There isn’t much we can’t learn about Liverpool by clicking a button these days thanks to statistics and social media, but every so often something will remain mysterious.
Liverpool was founded 131 years ago and has since grown to be both one of the biggest institutions on the planet and the English football league’s most decorated club.
Between the sublime and the absurd, there have been some amazing moments during that time. Even a goal that was off a beach ball was allowed by us once!
Fans’ memories of some of the strangest events frequently last the longest, but football’s eccentricities help to keep us interested in the sport.
Here is a look back at some of the odd situations in which reasoning failed while we wait idly for the Reds to come back.
Origi’s peculiar derby celebration
Divock Origi is a man for the big stage and will always perform when it counts, especially while playing Everton!
The Belgian headed home when the ball rebounded down from the crossbar in the 96th minute, igniting chaos around Anfield and possibly the best, funniest Merseyside derby moment ever.
Amazingly, Origi was the most composed person in the stadium. The attacker made the decision to pick up the ball from Jordan Pickford’s goal and move back toward the halfway line rather than jumping for joy with teammates and fans.
Did he think he’d equalised? Did he know what day it was? James Milner joked in his book Ask A Footballer that even he didn’t know was the thought process was, stating “I genuinely believe he thought we needed another.”
Hopefully, one day, we will find out what was going through Origi’s brain at that moment.
Did Gerrard miss on purpose?
One of Liverpool’s most consistent penalty takers, Steven Gerrard’s miss against Blackburn in 2011 is a well-known one for the conspiracy theorists among us. Liverpool was having one of their worst seasons in the modern era, leading some to speculate that Gerrard purposefully blazed his attempt over the crossbar in an effort to get manager Roy Hodgson fired. If that was the plan, it certainly worked! Hodgson was fired just a few days later.
If that was the plan, it certainly did the trick! Hodgson was relieved from his duties just three days later, with Kenny Dalglish taking over as Reds boss with the side sitting 12th in the Premier League table.
Thiago’s Porto wonderstrike
One of the best goals scored at Anfield in recent memory, but how did Thiago get the ball to rise in such a way?
Many believed that Thiago’s spectacular Champions League group stage volley touched the ground before rebounding and flying into Diogo Costa’s net because of its unusual flight path.
We are fortunate to live in a world with exceptional camera footage and close-ups of every moment on the pitch, but there was somehow no angle that could provide a definitive answer on whether the shot touched the turf on its way in.
As fans, we prefer to believe that shots like that are a work of genius from our players rather than anything else, which is exactly what we are going to do with this one.
Garcia’s ‘ghost goal’
Regarding cameras, 18 years have passed since Luis Garcia’s notorious goal against Chelsea, yet there is still no solid proof that it should have counted.
We all know that, had the goal not been allowed, Petr Cech would very certainly have received a red card and the Reds would have been granted a penalty to take the lead. Nevertheless, Jose Mourinho continues to suffer sleepless nights to this day.
Goal-line technology would have immediately resolved this in 2005, but Garcia thankfully wheeled away in celebration as Liverpool went on to win the European Cup for a fifth time in Istanbul.
If we’re being completely honest, it didn’t look over the line, did it?
Alonso’s Istanbul penalty
Liverpool completed an incredible six-minute comeback against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final when Xabi Alonso’s rebounded penalty beat Dida on the hour mark.
Remarkably, that was the first penalty Alonso had taken as a professional, having been handed the duty by Rafael Benitez prior to the game.
With Gerrard on the field, it was an intriguing choice by Benitez given that Alonso then wasn’t named among Liverpool’s five takers in the subsequent shoot-out.
Ultimately, the ball eventually found the back of the net and the Reds got their hands on the trophy, so it could still technically be described as the right decision!
Salah on free-kicks
We can all agree that the Egyptian king is one of the best attackers to ever don a red shirt and has a keen eye for goal, but it’s also fair to argue that free kicks aren’t his strong suit.
When the ball is to the goalkeeper’s left, Liverpool’s No. 11 is frequently seen taking set pieces alongside players like Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Salah has never converted a direct free kick in his club career, which may surprise some and make them wonder why he accepts the responsibility so frequently.
Having scored four direct free-kicks during his time at Celtic, Virgil van Dijk might feel hard done by in this regard given that he is very rarely involved in such conversations.