For the first time since 2022, Liverpool will take part in the curtain raiser for the new season as they face Crystal Palace in the Community Shield after their title triumph.
Throughout the club’s history, they have won the Community Shield, formerly the Charity Shield, on 16 occasions – they shared it with another team five times.
Having won the Premier League title in Arne Slot‘s first season, Liverpool have a chance to lift early silverware against FA Cup winners Crystal Palace.
A glorified pre-season friendly it may be, but it takes a slightly different meaning if you win it.
Here, we take a look at Liverpool’s last five Community Shield outings.
Liverpool 3-1 Man City – 2022
Perhaps this is best remembered for Darwin Nunez marking his club-record arrival by taking his shirt off after scoring the third goal that made sure of the result.
For the 16th time, and the first since 2006, Liverpool lifted the Community Shield after blowing Man City away at the King Power Stadium, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mo Salah also on the scoresheet.
It saw expectations for the season ahead rise exponentially, but Klopp’s side would fail to deliver across a consistently inconsistent 2022/23 season that led to a fifth-placed finish in the league.
The disappointment, however, would lead to an overhaul of the midfield and the creation of Liverpool 2.0.
Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool (5-4 on pens) – 2020
As Premier League champions, Liverpool faced FA Cup winners Arsenal at an empty Wembley as the ongoing pandemic kept fans at home and away from stadiums.
It made for another lifeless contest as we eagerly awaited the return of supporters.
Jurgen Klopp opted for his strongest side available, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang capitalised on Neco Williams deputising for Alexander-Arnold, as Takumi Minamino scored his first goal for the club.
Neither side could find a winning goal and to penalties it went, with youngster Rhian Brewster the only player to miss after being brought on with the shootout in mind.
The 2020/21 season would be tumultuous for the Reds, with Virgil van Dijk‘s early ACL injury leading to a defensive crisis that saw Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams help the club to a third-place finish in the league against all odds.
Liverpool 1-1 Man City (4-5 on pens) – 2019
We did not know it at the time, but we were looking at a record-breaking title side in the making…and it was not Man City.
Ex-Red Raheem Sterling scored first at Wembley before Joel Matip equalised late on – via a Virgil van Dijk assist – to send the match to penalties, with Gini Wijnaldum the only player who failed to convert.
It was the fifth pre-season game in a row that Liverpool had conceded first and it had onlookers concerned, but they needn’t be as Jurgen Klopp‘s side went on a 27-match unbeaten run in the league.
Although the pandemic would see the league trophy lifted with no fans, Liverpool won their first title in 30 years with seven games to spare after already clinching the Super Cup and Club World Cup.
Liverpool 2-1 Chelsea – 2006
As ever, there was optimism heading into the 2006/07 season off the back of an FA Cup triumph – and it set the Reds on course with title winners Chelsea.
Rafa Benitez and Jose Mourinho were, again, pitted against one another at the Millennium Stadium as the cash-fuelled Chelsea postured with a sense of entitlement.
It was Liverpool who lifted the shield, though, with Peter Crouch scoring the winner with 10 minutes left on the clock after John Arne Riise’s stunning opener was cancelled out by new Chelsea signing Andriy Shevchenko.
Benitez’s side would go on to finish third in the Premier League that season, behind Man United and Chelsea, and be runners-up to AC Milan in the Champions League.
Arsenal 1-0 Liverpool – 2002
In the instance when the league title and FA Cup is won by the same team, the runners-up in the league earn the right to take part in the season’s curtain raiser.
With Arsenal having clinched the double in 2001/02, Liverpool were named as their opponents in the newly rebranded Community Shield after finishing second.
The narrow defeat ensured the contest would not be remembered in the years that followed, with Gilberto Silva scoring the only goal of the game for Arsene Wenger’s side.
As for Liverpool’s 2002/03 season, it failed to match ambitions despite lifting the League Cup, as a fifth-place finish in the table proved to be the start of the end for Gerard Houllier at Anfield.
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