The 2007–08 season was the 116th season in

Liverpool Football Club Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

's existence, and their 46th consecutive year in the top flight, which covers the period from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008. Having finished third the previous season, Liverpool had qualified for the UEFA Champions League final qualifying stage.

First-team squad

Left club during season

Regular season

August

Liverpool began their Premier League season with a trip to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, which they won 2–1. This was followed by the first leg of the Champions League qualifier, at Toulouse. The game, unusually played on a weekday afternoon, was won 1–0 by Liverpool. Next came the first home game, a Premier League game against Chelsea. Liverpool took a lead through Fernando Torres's first goal for the club, but Chelsea hit back with a disputed penalty, ending the game 1–1. Referee

Rob Styles Robert Styles (born 21 April 1964
at

appeared to book

Michael Essien Michael Kojo Essien (born 3 December 1982) is a Ghanaian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder and is currently a member of Danish Superliga club FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland's coaching staff. He was ...

twice without sending him off, similar to Graham Poll at the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

. Styles later admitted to have made an incorrect decision to award the penalty and, unusually, apologised to Liverpool for his mistake; he was subsequently dropped for the next gameweek. The third league game of the season, a 2–0 away win at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, was notable for

Mohamed Sissoko Mohamed Lamine Sissoko (born 22 January 1985) is a former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Born in France, he could have elected to play for France internationally, but chose instead to play for the national side of ...

's first (and only) Liverpool goal, after more than two years. This was also the Reds' 7,000th league goal. The following Tuesday saw Liverpool play Toulouse at Anfield in the second leg of their Champions League qualifying tie. Before kick-off, the Everton song "Z Cars" echoed around Anfield, in memory of 11-year-old Rhys Jones, a local boy who had been shot dead the previous week. The game finished 4–0 to Liverpool, and the team thereby qualified for the group stage courtesy of a 5–0 aggregate scoreline.

September

Liverpool won their first game of September against Derby County 6–0, Liverpool's biggest league win since April 2003 when they beat West Bromwich Albion by the same scoreline. This win took them to the top of the Premier League table for the first time under Rafa Benitez. After a two-week international break, Liverpool's next league game was away to Portsmouth. The match ended in a 0–0 draw, after Pepe Reina saved

Nwankwo Kanu Nwankwo Kanu (born 1 August 1976) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was a member of the Nigeria national team, and played for Nigerian team Iwuanyanwu Nationale, Dutch side Ajax, Inter Milan of Italy, and ...

's penalty kick. The following week, the home league game against Birmingham City, ended in a similar goalless scoreline. In between those two league draws Liverpool travelled to Porto to begin their Champions League Group A campaign against another team that had previously won the competition. The game, which ended 1–1, saw

Jermaine Pennant Jermaine Lloyd Pennant (born 15 January 1983) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a midfielder#Winger, winger. Pennant made over 350 league appearances for 15 clubs, and scored 25 league goals. Born ...

sent off after receiving two yellow cards. Liverpool got back on a winning track when they travelled to Reading for a League Cup third round tie. Liverpool beat their hosts 4–2, with Fernando Torres scoring his first Liverpool hat-trick. This was followed up with a league success, away to

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

at the JJB Stadium, where Yossi Benayoun's 75th-minute strike—his second in two games—was enough to secure three points.

October

October's first fixture was the visit of Marseille, Liverpool's second Champions League group stage match. A spectacular individual goal from Marseille midfielder Mathieu Valbuena handed Liverpool a 0–1 loss, their first of the season. Disappointed Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez described the match as possibly the worst performance by the club under his management. Liverpool remained at Anfield for their following game, the league visit of Tottenham Hotspur. A last-minute, injury-time, equaliser by Fernando Torres earned the team a 2–2 draw to preserve their unbeaten league record. However, Liverpool bounced back to win the away derby to fierce rivals Everton. The match at Goodison Park was a contentious one, with the referee's performance heavily criticised by Everton manager

David Moyes David William Moyes ( ; born 25 April 1963) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Premier League club West Ham United. He was previously the manager of Preston North End, Everton, Manches ...

