It seems to be one of the immutable laws of football that fortune smiles on you when playing well but scowls when the reverse is true.
How else to explain goals like Divock Origi’s surreal 96th minute Jordan Pickford and crossbar-inspired effort which sparked Liverpool’s historic eight-game winning streak in December 2018 and truly set in motion the glorious Champions League and Premier League-winning era of success under Jurgen Klopp?
There are a litany of other examples where the face presented by Lady Luck has felt symbolic to a team’s direction of travel but few have felt quite as portentous as arguably the most bizarre goal ever scored against the Reds in this or any era which perhaps confirmed in the eyes of many that the reign of Rafa Benitez was doomed and the tailspin his side had fallen into could not be reversed.
The Spanish coach had made one of the best starts to life in the Anfield hot-seat of any of his predecessors by winning the Champions League after the Reds’ incredible fightback in Istanbul and then the FA Cup in his first two seasons at the helm. A second European Cup final appearance in three years followed along with another run to the last four the following season but, with Liverpool’s wait for the holy grail of a 19th league title drawing to the end of its third decade, a genuine challenge for the domestic championship was what the Kop craved and in 2008/09 it finally happened.
READ MORE: Luis Figo reveals what stopped him signing for Liverpool after Real Madrid exit
READ MORE: Liverpool man blasted 'disgraceful' Christmas party before retiring at 27 and launching new career
Two late goals in the first home game against Middlesbrough which turned defeat into victory - following on from Steven Gerrard’s stunning last minute free kick on the opening weekend at Aston Villa - got supporters dreaming and when Xabi Alonso’s winner at Chelsea in October ended the Londoners’ 84-match unbeaten league streak at Stamford Bridge, the Reds went top of the Premier League and were finally showing their doubters they were now capable of winning the matches that really mattered.
Although there were frustrating home draws with Stoke, Fulham, West Ham and Hull City which proved costly in the final analysis, Benitez’s men went in the new year in top spot and, despite only recording only two league wins in the opening two months of 2009 to fall seven points behind Manchester United, Liverpool trounced Alex Ferguson’s men 4-1 at Old Trafford in mid-March to complete a league double over the reigning English, European and world champions and propel themselves right back into the title race.
But despite the Reds winning 31 out of the last 33 points available - and only losing two games in the Premier League all season - United were able to hang on to win their third successive title and agonisingly draw level with Liverpool on 18 championships apiece. It was a heartbreaking conclusion to a campaign which had promised so much with Benitez’s men also again reaching the Champions League quarter-finals although in truth the team’s performances had somewhat masked the crisis the club was sinking into.
The takeover of American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett in February 2007 had initially been met with cautious optimism amid hopes the Reds would now be able to compete in the new financial climate football had entered into, their promise on arrival that they were “here to win” being backed up at the beginning by the acquisitions that summer of club record £20m Spanish hot-shot Fernando Torres as well as the likes of experienced Premier League campaigner Yossi Benayoun and another highly-rated young European talent in Dutch forward Ryan Babel.
Before the year was out however, Liverpool supporters were mobilising and marching against the Americans to get them out of their club as it rapidly became clear their assertion their ownership model had not been based on leveraged debt was a lie and they had neither the money to build the proposed new stadium on Stanley Park nor to adequately back the manager - who they were already undermining and briefing against publicly - in the transfer market as Anfield fell into a damaging civil war.
By the summer of 2009, the lack of depth of the Reds squad - which had arguably put them at a significant disadvantage in their title battle with United through having to rely on unproven youngsters like Nabil El Zhar and David Ngog as back up - was being compounded by the downgrading of key members of the first team like Xabi Alonso being replaced by injury-stricken Alberto Aquilani. Reds fans hoping their side would be able to kick on and go one better than the previous campaign were already beginning to wonder how feasible that would be but few would have expected things to unravel as quickly as they did.
Two defeats in the first three matches - away to Tottenham on the opening weekend and at home to Aston Villa a fortnight later - hinted at the trouble ahead but Benitez’s men initially bounced back to win their next six matches in all competitions, beating Bolton, Burnley, West Ham and Hull City in the league while getting their Champions League and League Cup campaigns off to winning starts against Hungarian minnows Debrecen and Leeds United respectively. But an abject 2-0 defeat in Italy to Fiorentina was followed by another 2-0 loss away to Chelsea with the gulf in class to Carlo Ancelotti’s side - who would go to win a league and FA Cup double that season - giving the manager plenty to ponder as his players departed for a two-week international break.
