FeatureKop 10: Liverpool one league goal wonders

Ragnar Klavan - Burnley 1-2 Liverpool, January 2018

The last time the Reds played on New Year’s Day, two points seemed to have been dropped when, with 87 on the clock, Burnley’s Johann Gudmundsson equalised Sadio Mane’s opener.

But in the fourth minute of added time at Turf Moor, cult-hero centre-back Klavan was the right man at the right time at the back post to nudge the ball home and secure a dramatic win.

It proved to be the only Premier League strike of the Estonian’s two-year Reds career. What a way to do it.

Alisson Becker - West Bromwich Albion 1-2 Liverpool, May 2021

Where else could we possibly go next?

The bulk of the 2020-21 campaign was played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but had there been fans inside The Hawthorns this day, then one can only imagine the scenes.

Liverpool needed a win to keep alive their hopes of Champions League qualification, but in the fifth minute of added time they were being held to a 1-1 draw by the already-relegated Baggies.

Then the Reds won a corner, Trent Alexander-Arnold swung it in and Alisson, who had been sent forward by the bench, arrived to meet it with a perfectly-placed header into the far corner, the goal providing a lasting memory from that challenging season.

Steve Finnan - Liverpool 3-0 West Brom, September 2004

Steve Finnan may have been a lot of things, but a goalscorer he most certainly was not.

In 217 games for Liverpool, the Republic of Ireland international netted only once, although his solitary strike was a fine one.

Collecting a diagonal pass from John Arne Riise, Finnan controlled the ball expertly beyond Paul Robinson before chopping inside the sliding Darren Purse and firing a low, left-footed effort inside goalkeeper Russell Hoult’s near post.

Mohamed Sissoko - Sunderland 0-2 Liverpool, August 2007

Energetic, powerful and superb at breaking up the play, Mohamed Sissoko was never known for his scoring prowess at Liverpool either.

But the manner in which he converted his one and only goal suggests he should have netted a few more.

Sissoko broke his Reds duck up at the Stadium of Light, firing home a rasping, 25-yard shot from Andriy Voronin’s pass, as Rafael Benitez’s men recorded a 2-0 win on Wearside.

Kolo Toure - Aston Villa 0-6 Liverpool, February 2016

There have been few more popular, and few more surprised, Liverpool goalscorers than Toure.

The Ivory Coast international’s only strike for the Reds came in a Valentine’s Day thrashing of Villa, as he headed home his side’s sixth goal from a Jordan Henderson corner.

The celebrations that followed told their own story, Toure’s smile lighting up Villa Park as his teammates piled on top of the centre-back.

Nick Tanner - Everton 1-1 Liverpool, December 1991

If you’re only on the scoresheet once for Liverpool, why not make it in a Merseyside derby?

Defender Tanner made 59 appearances for the Reds between 1989 and 1992, and found the net at Goodison Park in a 1-1 draw just after Christmas in 1991.

His effort, forced home after Michael Thomas had helped on a Dean Saunders corner, gave Graeme Souness’ side a first-half lead, but Mo Johnston equalised after the break to ensure it ended with honours even.

Avi Cohen - Liverpool 4-1 Aston Villa, May 1980

Here’s a good quiz question for you: which player scored only once for Liverpool, but twice in the same game?

The answer, of course, is the late Avi Cohen, who netted at both ends in a 4-1 win over Aston Villa that secured the Reds the league championship in May 1980.

The Israel international had scored an unfortunate own goal to make it 1-1 in the first half, but five minutes after the break Cohen arrived from left-back to fire home Kenny Dalglish’s pass in front of the Kop and set his side on their way to league crown No.12.

Andrea Dossena - Manchester United 1-4 Liverpool, March 2009

A memorable win at Old Trafford, capped by a memorable goal from an unlikely scorer.

Liverpool were already celebrating victory, courtesy of Fernando Torres’ strike, Steven Gerrard’s penalty and Fabio Aurelio’s free-kick, when Pepe Reina sent forward a long clearance in the 91st minute.

And as United’s defenders failed to deal with it, Dossena, a second-half replacement for Albert Riera, ran through to lob the ball over Edwin van der Sar and put the seal on a famous performance.

Sebastian Coates - Queens Park Rangers 3-2 Liverpool, March 2012

It is doubtful anyone has ever scored a more spectacular ‘only’ goal in Liverpool’s history.

Coates, a Uruguayan centre-back signed from Nacional in 2011, produced a quite stunning overhead kick to give Dalglish’s side the lead at Loftus Road.

His brilliance, though, would ultimately prove in vain, as the Reds went on to surrender a two-goal advantage to lose 3-2.

Howard Gayle - Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Liverpool, April 1981

Three days after his memorable European Cup performance off the bench against Bayern Munich, Gayle was making an impact from the start for Liverpool in the league down at Tottenham.

Deputising for the injured Dalglish, Gayle, who was playing alongside a young Ian Rush, fired the Reds into an early lead at White Hart Lane as he converted Sammy Lee’s pass.

Glenn Hoddle struck a superb equaliser soon after, denying the Toxteth lad the honour of netting the winner for his boyhood club.