Anfield has always had a reputation as one of the loudest, most intimidating grounds in football. But some nights go beyond a good atmosphere — the kind where the crowd stops feeling like a backdrop and starts feeling like the twelfth man on the pitch.
Here are six of the biggest nights the Kop has produced over the last two decades.
Dejan Lovren's Injury-Time Winner vs Dortmund (2016)
This one had layers to it before a ball was even kicked. It was a Europa League quarter-final against Jürgen Klopp's former club, played the night before the Hillsborough anniversary — both sets of fans sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" together before kickoff in an emotional tribute to the 96.
Then the game itself turned into chaos. Dortmund raced into a 2-0 lead inside nine minutes, and by the second half Liverpool were still behind on aggregate with time running out. Divock Origi pulled one back, then Philippe Coutinho and Mamadou Sakho dragged the tie level in the closing stages. With the game deep into stoppage time, Dejan Lovren rose to meet a James Milner cross and headed home the winner — sending Anfield into scenes of pure delirium.
It's remembered as one of the clearest signs that Klopp's Liverpool had something different about them, and it set the tone for the European nights that followed.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain vs Man City (2018)
Some goals are remembered for what they mean. This one's remembered for how it sounded.
Liverpool went into the first leg of their 2018 Champions League quarter-final against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City — the runaway Premier League leaders that season — with Anfield absolutely buzzing before kickoff. Mohamed Salah broke the deadlock after 12 minutes, finishing coolly from close range to send the ground into raptures. Nine minutes later, with City still reeling, Oxlade-Chamberlain picked up the ball on the edge of the box and hit a rising strike that flew past Ederson before most of the crowd had even registered he'd shot.
Sadio Mané added a third before the half-hour mark, capping a first-half performance that left City without a single shot on target all night. Liverpool went on to win the tie 5-1 on aggregate, but it's that opening half-hour — and Oxlade-Chamberlain's strike in particular — that's remembered as one of the loudest, most one-sided periods of pure dominance Anfield has produced in the Champions League era.
Divock Origi's 96th-Minute Winner vs Everton (2018)
Not every unforgettable Anfield moment comes in Europe. This one came in a Merseyside derby that looked destined for a goalless draw.
Deep into stoppage time, Virgil van Dijk's sliced effort ballooned up toward Everton's goal. Jordan Pickford, under no real pressure, somehow clawed the ball back down into play instead of over the bar — straight into the path of substitute Divock Origi, who nodded it home from a yard out. It was Origi's first Premier League appearance in over a year.
The chaos that followed said it all: Jürgen Klopp sprinted the length of the technical area to celebrate with his goalkeeper, and Anfield erupted in a mixture of disbelief and pure joy. It's the kind of moment that only really happens in a derby — equal parts brilliant and ridiculous, and all the sweeter for coming against your biggest rivals.
The 4-0 Comeback vs Barcelona (2019)
Some nights need very little explanation, and this is one of them.
Liverpool went into the second leg of this Champions League semi-final 3-0 down from the first leg in Camp Nou, without Mohamed Salah or Roberto Firmino, and up against a Barcelona side built around Lionel Messi. Nobody outside Anfield gave them much of a chance.
Divock Origi scored inside seven minutes to make it 3-1 on aggregate. Substitute Georginio Wijnaldum then came off the bench and scored twice in the space of two second-half minutes to level the tie. With the crowd fully believing something historic was happening, Trent Alexander-Arnold spotted Barcelona switched off at a corner and quickly played it to Origi, who tapped in a fourth to complete one of the greatest comebacks in Champions League history.
Liverpool became just the third team ever to overturn a three-goal semi-final deficit in the competition's history. The noise inside Anfield that night has been compared to Istanbul itself — a crowd that refused to accept the tie was over long before the players did.
Mohamed Salah vs Man United — "We're Gonna Win the League" (2020)
Some goals matter less for the finish and more for what the crowd does immediately after.
By January 2020, Liverpool were running away with the Premier League after three decades without a title, but a nervy home game against Manchester United had Anfield on edge. Virgil van Dijk's early goal gave Liverpool the lead, but United dug in, and the second half turned tense as the visitors pushed for an equaliser.
Then, deep into stoppage time, Alisson launched a long ball straight down the middle of the pitch. Salah ran onto it, let it bounce once, held off the chasing Daniel James without so much as looking at him, and slotted coolly past David de Gea to make it 2-0.
As Salah wheeled away, the Kop didn't just celebrate the goal — they broke straight into "We're gonna win the league, and now you're gonna believe us." It was the first time that season the crowd had allowed themselves to say it out loud, and within a few months, they were proven right. Even Jamie Carragher, working the game as a pundit, was caught on camera quietly singing along.
Mohamed Salah's Solo Wonder Goal vs Man City (2021)
Not every unforgettable Anfield goal comes in a famous comeback. Sometimes the crowd just erupts because they've watched something almost nobody else could do.
Liverpool and Manchester City served up a Premier League classic in October 2021, City's reigning champions going toe-to-toe with Klopp's side in a match that swung one way and then the other. Sadio Mané had put Liverpool ahead, only for Phil Foden to level things up ten minutes later. Then, in the 76th minute, Salah picked up the ball inside his own half and simply went past everyone in his way — cutting through three City defenders, riding a fourth challenge, before drilling a finish beyond Ederson from a tight angle.
Anfield didn't so much cheer as detonate. It's the kind of goal that gets replayed for years afterward — voted the Premier League's Goal of the Month for October 2021 — not because of what it won (City equalised through Kevin De Bruyne to make it 2-2), but simply because of what the crowd had just witnessed happen right in front of them.
Why These Moments Still Matter
What connects all of these moments isn't just the football — it's the crowd's refusal to sit quietly through a bad scoreline. Whether it's a semi-final against the best team in the world or a derby heading nowhere, the Kop has a habit of getting louder exactly when a game looks lost, not after it's won.
That's really what "You'll Never Walk Alone" means in practice. It's not a song for celebrating a result that's already decided — it's a promise sung loudest when things look their worst, which is exactly why Anfield keeps producing moments like these