Liverpool would return to action with a trip to face a Sunderland side who had made a decent start to the new campaign and sat two places and two points behind the fifth-placed Reds. With Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres both sidelined by groin injuries and Javier Mascherano feeling the after-effects of his long journey back from South America having played in a World Cup qualifier, Benitez had little option but to ring the changes and Daniel Agger, Fabio Aurelio, Yossi Benayoun, Ryan Babel and 20-year-old debutant Jay Spearing all came in to the team beaten at Chelsea.
Mackems boss Steve Bruce, who already boasted a handy record against Benitez, made just one alteration from the side which gained a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford in the previous match with George McCartney replacing the suspended Kieran Richardson and saw his side make a fast start, Andy Reid being presented with a shooting chance after only two minutes but slicing his effort high and wide from 20 yards. The hosts would take the lead however just three minutes later with one of the most unusual and ridiculously fortuitous goals in the history of professional football.
Lee Cattermole fed Reid down the Sunderland right and his cross fell to striker Darren Bent 15 yards out whose right-footed shot was heading straight down Pepe Reina’s throat until it hit a LFC-branded beach ball which had not been removed after emerging before the game from the away end behind the goal and completely wrong-footed the bemused Reds goalkeeper on its way into the back of the net. Referee Mike Jones consulted his linesman but, despite furious Liverpool protests querying the legality of the goal, ruled Bent’s effort should stand and the visitors were behind.
No doubt unable to believe their good fortune, the hosts continued to press and could have doubled the lead soon afterwards when Lorik Cana met Reid’s corner with a firm header but could not keep it on target. The shell-shocked Reds registered their first effort on 13 minutes when goalkeeper Craig Gordon could only half-clear Dirk Kuyt’s right-wing cross and then had to block Ryan Babel’s shot on the turn. Kuyt fired over the bar, Fabio Aurelio curled a free-kick wide of the upright and Yossi Benayoun saw an effort deflected behind for a corner after a raking cross field ball from Glen Johnson as Benitez’s men searched for an equaliser but they had to be wary of the home side’s counter-attacks with Bent missing two good headed chances before the interval.
The gane followed a similar pattern after half time - which saw 19-year-old Mackems midfielder Jordan Henderson replace McCartney - and the future Liverpool skipper was involved almost immediately when he sidefooted a shot towards goal which was blocked by Carragher amid appeals for handball before Bent wasted a glorious opportunity to score his second goal of the afternoon, rounding Reina after being played in by Kenwyne Jones but the Reds keeper recovered well to block. Bent hit the post soon afterwards and must have wondered if the luck involved in his early opener was returning to haunt him when Jamie Carragher appeared from nowhere with a last-ditch challenge just when he looked certain to score.
Benayoun spurned Liverpool’s best chance to equalise as the game entered its final quarter of an hour when he couldn’t keep his left-foot shot on target after being found in space inside the penalty area and when Gordon produced a superb double save in injury time to deny Kuyt and substitute David Ngog, Benitez and men had slumped to a third successive defeat and their worst start to a season for 22 years but afterwards all the talk was of Bent’s astonishing - and, as it turned out, illegal - winning goal.
It soon emerged that, under law five of the game, if an ‘outside agent’ - someone or something that should not be on the pitch, like a beach ball - makes its way on to the field then the game must be stopped while it is removed and re-started with a drop ball. “A basic law of football”, former Premier League referee Jeff Winter later asserted. "I'm absolutely amazed that a referee at that level of football, along with his assistants and the fourth official didn't make the right decision. I'm amazed the goal was allowed to stand. It's something you learn on your initial refereeing course", and Mike Jones would pay the price for incorrectly awarding the goal by being demoted from the Premier League to the Championship for the following weekend, taking charge of Peterborough's 3-0 win over Scunthorpe.
“You are one saddo if you knew that rule”, Steve Bruce claimed afterwards while Rafa Benitez - appearing initially unaware of the drop-ball rule - was remarkably restrained in his immediate comments, merely saying, “These things happen. We had bad luck with the goal, but the team were not doing well so that is something we have to fix. The other things you cannot control. I couldn't see what had happened. We were asking and they told us but you cannot change things.”
