Liverpool vs Juventus FC Tickets

Liverpool have a strong history in European competitions, with a total of 13 titles across all competitions as of 2023, a total bettered only by Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Barcelona.

Three of those titles came in the UEFA Cup, the predecessor to the UEFA Europa League, in 1973, 1976, and 2001, but the bulk of their successes have come when it mattered the most.

It was the great Bob Paisley who first lifted the European Cup, with Liverpool’s maiden victory coming following a Final win over Borussia Monchengladbach in 1977, and a year later, they beat Club Brugge to score their second success.

Their third win, and Paisley’s, was achieved in 1981 when the mighty Real Madrid were defeated thanks to a goal from Alan Kennedy in Paris.

Joe Fagan kept the strong run of dominance going when in 1984, he led Liverpool to another final, getting to the Stadio Olimpico after going through the initial eight knockout phase games by conceding just two goals and scoring 15 in response.

They faced a tough opponent in AS Roma, playing in their home stadium, but edged the game after a penalty shoot-out.

In 1985 Fagan once again took Liverpool to the final of the European Cup, their fifth final in eight years, and they lost to Juventus by a single goal from Michel Platini in a game that is sadly more well remembered for the Heysel tragedy.

That led to a ban on British clubs competing in Europe, and this, coupled with poor domestic form, meant Liverpool didn’t return to the top-tier tournament (not rebranded as the UEFA Champions League) until 2001/02 when they made it through to the Quarter-Finals.

2004/05 saw Liverpool secure perhaps the most famous UEFA Champions League Final win ever when they came back from three goals down to defeat AC Milan on penalties. All of this transpired in Rafa Benitez’s debut season in charge at Anfield.

They met AC Milan again two years later; this time, Carlo Ancelotti’s side did not let their lead slip and beat Liverpool to achieve a measure of revenge in Athens.

Jurgen Klopp became the fourth Liverpool manager to win the competition when his side beat Tottenham 2-0 in Madrid in 2019, this coming a year after the German had tasted defeat in their final with Real Madrid in 2018.

Juventus are themselves no stranger to European success. Their overall trophy haul, up to 2023, stands at 11, albeit only two of these came at the elite level.

Liverpool vs Juventus Head-to-Head

The Old Lady of Italian football first won the tournament in 1985, having previously lost finals in both 1973 and 1983 to Ajax and SV Hamburger, respectively.

The win over Liverpool in Brussels was overshadowed by events off the field of play, but nonetheless, Juventus had a heady list of talent at the club at the time, with the likes of Michel Platini, Marco Tardelli, Zbigniew Boniek, and Paolo Rossi among the best in the world at that time.

They failed to build on that success and had to wait almost a decade to reach the same heights, which they did in the 1995/96 UEFA Champions League Final, where they faced a very young Ajax side with bags of potential.

They were unable to overcome the Dutch giants over 120 minutes, drawing 1-1 before winning on penalties in Rome.

The Italian side then got to the final in both 1996/97 and 1997/98 but lost to both Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid. 2003 saw another final defeat, this time against Serie A rivals AC Milan on penalties.

Further final failures occurred in 2015 and 2017, to FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, respectively, and their overall record of losing seven of nine finals they’ve reached is one that certainly irks the club’s loyal supporters.

Liverpool and Juventus have met in three different European campaigns, the first of which came in the 1965/66 UEFA European Cup Winners’ Cup First Round, a tie that the English side won 2-1 on aggregate.

Their next meeting was the 1985 European Cup Final, and the third was in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League Quarter-Finals. Goals from Sami Hyypia and Luis Garcia gave Benitez’s side a two-goal lead at the break before Fabio Cannavaro grabbed a vital away goal in the second half.

In Turin, Liverpool held firm and closed out a goalless draw to secure safe passage to the final four.

Liverpool vs Juventus Connections

A number of star performers have played for both the England and Italian giants. These include Mali midfielder Mohamed Sissoko, Alberto Aquilani, Christian Poulsen, Arthur Melo, and Emre Can.

The most prominent player to play for both is, without a doubt, Welsh international striker Ian Rush. Bob Paisley signed Rush from Chester in 1980, and he went on to prove an instant success, achieving far more than anyone could have expected at the time.

In his first spell at Anfield, Rush scored 168 goals in 275 appearances before he completed something of a surprise move to Juventus in 1987, where he stayed for just one season. In Turin, he scored 13 goals in 40 games before returning back to Liverpool, where he remained for another eight years.

Over the course of his combined spell at Liverpool, the forward played 660 games and scored 346 goals (making him the club’s leading scorer of all-time), collecting five English Championship titles and two European Cup triumphs, as well as a number of other accolades. In 1996 he left to join Leeds.