Aston Villa v Liverpool | Goals, Gaffes & Greatness

Since its birth in 1992, the Premier League has been the king of class, capers and catastrophy for many a player in the spotlight of the football universe. Many have tried to take on and make the league their own in the new generation of soccer and many have failed.

Home to the greatest games and goals, on a couple of occasions it’s been witness to some matches holding the holy trinity. A brilliant match, stunning goals and ground swallowing mistakes to ensure the affair is never forgotten.

On this day in 1992, Liverpool travelled to Villa Park to face Aston Villa in the Premier League. Ron Atkinson’s side were looking to challenge for the league title coming up against Manchester United. Liverpool, fresh from their dominant decade in the 1980’s and were looking to keep that going.

On a sunny Saturday afternoon in 1992 the two met for what would be one of the greatest Premier League matches steeped in goals and gaffs galore. Villa wore their traditional home shirt of claret base and blue sleeves with a claret hoop around the arm. Along with blue trim around the crest and a blue curved stripe across the chest they also had a classic string collar that Umbro had designed to perfection. The Mita Copiers sponsor isn’t overbearing and compliments the shirt superbly, seeing it go down as a real classic.

On that day Liverpool would wear their infamous green away shirt that was worn to mark their centenary season. A very much sought after shirt due to not only the club celebrating 100 years but it was also their first season wearing shirts sponsored by Carlsberg, who would remain until 2011. A great adidas design with stripes on the right shoulder, it’s certainly a personal favourite of vintagefootballshirts.com!

Back to the game, the scoring should have been opened by Ronny Rosentahl, but instead he will go down in history for perhaps the worst miss when through for an open goal of all time. He went round David James and all he had to do was roll the ball home, but instead he smashed it against the bar. It wasn’t a let off though for Villa, as the reds went ahead shortly after through Mark Walters who smashed home a wonderful volley.

Just before half-time, former Liverpool striker Dean Saunders popped up to put his new side level, before Dalian Atkinson gave the home side the lead nine minutes into the second half. A second from Saunders to haunt his old club and a tidy finish from Garry Parker put Villa 4-1 up, before Rosentahl scored a header with five minutes to go.

These early thrillers cemented the status of the Premier League being the best in the world, and no accessible to millions through Sky TV, it was becoming theatre. This game will long stand the test of time as one of the all-time greatest and one of the best of 90’s football.