Dirk Kuyt Dirk Kuijt (anglicised to Kuyt, ; born 22 July 1980) is a Dutch former professional footballer and was the head coach of Eerste Divisie side ADO Den Haag. Originally starting out as a striker, he played much of his career as a winger. Kuyt beg ...

scored two penalties that saw Liverpool come from behind to win 2–1. The third of Liverpool's Champions League group games was a trip to Istanbul, where they had won the trophy in 2005. On this occasion, however, Liverpool fans had little to celebrate as their hosts

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

dealt their side's chances of progressing in the competition a serious blow by winning 2–1. The highest seeded team in their group, Liverpool were now bottom of their quartet with only a point from their first three qualifying games. Liverpool finished the month with a pair of home fixtures. The league visit of

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

yielded a 1–1 draw, whilst the League Cup visit of

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

, who featured Liverpool legend

Robbie Fowler Robert Bernard Fowler (born 9 April 1975) is an English football manager and former player, who most recently managed East Bengal in the Indian Super League. As a player, he was a striker, and is the eighth-highest goalscorer in the history ...

in their line-up, gave the Reds a 2–1 win and

Nabil El Zhar Nabil El Zhar ( ar, نبيل الزهر; born 27 August 1986) is a professional footballer who plays as a right winger. He finished his formation at Liverpool, playing sparingly for the club and more consistently on loan at PAOK in 2010–11. ...

his first Liverpool goal.

November

Liverpool began the month of November with a 0–0 away draw at Blackburn Rovers, further extending their unbeaten run in the league. They followed this by finally injecting life into their Champions League campaign with an emphatic 8–0 home victory over Beşiktaş. A hat-trick from Yossi Benayoun, a goal from captain

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player, who most recently managed club Aston Villa. Described by pundits and fellow professionals as one of his generation's greatest players, Ge ...

and two each from both Ryan Babel and Peter Crouch gave Liverpool fans something to celebrate as Liverpool established a new record for margin of victory in a Champions League match (the previous best, 7–0, had been held jointly by Arsenal and

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

).Liverpool revived by record triumph
''Uefa.com'' On 10 November, the Champions League win was followed up with a Premier League one, as Liverpool beat

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

2–0 at Anfield. Fernando Torres came off the bench to break the deadlock in the 81st minute, and Steven Gerrard scored a penalty won by Peter Crouch four minutes later to seal the victory. After another international break, the team's 13th league game took place, on 24 November at

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, who had been booed by the Newcastle fans for his part in England's failure to qualify for UEFA Euro 2008, opened the scoring for the Reds and two more goals from Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel gave Liverpool a 3–0 win. The team ended the month by hosting their penultimate Champions League group game, the must-win visit of Porto. Liverpool won 4–1 and, as Fernando Torres scored the first two Champions League goals of his career, club captain Steven Gerrard set a personal milestone of his own by equalling Michael Owen's club record of 22 goals in the Champions League.

December

The club kicked off a busy month by registering a 4–0 league win against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

at Anfield. This win stretched Liverpool's winning streak to five games, during which they scored 21 goals and conceded just one, and continued their unbeaten league run. However, this unbeaten start to the league season was cut short the following week when the visit to Reading resulted in a 3–1 defeat on 8 December. After the hosts converted a penalty for a challenge that television replays showed had occurred on the line, Steven Gerrard equalised for Liverpool before two second-half goals from Reading handed Liverpool their first league loss of the season. Three days later, yet again needing a win to guarantee their survival in the competition, Liverpool travelled to Marseille for their final Champions League Group A fixture. Marseille had previously hosted English teams in Europe on six occasions and won all six times, and only needed a draw to progress themselves. However, Liverpool registered their second 4–0 win of the month to finish second in their group and progress to the round of 16. On 16 December, Liverpool hosted arch-rivals Manchester United in a vital Premier League match. The match ended with a 1–0 victory for Manchester United, their fourth in their last five league visits to Anfield, giving the latter a nine-point lead over Liverpool in the Premier League. The only goal was scored by Carlos Tevez. Arsenal beat Chelsea 1–0 later in the day to give themselves a ten-point lead over Liverpool at the top of the Premiership. Liverpool travelled to Chelsea for the League Cup quarter-final on 19 December. They were beaten 2–0 through a deflected goal from Frank Lampard and an injury-time goal from

