The Greatest Liverpool Team of All Time

Liverpool was founded in 1892 and is an 18-time English league champion.

In the mid-1960s, the club from a small port city on the western edge of Europe started dominating country and then continent for much of the next 25 years, winning four European Cups. Most of the best Reds players come from this time, when Liverpool was the standard to aspire to, a winning machine that seemed unstoppable.

Flurries of success have followed since then. The club won a fifth European crown in 2005, and Jurgen Klopp has restored Liverpool as a force, but the legend of Liverpool comes from those glory days with working-class roots.

We have distilled 127 years of Liverpool football history into 23 players and one manager — a squad for the ages. Meet the greatest Liverpool team of all time.

Position: Goalkeeper

Experience: 22 years (1965-87)

Years with Liverpool: 14 seasons (1967-81)

Key stats: One of only 25 players to make over 1,000 pro appearances. Played 665 matches for Liverpool. Capped 61 times by England national team.

English league titles: 5 (1972–73, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80)

Champions League/European Cups: 3 (1977, 1978, 1981)

All-time Liverpool team role: Goalkeeper

Bottom line: Ray Clemence was the bedrock of the Liverpool team that first conquered England in the 1970s and then Europe.

An agile, athletic goalkeeper, he was as tough a competitor as his colleagues.

He played his final match when the club won the European Cup in 1981 in Paris, beating Real Madrid.

Position: Defender

Experience: 21 years (1968-89)

Years with Liverpool: 11 seasons (1974-85)

Key stats: The only Liverpool player to play in five European Cup finals, winning four. Scored in two European Cup finals (1977 and 1984). Played a record 365 consecutive league matches.

English league titles: 8 (1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86)

Champions League/European Cups: 4 (1977, 1978, 1981, 1984)

All-time Liverpool team role: Defender

Bottom line: The only Liverpool player to win all four of his first four European Cups, and a scorer in two finals, Phil Neal is one of the most decorated players in the game.

A dependable, unspectacular player, he fitted the work ethic of Bob Paisley’s team perfectly.

Position: Defender

Experience: 18 years (1973-91)

Years with Liverpool: 14 seasons (1977-91)

Key stats: Captained club to only league and FA Cup double in 1985-86. Captained the club to three league titles. Represented Scotland at junior level in golf, volleyball and squash.

English league titles: 8 (1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1989–90)

Champions League/European Cups: 3 (1978, 1981, 1984)

All-time Liverpool team role: Defender

Bottom line: A natural athlete who played with an unusual grace for his position, Alan Hansen often looked like he was strolling through matches.

He did, though, possess an iron will to win, and inspired those around him with his maintenance of the standards of the club.

Position: Defender

Experience: 20 years (1964-84)

Years with Liverpool: 12 seasons (1967-79)

Key stats: Was England’s most capped player of the 1970s with 57 appearances. Captained Liverpool to European Cup titles in 1977 and 1978. Winner of the Football Writers’ Player of the Year award in 1977.

English league titles: 4 (1972–73, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79)

Champions League/European Cups: 2 (1977, 1978)

All-time Liverpool team role: Defender

Bottom line: Emlyn Hughes possessed the skill on the ball to play far further forward, but chose to play at the back, where he could dictate the tempo of play, and survey the action in front of him.

A loud, brash player who led by example, he later became a household name as a TV personality in the United Kingdom.