When you are talking about European success in football, one of the most successful football clubs in the world is Liverpool. Since the Club step into European football in 1964, it has won everything a football club can possibly win.
Liverpool competed in European competitions for 21 consecutive seasons until the Heysel Stadium disaster that happened before the kickoff of the 1985 European Cup Final. The final was between the English club and Juventus of Italy. The Italian club won the match with a lone goal.
The match is largely remembered for the disaster that occurred before the kick-off. Liverpool fans breached a fence separating the two groups of supporters and charged the Juventus fans.
The resulting weight of people caused a retaining wall to collapse, killing 39 people and injuring hundreds. Despite calls for abandonment, the match went ahead because it was felt that further trouble would otherwise occur.
The disaster prompted UEFA to ban English clubs from European football for five years. Hence, Liverpool missed European competitions for six seasons.
The Return of Liverpool in Europe
Liverpool returned to European football in 1991. Since then, the club has qualified for the UEFA Champions League (the successor to the European Cup) twelve times, the UEFA Europa League (the successor to the UEFA Cup) twelve times, and the (now-defunct) UEFA Cup Winners Cup twice.
Though the club struggled to qualify for European competitions for over five seasons, the club returned into continental action in the 2017/2018 football season in flying colours as it played in the final of the Champions League for the first time since 2005. The team faced Spanish La Liga giant, Real Madrid, in the final but lost the trophy to the La Liga side one goal to three.
The club returned even struggle in the 2018/2019 season by adding another Champions League trophy to its trophies cabinet after beating Tottenham in the June 2019 UCL final (2 goals to nill).
As it stands, Liverpool has now won the Champions League 6 times more than any club in the Premier League. Only 2 teams in Europe have won more Champions Leagues than Liverpool – Real Madrid and A.C. Milan with 13 and 7 respectively.