Andriy Shevchenko Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko, or Andrii Mykolaiovych Shevchenko ( uk, Андрій Миколайович Шевченко, ; born 29 September 1976) is a Ukrainian football manager, a former professional football player and a former politici ...

. Peter Crouch was sent off after a two-footed tackle on Mikel John Obi. Three days before Christmas, Liverpool hosted Portsmouth, looking to get their Premier League campaign back on track after two successive defeats. Liverpool continued a record of remaining undefeated at Anfield against Pompey since 1951 by triumphing 4–1. Fernando Torres scored twice to continue his good run of scoring, while the other goals came from Yossi Benayoun and a

Sylvain Distin Sylvain Distin (born 16 December 1977) is a French former professional footballer. He is left-footed and played as a central defender, and was also capable of playing at left-back. Distin began his career playing for French amateur sides, workin ...

own goal. In the Boxing Day fixture, Liverpool managed a 2–1 victory over Derby, with goals from Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard respectively, before playing out a goalless draw at the

City of Manchester Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

in their final game of 2007.

January

Liverpool's first game of 2008 was a home game against Wigan, which ended in a 1–1 draw. This was followed by their first FA Cup game of the season, the third round tie against Luton Town, which also finished 1–1. In the replay a week later, Liverpool beat them 5–0 at home, in which Steven Gerrard scored his second Liverpool hat-trick. On 26 January 2008, Liverpool defeated Havant & Waterlooville 5–2, despite going behind twice in the first half. After that they travelled to Upton Park, where they faced West Ham United. An injury time penalty from

Mark Noble Mark James Noble (born 8 May 1987) is an English former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder and is well remembered for his time at English club West Ham United, spending eighteen years with the club. Apart from two sh ...

saw them slump to a 1–0 defeat, their third of the league season.

Martin Škrtel Martin Škrtel (born 15 December 1984) is a Slovak former professional footballer, a former player and captain of the Slovakia national team and Liverpool Football Club. Škrtel previously played for FK AS Trenčín and Zenit Saint Petersburg, ...

was the first signing by Liverpool in the January transfer window. The undisclosed fee was rumoured to be £6.5 million, which would be the highest amount paid by the club for a defender. Mohamed Sissoko, who had found himself playing fewer games after the arrivals of Javier Mascherano and

Lucas Lucas or LUCAS may refer to: People * Lucas (surname) * Lucas (given name) Arts and entertainment * Luca Family Singers, also known as "lucas ligner en torsk" * ''Lucas'' (album) (2007), an album by Skeletons and the Kings of All Cities * ''L ...

, transferred to Juventus, and Jack Hobbs, who had played some first team games this season, joined

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

on loan until the end of the season.

February

Liverpool's first game of February was against Sunderland at Anfield, which was won 3–0. On 10 February, Liverpool travelled to

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

and played out a 0–0 draw with Chelsea. Liverpool played

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

on 16 February in the FA Cup fifth round and lost 2–1 at Anfield, but then beat Inter Milan on 19 February in the UEFA Champions League round of sixteen first leg, winning 2–0. Their last game of the month, against Middlesbrough on 23 February, produced a 3–2 win for Liverpool, with a Fernando Torres hat-trick.

