13 Apr 1991
Attendance: 31,460
It's not often that we feature a Leeds United defeat as one of our most memorable matches but we do just that, although the game in question - against Liverpool on April 13 1991 - was a goal-laden feast of entertainment.
United and Liverpool were meeting at Elland Road for the first time in nine years and what a humdinger the contest, played in front of a crowd of 31,640 turned out to be.
Nine goals, some stunning football and a staggering second half fight-back that featured a remarkable hat-trick from Lee Chapman, stamped this as the game that had everything - except, in United's case, any league points.
Add to that the great spirit in which the game was played, oustanding ability, great vision, awareness, intelligence, bravery, arrogance and, yes, embarrassment were all in evidence in one of the most extraordinary matches I have seen...
United and Liverpool were meeting at Elland Road for the first time in nine years and what a humdinger the contest, played in front of a crowd of 31,640 turned out to be.
Nine goals, some stunning football and a staggering second half fight-back that featured a remarkable hat-trick from Lee Chapman, stamped this as the game that had everything - except, in United's case, any league points.
Add to that the great spirit in which the game was played, oustanding ability, great vision, awareness, intelligence, bravery, arrogance and, yes, embarrassment were all in evidence in one of the most extraordinary matches I have seen...
United, in their first season back in the top flight, were more than holding their own. In fact they were in the top four at the time of this game.
But Howard Wilkinson's men found themselves four goals down at half-time against a Liverpool side, whose pride had been wounded in recent weeks with talk of a so-called crisis at Anfield as their chances of retaining the League title faded.Like all United fans, especially those of us who had experienced the keen rivalry but huge respect each club had for the other, I had looked forward to this particular game but I was also keen to see the two front runners in the First Division scoring charts - Chapman and Ian Rush in action on the same pitch.
Chapman went into the game with 24 goals to his name - one ahead of Rush - and while Chapman added three more goals to his tally Rush, for once, was not on the scoresheet against United.
But Howard Wilkinson's men found themselves four goals down at half-time against a Liverpool side, whose pride had been wounded in recent weeks with talk of a so-called crisis at Anfield as their chances of retaining the League title faded.Like all United fans, especially those of us who had experienced the keen rivalry but huge respect each club had for the other, I had looked forward to this particular game but I was also keen to see the two front runners in the First Division scoring charts - Chapman and Ian Rush in action on the same pitch.
Chapman went into the game with 24 goals to his name - one ahead of Rush - and while Chapman added three more goals to his tally Rush, for once, was not on the scoresheet against United.
Liverpool went ahead after 11 minutes through Ray Houghton after the irrepressible John Barnes set him up at the far post, Jan Molby made it 2-0 with an 16th minute penalty when United keeper John Lukic had brought down Rush, and David Speedie added to Liverpool's score in the 25th minute.
When Barnes scored Liverpool's fourth after 27 minutes, United's embarrassment became acute. It was reasonable to assume that worse was to follow. But…
United's admirable fighting qualities showed through on the resumption - with Chapman spearheading a revival. He struck in the 68th minute after Mike Hooper had been unable to hold a Gary McAllister shot and when Carl Shutt turned to fire in a low shot following Gary Speed's long throw-in to make it 4-2, hopes rose among United fans.
Thirteen minutes were left but the match looked to be dead a minute later when Barnes scored from a back-heel from Rush. At 5-2 that really was it…wasn't it? We'll, not quite.
But further goals for Chapman in the 81st and 88th minutes, both headers, gave Liverpool an anxious couple of minutes but they held out to win 5-4.
At the end of the game United fans gave their team a standing ovation… and not many teams who have just conceded five goals in a home game will have experienced that.
Wilkinson summed things up succinctly when he said: "The difficult we can achieve, but miracles are harder and it would have been a miracle to win 6-5 after being four goals down."
Leeds: Lukic, Sterland, Whitlow, Batty, Fairclough, Whyte, Strachan, Shutt, Chapman, McAllister, Speed.
Liverpool: Hooper, Hysen, Staunton, Nicol, Molby, Burrows, Beardsley, Houghton, Rush, Barnes, Speedie.
Codec H264, Mkv
Full Game
Spanish Comments
Sound 160kps
Chapters Goals ahlf time and ends
Size 590+490mo 2 Files
First Half :
