Saturday is the day, Leeds United are back in the big time, reigniting rivalries with old foes. Gone are the forced rivalries with the likes of Brentford and Huddersfield Town, we are back playing games with real history and meaning, back playing games against teams we once vied with at the top of the table for the biggest prizes in English football. Liverpool first up is about as steeped in history as you can get, we take a look at some of those special moments from our shared history.
Liverpool 0, Leeds United 0
Anfield, 28th April 1969
Leeds strode into the Anfield arena on the threshold of their greatest achievement, the 1968-69 League Championship. Only the power of their nearest challengers Liverpool could deprive United of the vital point which would land the coveted crown. In front of a packed house that generated an intense atmosphere, the Reds threw everything except the kitchen sink at the Whites who, in turn, soaked up the pressure like a sponge and at the final whistle were the worthy Champions of the Football League, an achievement that was given the seal of approval from those incredible 25,000 people at the Kop end. For they generously applauded the United players when they went down to them and in so doing highlighted the most memorable night in the history of Leeds United.
Leeds United 1, Liverpool 1 (5-6 penalties)
Wembley , 10th August 1974
This was the first game United played under the short term management of Brian Clough and he led the reigning champions onto the Wembley turf to face Cup-winners Liverpool but the game would be more famous for the sending off of Billy Bremner and Kevin Keegan, marching off the pitch bare-chested. From the sneaky stamping of toes, to the outrageous tackles from behind that give FIFA nightmares, charity was in short supply in 1974. In a thoroughly enjoyable, ill-tempered affair Billy Bremner and Kevin Keegan became the first British players ever to be dismissed at Wembley and took their clothes off for good measure.
The unashamed display of violence came to a head when Bremner and Keegan were dismissed after the hour for trading punches in true playground style. In the climate of tough 1970s football, both players felt they had been harshly treated and for no good reason took off their shirts, flinging them on to the Wembley track. With the players too busy kicking each other to notice, the match petered out to a 1-1 stalemate Phil Boersma had opened the scoring for Liverpool in the twentieth minute, but Trevor Cherry headed home Leeds equaliser in the seventieth. The goals were just a distracting sideshow to the violence though.
Leeds United 1, Liverpool 0
Elland Road, 21st August 1995
This game will be forever remembered as being the game which featured THAT goal. It was the goal that everyone spoke about. It was the goal that was voted goal of the year. The goal that many Leeds fans remember as being the best they ever saw. Yeboah had scored many goals before for Leeds and he scored many after. He won games for Leeds on his own, such as a hat-trick that killed off Monaco but few remember anything more about the game except that it was one of the special few that went the way of United rather than the customary win for the Reds from Liverpool.
In the fifty-first minute, Tony Yeboah smashed a devastating volley of such velocity that it was just a blur to the watching audience and even more of a blur to the poor Liverpool keeper David James as it hit the underside of the crossbar. It decided the match which had been billed as a match of the expensive strikers and whilst Stan Collymore limped off the pitch after twenty minutes, Tony Yeboah has gone down in history for that thunderbolt of a strike.
Leeds United 4, Liverpool 3
Elland Road, 4th November 2000
An away win seemed a certainty as Liverpool swept into the lead with a goal in the second minute, going two up after only seventeen minutes. Fortunately Mark Viduka had other ideas! He personally took the game by the scruff of the neck and gobbled up everything that came his way. the first of his goals was a clever dink after Smith charged down a Christian Ziege clearance whilst the second was a thumping header after a pinpoint cross from the marauding Gary Kelly.
Viduka completed his first hat-trick for Leeds when he received the ball from Oliver Dacourt with his back to goal before showing great strength and control to twist and turn away from two Liverpool defenders and, after buying himself half a yard, he unleashed a smart finish across goal and in off the post. The home crowd was buzzing and just two minutes later the roof came off when Viduka bagged the best of his four; he showed an instinctive touch to capitalise on a miscued shot from Dacourt and delicately chipped the ball over the rapidly advancing Sander Westerveld to secure maximum points.
