Best Liverpool Players of all Time – From EPL Dawn to Jurgen Klopp’s Era

Liverpool FC dominated England for many years in the 20th century, and they remain one of the strongest and most well-coordinated football clubs in the modern Premier League. At different times, different players contributed to the team’s success, so let’s see who are the best Liverpool players of all time.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, Liverpool was a top club in England, long before the emergence of the EPL. The club took the vast majority of its European glory with the help of its brightest stars of that time. Nowadays, the Reds have many remarkable players too, helping the club take the first spots in the Premier League standings. Let’s go through the club timeline and recall all the best Liverpool players of all time. You can also read about the EPL 2023/24 Tottenham v Liverpool match controversy and the latest updates on this case.

Liverpool’s Superstars of the Past: from Shankly to Owen

It all started before the Premier League was even launched. In 1959, Bill Shankly joined the club to become one of the best Liverpool players of all time. He won a UEFA Cup plus three First Division titles. The success continued with Bob Paisley as the manager. The Reds won six First Division trophies, six FA Cups, a UEFA Cup, and three European Cups (Champions Leagues) back in the 1970s and 1980s. Liverpool absolutely dominated football back in the day.

In 1992, the Premier League arrived to change the outdated English football system, and so it happened that its arrival coincided with the falloff of Liverpool FC performance. Although they had some of the best players in the League, Liverpool didn’t manage to win the tournament all the way across the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. With the likes of Ian Rush, Jamie Redknapp, Robbie Fowler, Neil Ruddock, Steve McManaman, Danny Murphy, and Michael Owen, the club’s best result was a couple of third places in the League.

The next best season happened to be 2000/01 when LFC managed to win a cup treble: League Cup, FA Cup, and UEFA Cup. Michael Owen that year was awarded with a Ballon d’Or, and up to this date he is the only ever Liverpool player to get one. By the way, all online sportsbooks in Ireland have already prepared their odds on the Ballon d’Or winner in 2023.

Best Liverpool Players of All Time: 2000s and 2010s

In the 2000s, Liverpool reached its closest to a possible renaissance with the arrival of Rafael Benitez. The manager built the team of Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Xabi Alonso, Vladimir Šmicer, Sami Hyypiä, and Jerzy Dudek just in time to win the 2005 UEFA Champions League.

The Reds played against one of the best AC Milan squads that Europe has ever seen. In a memorable game that saw AC Milan led by the second half by 3 goals to nil, Liverpool responded with 3 goals in six minutes and ultimately won on penalties. 

In the 2008/09 season, the club went on to take second in the Premier League, losing the title to Manchester United. Starting with season 2009/10 Liverpool entered into a downfall partially connected to the selling of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid, whose spot was never firmly substituted. Benitez left at the end of the season.

Liverpool became a very inconsistent team in 2010 and 2011. Fans saw one of the worst seasons imaginable, when Liverpool were in the relegation zone after five games. The club knew they had to sign new players to at least even things out. This is when Luis Suárez joined the club and his impact was impeccable. One of the best Liverpool players of all time, Suárez changed the game with his aggressive game style and dribbling talent. 

Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling, and Philippe Coutinho led the team to challenge for the title in the 2013/14 season. Combined with the experienced leadership of Gerrard, Martin Škrtel, and Daniel Agger, it looked like they would win the league with three games left. However, a home loss against Chelsea, and a draw with Crystal Palace saw the title slip away from LFC’s hands. Use online gambling sites in Ireland to bet on the club to take their EPL title in 2024.

Remarkable Liverpool Players of the Klopp Era

In 2015, Jürgen Klopp became a new LFC manager and gave the club their second breath, not in the first season though. With Coutinho, Sturridge, James Milner, Jordan Henderson, Emre Can, Simon Mignolet, Dejan Lovren, and Adam Lallana on board, he managed to get them to two finals of the League Cup and Europa League, where they finished as runner-ups. 

Next year, Klopp brought Sadio Mané, Joel Matip, and Gini Wijnaldum, who quickly became fans’ favourites. Then, Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson, and Virgil van Dijk joined the team to become the best Liverpool players of all time. These four set the basis for future success. Firstly, the squad reached the Champions League final against Real Madrid, but their progress was overshadowed by Salah’s injury. As a result, LFC lost 3 to 1 due to goalkeeper Karius’s personal mistakes. The loss of Salah arguably had a greater effect on the game.

With the next season on, Liverpool signed Fabinho, Naby Keïta, and Alisson. With all positions complete, the club was ready to win trophies at last. They reached the Champions League final yet again by beating Barcelona 4-0 after losing the first game 0-3 where all hope was gone. The team lost the Premier League title by only one point to Manchester City, who were the only rivals that matched LFC that year. 

It was the 2019/20 season that saw the Premier League title brought back to Anfield. After 30 years of losing the main trophy in England, Liverpool managed to do it after an impressive run of lossless games. Bet365 gives quite good odds on the Reds to repeat their most successful season next year, despite a controversial beginning.

In the 2020s, a new generation of Liverpool players has been developing and even though so far they managed to win a League Cup and an FA Cup, it is only when they win the Premier League or Champions League those new players can be remembered as one of the greatest of all time.

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