The 2007–08 season was Liverpool Football Club's 116th season in their history, and their 46th consecutive season in the top-flight of English football, The season covers the period from 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008.
Having finished third the previous season, Liverpool qualified for the UEFA Champions League final qualifying stage.
First-team squad
Left club during season
Season summary August Liverpool began their Premier League season with a trip to Aston Villa, which they won 2–1. This was followed by the first-leg of their UEFA Champions League qualifier against Toulouse. The game, unusually played on a weekday afternoon, was won 1–0 by Liverpool. Next came their first home game of the season, a Premier League match against Chelsea. Liverpool took the lead through Fernando Torres's first goal for the club, but Chelsea hit back with a disputed penalty from Frank Lampard, ending the game 1–1. Referee Rob Styles appeared to book Michael Essien twice without sending him off, similar to Graham Poll at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Styles later admitted to have made an incorrect decision to award the penalty and, unusually, apologised to Liverpool for his mistake; he was subsequently dropped for the next gameweek.
The third Premier League game of the season, was a 2–0 away win at Sunderland, It was notable for Mohamed Sissoko's first (and only) Liverpool goal, after more than two years. This was also the Reds' 7,000th league goal. The following Tuesday saw Liverpool play Toulouse at Anfield in the second-leg of their UEFA Champions League qualifying tie. Before kick-off, the Everton song "Z Cars" echoed around Anfield, in memory of 11-year-old Rhys Jones, a local boy who had been shot dead the previous week. The match finished 4–0 to Liverpool, and the club qualified for the group stage winning 5–0 on aggregate.
September Liverpool won their first match of September, 6–0 against Derby County, Liverpool's biggest league win since 26 April 2003 when they beat West Bromwich Albion by the same scoreline. This win took them to the top of the Premier League table for the first time under Rafael Benitez.
After a two-week international break, Liverpool's next Premier League match was away to Portsmouth. The match ended in a 0–0 draw, after Pepe Reina saved Nwankwo Kanu's penalty-kick. The following week, the Premier League match against Birmingham City at Anfield, also ended in a 0–0 draw.
In between those two Premier League draws Liverpool travelled to Porto to begin their UEFA Champions League group stage campaign against another club that had previously won the competition. The game, which ended 1–1, saw Jermaine Pennant sent-off after receiving two yellow cards.
Liverpool got back to winning ways when they travelled to Reading for a League Cup third round match. Liverpool beat their hosts 4–2, with Fernando Torres scoring his first hat-trick for the club. This was followed up with a Premier League success, away to Wigan Athletic at the JJB Stadium, where Yossi Benayoun's 75th-minute strike his second in two games was enough to secure three points.
October October's first fixture was the visit of Marseille, Liverpool's second UEFA Champions League group stage match. A spectacular individual goal from Marseille midfielder Mathieu Valbuena handed Liverpool a 1–0 defeat, their first of the season. Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez described the match as possibly the worst performance by the club under his management.
Liverpool remained at Anfield for their following match, the Premier League visit of Tottenham Hotspur. A last-minute, injury-time, equaliser by Fernando Torres earned the Reds a 2–2 draw to preserve their unbeaten league record. However, Liverpool bounced back to win the Merseyside derby against Everton. The match at Goodison Park was a contentious one, with the referee's performance heavily criticised by Everton manager David Moyes. Dirk Kuyt scored two penalties that saw Liverpool come from behind to win 2–1.
Liverpool's third UEFA Champions League group stage match was a trip to Istanbul, where they had won the trophy in 2005. On this occasion, however, Liverpool fans had little to celebrate as their hosts Beşiktaş dealt their side's chances of progressing in the competition a serious blow by winning 2–1. The highest seeded club in their group, Liverpool were now bottom of their UEFA Champions League group with only one point from their first three matches.
Liverpool finished October with a pair of home fixtures. The Premier League visit of Arsenal yielded a 1–1 draw, whilst the League Cup visit of Cardiff City, who featured Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler in their starting line-up, gave the Reds a 2–1 win with Nabil El Zhar scoring his first Liverpool goal.
