Liverpool F.C. in international football

Background

Club competitions between teams from different European countries trace back to 1897 with the Challenge Cup for clubs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, established in 1909, was contested between clubs from Italy, Great Britain, Germany and Switzerland for two years. The Coupe des Nations, founded in 1930 by Swiss club FC Servette, featured clubs of ten major European leagues but was abandoned for financial reasons. The first continental competition organised by UEFA was the European Cup in 1955, conceived by Gabriel Hanot as a competition for winners of European national leagues.

When the European Cup began, Liverpool were in the Second Division after relegation from the First Division in the 1953–54 season, making them ineligible. Liverpool were promoted to the First Division in 1962 and won the Football League championship two years later, leading to their European debut in the 1964–65 European Cup. The UEFA Super Cup, first established in 1973, originally matched the winners of the European Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup; since 2000 it has been contested between the winners of the Champions League and the Europa League.

The Intercontinental Cup, established in 1960 for the winners of the European Cup and the Copa Libertadores, ran until 2004, when the FIFA Club World Cup replaced it.

History

Bill Shankly began managing Liverpool in 1959, and under him the team first competed in Europe in 1964–65, qualifying for the European Cup by winning the First Division championship. Their first opponents were KR Reykjavík of Iceland in the preliminary round, winning 11–1 on aggregate. In the next round against Anderlecht, Liverpool wore their now common all-red strip for the first time, a change from red shirts, white shorts and socks made by Shankly for psychological impact.

They beat Anderlecht and reached the semi-finals against Inter Milan. Liverpool won the first leg at Anfield 3–1, but Inter won the second leg 3–0 for a 4–3 aggregate victory; Shankly described the second leg as 'a war', feeling referee José María Ortiz de Mendíbil showed bias. The club's 1964–65 FA Cup victory secured qualification for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup the following season, where they reached their first European final. Borussia Dortmund employed counter-attacking tactics and beat Liverpool 2–1 after extra time; striker Roger Hunt called the defeat 'an off night' and 'probably the most disappointing defeat over the years because we just didn't play'.