Liverpool vs SS Lazio Tickets

With six European Cup/UEFA Champions League successes to their name, Liverpool can rightly be considered a giant on the continental stage. These successes have come in three waves of dominance straddling the competition’s two guises.

Legendary manager Bill Shankly, who was in charge of Liverpool from 1959 to 1974, managed to take the club to European glory in the UEFA Cup but didn’t do so in the top-tier tournament.

It was his successor Sir Bob Paisley that first did so, and he did it in style. In 1977 the Merseyside club battled past the Crusaders, Trabzonspor, Saint-Etienne, and FC Zurich to book a place in the Rome final.

There they faced Borussia Monchengladbach, and goals from Terry McDermott, Tommy Smith, and Phil Neal were enough to complete a 3-1 win.

Paisley’s side returned to the final the following year, and this time, they faced Belgian side Club Brugge having beaten Monchengladbach again in the Semi-Finals.

The 1978 European Cup Final took place at Wembley Stadium, and the 92,5000 watching spectators saw Liverpool triumph thanks to a solitary goal from Kenny Dalglish. Paisley made it a hat-trick of titles in 1981 thanks to an Alan Kennedy goal that gave them another 1-0 win, this time over Real Madrid.

Joe Fagan took over from Paisley and spent two hectic seasons in charge. In his first campaign, he led Liverpool to an English Championship and the club’s fourth European Cup success. This came after a penalty shoot-out win over AS Roma.

The following year they returned to the final, only to lose to Juventus in a game that is chiefly remembered for the Heysel tragedy; Fagan subsequently quit the club.

So in this first period of European dominance Liverpool had reached the European Cup Final on five occasions between 1978 and 1985, and it would take another twenty years for them to return to the pinnacle of the game.

Rafa Benitez clinched a fifth win, the first since the rebranding of the competition to the current guise of the UEFA Champions League, in his first season in charge. Liverpool secured that win in Istanbul on a night that fans of the club will never forget.

The Premier League side battled back from 3-0 down to win on penalties, and Benitez took the team back to the final two years later, where they once again faced AC Milan. On this occasion, Carlo Ancelotti’s side secured a 2-1 win.

2018/19 marked Liverpool’s sixth title, coming via a 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid; that win under Jurgen Klopp came a year after losing the final to Real Madrid, and indeed in 2022, they lost again to the Spanish giants in the final in Paris.

Lazio’s involvement in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League is far less pronounced, with the Italian side having competed in the competition on seven occasions prior to 2023/24.

In their first campaign, they did well to reach the Quarter-Finals, where they lost to Valencia 5-3 on aggregate. In each of the other seasons, they never got any further than the Round of 16.

Liverpool vs SS Lazio Head-to-Head

Surprisingly these two sides have never met in a competitive European match before, making this UEFA Champions League encounter all the more attractive.

Liverpool vs SS Lazio Connections

A few individuals have played for both Liverpool and Lazio over the years, including Spanish attacker Luis Alberto and keeper Pepe Reina.

Another star to do so is Brazilian battler Lucas Leiva. Leiva moved to Anfield in 2007 from Germio and became a hero at the club over the course of his ten-year stint. Known for his no-nonsense approach and never-say-die attitude, he went on to make 346 appearances for the team before leaving in 2017 to join Serie A side Lazio.

Lucas enjoyed something of a resurgence at the Stadio Olimpico, playing 198 times over five seasons before moving back to Gremio in 2022.