November Liverpool began November with a 0–0 away draw against Blackburn Rovers, further extending their unbeaten run in the league. They followed this by finally injecting life into their UEFA Champions League campaign with an emphatic 8–0 home victory over Beşiktaş. A hat-trick from Yossi Benayoun, a goal from captain Steven Gerrard and two each from both Ryan Babel and Peter Crouch gave Liverpool fans something to celebrate as Liverpool established a new record for margin of victory in a UEFA Champions League match (the previous best, 7–0, had been held jointly by Arsenal and Juventus).Liverpool revived by record triumph Uefa.com
On 10 November 2007, the UEFA Champions League win was followed up with a Premier League one, as Liverpool beat Fulham 2–0 at Anfield. Fernando Torres came off the bench to break the deadlock in the 81st minute, and Steven Gerrard scored a penalty won by Peter Crouch four minutes later to seal the win.Liverpool 2–0 Fulham bbc.co.uk
After another international break, the club's thirteenth Premier league match took place, on 24 November 2007 at Newcastle United. Steven Gerrard, who had been booed by Newcastle United fans for his part in England's failure to qualify for UEFA Euro 2008, opened the scoring for the Reds and two more goals from Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel gave Liverpool a 3–0 win.
The team ended the month by hosting their penultimate UEFA Champions League group game, the must-win visit of Porto. Liverpool won 4–1 and, as Fernando Torres scored the first two UEFA Champions League goals of his career, captain Steven Gerrard set a personal milestone of his own by equalling Michael Owen's club record of 22 goals in the Champions League.
December The club kicked off December by registering a 4–0 win against Bolton Wanderers at Anfield in the Premier League. This win stretched Liverpool's winning streak to five matches, during which they scored 21 goals and conceded just 1, and continued their unbeaten league run.
However, this unbeaten start to the Premier League season was cut short the following week when the visit to Reading resulted in a 3–1 defeat on 8 December. After the hosts converted a penalty for a challenge that television replays showed had occurred on the line, Steven Gerrard equalised for Liverpool before two second-half goals from Reading handed Liverpool their first Premier League defeat of the season.
Three days later, yet again needing a win to guarantee their survival in the competition, Liverpool travelled to Marseille for their final Champions League group stage fixture. Marseille had previously hosted English teams in Europe on six occasions and won all six times, and only needed a draw to progress themselves. However, Liverpool registered their second 4–0 win of the month to finish second in their group and progress to the Round of 16.
On 16 December, Liverpool hosted arch-rivals Manchester United in a vital Premier League match. The match ended with a 1–0 victory for Manchester United, their fourth in their last five league visits to Anfield, giving the latter a nine-point lead over Liverpool in the Premier League. The only goal was scored by Carlos Tevez. Arsenal beat Chelsea 1–0 later in the day to give themselves a ten-point lead over Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table.
Liverpool travelled to Chelsea for the League Cup quarter-final on 19 December. They were beaten 2–0 through a deflected goal from Frank Lampard and an injury-time goal from Andriy Shevchenko. Peter Crouch was sent-off following a two-footed tackle on Mikel John Obi.
Three days before Christmas, Liverpool hosted Portsmouth, looking to get their Premier League campaign back on track after two successive defeats. Liverpool continued a record of remaining undefeated at Anfield against Pompey since 1951 by triumphing 4–1. Fernando Torres scored twice to continue his good run of scoring, while the other goals came from Yossi Benayoun and a Sylvain Distin own goal. On 26 December, Liverpool managed a 2–1 victory over Derby County, with goals from Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard respectively, before playing out a 0–0 draw against Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium in their final match of 2007.
January Liverpool's first match of 2008 was against Wigan Athletic at Anfield, which ended in a 1–1 draw. This was followed by their first FA Cup match of the season, the third round match against Luton Town, which also finished 1–1. In the replay a week later, Liverpool beat them 5–0 at home, in which Steven Gerrard scored his second Liverpool hat-trick. On 26 January 2008, Liverpool defeated Havant & Waterlooville 5–2, despite going behind twice in the first-half. After that they travelled to Upton Park, where they faced West Ham United. An injury-time penalty from Mark Noble saw them slump to a 1–0 defeat, their third of the Premier League season.
Martin Škrtel was the first signing by Liverpool in the January transfer window. The undisclosed fee was rumoured to be £6.5 million, which was the highest amount paid by the club for a defender. Mohamed Sissoko, who had found himself playing fewer games after the arrivals of Javier Mascherano and Lucas, transferred to Juventus, and Jack Hobbs, who had played some first-team action this season, joined Scunthorpe United on loan until the end of the season.
February Liverpool's first match of February was against Sunderland at Anfield, which finished in an 3–0 win. On 10 February, Liverpool travelled to Stamford Bridge and played out a 0–0 draw with Chelsea.
Liverpool played Barnsley in the fifth round of the FA Cup on 16 February 2008, and lost 2–1 at Anfield, but they then beat Inter Milan 2–0 on 19 February in the first-leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 match.
Their last match of February, was against Middlesbrough on 23 February, which ended a 3–2 win for Liverpool, with Fernando Torres scoring a hat-trick.
March