March

Liverpool's first game in March was away against Bolton which they won 3–1 through an own goal by Jussi Jääskeläinen and strikes from Ryan Babel and Fábio Aurélio, his first for the club. On 5 March, Liverpool played against West Ham. Liverpool won this game 4–0, with a goal from Steven Gerrard and another hat-trick from Fernando Torres, making him the first Liverpool player in over 60 years to net hat-tricks in successive home games. Three days later, Liverpool beat Newcastle 3–0 at home, with goals from Jermaine Pennant, Torres and Gerrard. On 11 March, Liverpool became the second English team in a week to win at the San Siro by winning against Inter Milan 1–0, with Torres again the scorer. Back in the league, Javier Mascherano scored his first goal for Liverpool and Fernando Torres scored his 20th league goal of the season, becoming the first player at the club since

to do so as Liverpool won 2–1 over Reading. However, their seven match winning streak was ended when they lost 3–0 to Manchester United. Javier Mascherano was sent off by referee Steve Bennett for dissent after Mascherano questioned the controversial booking of Fernando Torres. Liverpool's final fixture of March was against Everton at Anfield. Torres scored the only goal early in the match, and Liverpool held on to win 1–0, giving them a five-point lead over Everton for fourth place.

April

On 1 April, in the Champions League, Liverpool faced Arsenal for the first of three consecutive meetings, a 1–1 draw at the Emirates Stadium with Dirk Kuyt scoring an away goal. On 5 April they drew 1–1 once again at the Emirates. Peter Crouch scored for Liverpool to take the lead but

Nicklas Bendtner Nicklas Bendtner (; born 16 January 1988) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a forward. His preferred position was centre-forward, but he has also played on the right side of attack, and occasionally on the left. A large, ...

scored the equalizer for Arsenal, while

Damien Plessis Damien Jérôme Jean Richard Plessis (born 5 March 1988) is a French professional footballer who last played for Örebro SK in the Swedish Allsvenskan. He is also the younger brother of professional footballer Guillaume Plessis. Club career Ly ...

made his debut. In the third game, Liverpool beat Arsenal 4–2 (5–3 on aggregate) to reach the Champions League semi-final. In the following game, Steven Gerrard scored in his 300th Liverpool appearance in the Premier League in a 3–1 home win over Blackburn Rovers. The following Saturday, Liverpool put out a weakened side against Fulham ahead of their semi-final first leg with Chelsea and won 2–0, with

and Peter Crouch getting on the scoresheet. On 22 April, Liverpool played Chelsea at Anfield in the Champions League semi-final first leg. Liverpool looked to be going into the second leg with a 1–0 advantage through Dirk Kuyt, but in the final minute of stoppage time

John Arne Riise John Arne Semundseth Riise (born 24 September 1980) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who played as a left back and a left midfielder. He is currently the manager of Toppserien club Avaldsnes. With 110 caps, Riise is ...

accidentally headed a Salomon Kalou cross into his own net, giving Chelsea a slight advantage through the away goal. The next Saturday, at Birmingham City, Liverpool again put out a weakened side before the 2nd leg with Chelsea. Damien Plessis started again, and Liverpool fought back from 2–0 down to 2–2, with Crouch and Benayoun scoring. That point secured fourth spot for Liverpool. The next Wednesday Liverpool played Chelsea in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final at Stamford Bridge, but lost 3–2 in extra time (4–3 on aggregate), sending Liverpool out of the Champions League.

May

On 4 May, Liverpool beat

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

1–0 at Anfield. On the final day of the Premier League, Liverpool won 2–0 away at Tottenham, with

Andriy Voronin Andriy Viktorovych Voronin ( uk, Андрій Вікторович Воронін, born 21 July 1979) is a Ukrainian professional football manager and a former player. Voronin spent five full seasons in the Bundesliga of Germany, and last play ...

scoring his sixth of the season and Torres' 24th league goal, breaking

Ruud van Nistelrooy Rutgerus Johannes Martinus van Nistelrooij (anglicised to Van Nistelrooy; born 1 July 1976) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. He is currently the coach of PSV Eindhoven. A former footballer, Van Nistelrooy is often consi ...

