino and new signing Mohamed Salah combining nicely in assault. Firmino equalised from the penalty spot, and Salah put the Reds in entrance two minutes later.
The Hornets’ controversial equaliser got here within the 93rd minute, when Uruguayan defender Britos headed over the road from level clean vary, after the Liverpool defence did not clear from a nook.
A particularly irritating first day.
2. 2020/21 – Liverpool 4-3 Leeds
Liverpool actually don’t make it simple for themselves!
Their 2020/21 opener was performed behind-closed doorways as a result of ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and, at occasions, Reds watching on at house couldn’t fairly consider what they had been seeing on this sport.
This was Leeds‘ first sport again within the Premier League after a prolonged absence from the English top-flight, and you possibly can instantly see that Marcelo Bielsa’s facet had been going to be good enjoyable!
After a wide-open first half, the reigning Premier League champions went into half-time with a 3-2 lead after a Salah double and a Virgil van Dijk header.
However Leeds weren’t executed but. Mateusz Klich equalised within the 66th minute and, for a while, it seemed as if the Reds had been heading for a gap day draw.
Fortunately, Salah secured his hat-trick and all three factors with an 88th-minute penalty, his second of the sport. A merely loopy sport of soccer.
1. 2016/17 – Arsenal 3-4 Liverpool
An absolute basic.
Liverpool’s poor defending actually wasn’t enjoyable to witness on the time, however trying again, it did supply up some merely ridiculous video games of soccer.
Their opener on the Emirates Stadium in 2016 was a seven-goal thriller. Theo Walcott gave the Gunners the lead early on, earlier than Philippe Coutinho equalised with among the best free-kicks you’ll see.
Within the second half, the Reds raced right into a 4-1 lead, with the decide of the objectives coming from Mane on debut, earlier than the Senegalese jumped onto Klopp’s again in celebration. Iconic.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who would go on to affix the Reds a 12 months later, and Calum Chambers pulled two objectives again to make it a nervy final quarter-hour, however this time Liverpool managed to carry on.
It was a gap day victory that felt large, and set the Reds on their method in a marketing campaign that might see them qualify for the Champions League in Klopp’s first full season.