He may well have been less understanding once he learned the true facts of the situation and the later assessment of Pepe Reina - the goalkeeper flummoxed and ultimately beaten by the beach ball - revealed the frustration within the Liverpool dressing room that the bizarre incident became in many ways a metaphor for what proved to be a painful last campaign in charge for Benitez who was sacked after the Reds finished seventh.
“Even now, when I see replays of it on television, I cannot believe that it happened - even though I can't help laughing at the stupid, funny face I pulled after the ball went in”, he said. “I have been asked so many times why I didn't just kick the beachball off the pitch as soon as it was thrown on, but I only realised it was right in front of me when Andy Reid crossed the proper football into the box and there it was. Even after spotting it, I didn't think it was about to play a part in one of the craziest goals in English football history. Darren Bent had a shot. I knew I had it covered - until the ball collided with the beach ball and flew past me into the back of the net. My first instinct was to chase the linesman, because I knew that something wasn't right.
“I have to be honest though, and admit that I didn't know exactly what the rule was at that point. I was shouting at the linesman. 'You have to have seen that!' I screamed at him. But he told me the ball hadn't been deflected. 'You're f****** joking,' I said. 'It was impossible not to see that. Either you are lying to my face or you think I am stupid.' He was adamant. 'No, no, no, Pepe. I am sure.' 'You have got to be taking the p***. It's impossible for you not to see what happened. Are you telling me that the ball was not deflected by the other one?' He was certain. 'Then you really are taking the p**s, then?' I replied. It made no difference. The goal stood. The beach-ball became the symbol of our season."
Within days, the Mirror got to the bottom of how the beach ball had made its way into the Liverpool penalty area and found the teenage Reds fan responsible who was distraught at having inadvertently condemned his team to such a crazy defeat and was now receiving death threats from self-styled hard-cases on the internet.
“I’m the one who did it”, 16-year-old Callum Campbell admitted. “I’m the one caught on camera. I’m so, so sorry. This is my worst, worst nightmare. When I got home I went into the garden and threw up. I was physically sick – and that’s before the death threats started appearing on the internet the next day. One said ‘Get a coffin ready’ and another warned, ‘I’m not only going to stab you, but mince you up and make curry out of it.’ When I looked closer these people were from America and Australia and all over the world – so-called fans who never come to Liverpool. So after that, I just ignored them and I only hope the real fans understand and forgive me. My mum tells me it wasn’t my fault – and that’s what I have to believe. The referee should never have allowed the goal.
“I’ve watched it over and over again, and I still can’t work out how it happened. Television made it look like I lobbed the beach ball on to the pitch and straight away it hit the match ball but the truth is, the game hadn’t started. The teams were just coming out. And the beach ball wasn’t even mine. I’d never seen one before. The crowd were bouncing it around above their heads, then it came my way and I just took a big swing and knocked it towards the pitch. I can’t believe it stayed there. It would have taken someone a couple of seconds to move it away, or put a foot on it and flatten it, but nobody bothered. And then it started to roll about. Just at the wrong moment. I accept I shouldn’t have thrown it on to the pitch in the first place but how was I supposed to know that would happen? It was just a bit of fun, and if I could turn back the clock and do it differently, throw the ball into the crowd instead of on to the pitch, then I would. I’m really, really sorry it happened like it did.”
Mum Liz added, “Inside Callum is torn apart. He walked in after the match white as a sheet. He couldn’t eat. He normally has a pizza delivered when he gets back from a match, but he couldn’t face anything. He just sat at the table with his head in his hands and he kept going over and over what had happened. He said, ‘Do you think I was to blame Mum?’ As a mother, and a Liverpool fan, I told him no, he wasn’t. There was plenty of time to move the ball before the match kicked off. The goal shouldn’t have been allowed. It was a freak accident. Liverpool FC is the love of his life. Not girls, or music, or clothes – Liverpool. He shouldn’t have to go through the rest of his life being known as the fan who lost them a match.”
READ NEXT:
- Jurgen Klopp makes red card admission as Liverpool boss apologises for 'snapping' in Man City win
- What Jurgen Klopp said to Mohamed Salah amid Liverpool substitution confusion vs Man City
- Mohamed Salah has just given Liverpool no alternative after Erling Haaland claims silenced
- Pep Guardiola hits out at decisions and claims he was targeted with coins
- Diogo Jota fears for Liverpool as Jurgen Klopp gives update on injury