's record for the most goals scored by a foreign Premier League player in a debut season.

Premier League

Classification

Results by round

Results summary

Big Four Games

Cup Competitions

Football League Cup

FA Cup

UEFA Champions League

Third qualifying round

Group stage

Knockout phase

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Top scorers

Disciplinary record

Squad statistics

:''Last updated on 11 January 2009''

Transfers

In

Out

Loaned out

* In: £29,950,000+ * Out: £64,200,000+ * Total spending: £34,250,000+

Reserves and U-18s

Summary

The reserves side were crowned champions of the

Barclays Premier Reserve League The Premier Reserve League (officially known as The Barclays Premier Reserve League for sponsorship reasons) was the reserve team league for the top English football teams in the Premier League. The league was split into a northern and a southern ...

North this season on 7 April 2008, the 17th reserve league title for the club. They became National Champions after beating Southern Champions

Aston Villa Reserves The Aston Villa Under-21s, formerly known as Aston Villa Reserves and Aston Villa Under-23s, are the most senior youth development team of Aston Villa and compete in Premier League 2 (Division 2) of the Professional Development League, the Pre ...

3–0 in the Premier Reserve League Play-off Final at Anfield on 7 May 2008. The reserves also reached the finals of the Liverpool Senior Cup and the Lancashire Senior Cup, and won the international football tournament

Dallas Cup The ''Dallas Cup'', is an annual international Football (soccer), football tournament for invited youth teams. The tournament was established i1980and is held in Dallas, Dallas, Texas, with FC Dallas serving as its host club. Venues used for the t ...

Krisztián Németh Krisztián Németh (; born 5 January 1989) is a Hungarian professional footballer who currently plays for Hungarian club MTK Budapest. Club career Born in Győr, Németh started his career at hometown club ETO Győr where he played from 2003 ...

, who scored 9 goals in 12 matches, was the top scorer in the Premier Reserve League North. The under-18s finished fifth in the Premier Academy League and qualified for the last 16 in

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

Nathan Eccleston Nathan Geoffrey Eccleston (born 30 December 1990) is an English footballer who plays as a striker. He started his career as a youth player at Bury, before moving to Liverpool's youth system. Having progressed through the club's youth and re ...

was the best scorer in the youth team with 18 goals.

New players

After the departure of Steve Heighway, Dutchman

Piet Hamberg Piet Hamberg (born 22 January 1954) is a former Dutch Association football, footballer and manager. He worked at Liverpool F.C., Liverpool as technical manager for their Liverpool F.C. Academy, academy. Playing career Hamberg began his youth ca ...

came in to run the academy. As well as some changes to background personnel, the reserve and youth sides were bolstered by several new players:

Players this season

Reserves

* ''Squad numbers refer to players' first team squad number where applicable. Reserve and youth games are 1–11.''

Under-18s

Records

's goal against

was not only his first (and only) goal for the club but also Liverpool's 7000th league goal. * The 6–0 defeat of Derby County was the first time Liverpool had scored six in the league since April 2003 against West Bromwich Albion. * The 8–0 victory over Beşiktaş was the biggest ever win in the Champions League, surpassing two previous 7–0 victories by Juventus and Arsenal. * The 4–0 win over Marseille was Liverpool's biggest away win in the Champions League. * The 2–0 win at Anfield against Inter was Liverpool's 100th win at Anfield in European competition. * Liverpool scored a hat trick in every competition they played in this season. * Liverpool were the first Premiership team to score 100 goals in all competitions.

Notes

References

External links

Fixtures and results

Liverpool F.C. 2007–08 on LFCHistory.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:2007-08 Liverpool F.C. season Liverpool F.C. seasons Liverpool