By Leon Smith

It has been an indifferent start to the new season for the Champions of England. The foxes breezed into the last 16 of the champions league but their league form means they are now involved in a relegation battle. Many are tipping Leicester City to be the first team to win the champions league and be relegated. Absolute madness. Here are five reasons why Leicester won’t be going anywhere just yet!

1. Champions don’t get relegated, do they?

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You have to go way back to 1938 when champions of England, Manchester City, were relegated having won the title the year before. That means should Leicester do the unthinkable, they will be taking a record that has stood for 79 years. It simply doesn’t happen…in England. Across Scandinavia, it has happened 13 times. The foxes will hope the winds of change haven’t travelled across the North Sea to the Midlands.

2. They have the 7th and 8th best players IN THE WORLD

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It’s true. Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy were voted the seventh and eighth best players in the world earlier this week. They sat in between Gareth Bale and Pepe. Mahrez was also named ‘African Footballer of the Year’ earlier the same day, not a bad week for the Algerian. They can’t be relegated with those two heading the attack, can they?

3. Claudio Ranieri is in charge

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Dilly Ding Dilly Dong! Claudio Ranieri has managed 15 teams domestically in his long and illustrious career. How many times has the Italian been relegated? Zero. Ranieri is an experienced manager who led Leicester to their first ever league title. The Italian recently conceded his team are in a relegation battle but don’t for one minute believe he thinks they will be there for long.

4. They have Buddhist monks on their side don’t forget

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The pre-match blessing of monks flown over by the club’s owners from the Wat Traimit Withayaram Woraviharn Temple, in Bangkok, contributed to Leicester’s unlikely title triumph last season (so they say). The owners believe the monks spread good karma and spiritual wellbeing into the players and, after last season, who is to doubt them. Well, the monks are still there. Around ten monks are flown into Leicester before each home game and with their help, the Leicester players will find the right path.

5. This is all part of the plan, it’ll make the film even better!

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This will be a Hollywood Movie one day, take my word for it! The plucky underdog who defied all odds in the ‘Great Escape’ season and dragged themselves from the depths of despair. The same players then fought against the moneybags and the power to win the league by ten points. They then took themselves into Europe and conquered the European forces in front of them whist falling to their domestic enemies. This has got ‘box office’ written all over it. Get DiCaprio on the phone, we start shooting tomorrow!

 By Izabela Muczynska

Cristiano Ronaldo’s childhood was not easy. His father was an alcoholic which caused his early death. CR7’s brother Hugo was also a drug addict. When Ronaldo first started earning money, he provided his brother professional treatment that could help to fight his addiction. We can easily say that Ronaldo has been growing up in poverty and had to face many problems as a child. Maybe these sad experiences had an influence on beginning his charity activities.

We might love or hate Ronaldo, but we all have to agree, this man is really open-handed. Rumours say that the Portuguese striker playing for Real Madrid earns around 20 million euros a year. That is a massive amount of money. However, he spends a lot of his salary on helping charity organisations, mostly ones that look after seriously ill children. He is also well-known for contacting families of these kids individually.

One of the most popular examples is the story of a young Polish Real Madrid fan, Dawid Pawlaczyk. The 14-year old boy was hit by a car while riding his bike. After the accident, doctors claimed that his chances to survive were really low. Dawid’s parents were truly devastated. He was in a coma for over three months. His parents had never given up hope that their son would wake up. Always putting the football on the television in his room. One day, when Real Madrid was playing and his idol, Ronaldo scored a goal, Dawid has finally woke up. One of the Polish newspapers, Fakt, decided to share this incredible story with Ronaldo. He got back to them immediately, claiming that he is willing to meet this young lad. Thanks to the newspaper and his agent, Jorge Mendes, Dawid Pawlaczyk’s dreams of meeting his idol came true. Ronaldo invited the young fan and his parents to Madrid. He paid for all the travel costs and gave them VIP tickets, so they could watch Real Madrid playing Borussia Dortmund at Santiago Bernabeu, from one of the best seats in the stadium. Ronaldo and Dawid met face-to-face after the game finished, Real Madrid’s forward was asking many questions about the boy’s current condition and invited him to see another game. CR7 also gave him the football kit he wore during the game.

Not a long time after he has changed Dawid’s life, Ronaldo surprised again. He was asked to donate his signed shoes and ball, so parents can raise money and pay for 10-months old Erik Ortiz Cruz’s brain surgery. They received them all, plus additional Real Madrid’s gadgets. There was another surprise though. Ronaldo has decided to cover all the costs of Erik’s surgery.

He can be seen as an arrogant and self-confident man, but there is only one thing he has for sure, it’s called empathy. CR7 is unable to ignore people being suffering and that show what kind of person Cristiano Ronaldo really is.

By Joe Heslop

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Leicester City’s goal scoring hero Jamie Vardy, voted as the eighth best player in the world in the Ballon d’Or votes on Monday night. The English striker finished one place behind team mate Riyhad Mahrez as Cristiano Ronaldo claimed his fourth Ballon d’Or title.

This completes Jamie Vardy’s rise from playing at the Non-League level for Fleetwood town just four years ago, to lining up for Leicester City in the Champions League. He became non-league’s most expensive player when he made the move, costing the now English champions one million pounds.

The 29-year-old striker was named as one of the top ten players in world football in 2016 and was joined on the list by Gareth Bale, Neymar and Saurez, who finished from sixth to fourth respectively. The top three being made up of Antione Greizman in third with Lionel Messi being beaten to the title by Real Madrid’s Ronaldo.

This comes just months after Jamie Vardy made his international debut for England in France, his first time at a major European tournament with the national side. Vardy made his first appearance for England in a friendly against the Republic of Ireland on 7th June 2015 coming on as a substitute. He has since gone on to score five goals for his country in 15 appearances.

The Sheffield-born striker has gone from strength to strength since breaking the record for most goals scored in consecutive English Premier League matches when he scored 11 in 11 last season, beating Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s record of ten goals in ten consecutive games.

Jamie Vardy also picked up awards during Leicester’s record breaking season last year as he was voted the Premier League player of the season and the Footballer Writers Associations player of the year.

Jamie Vardy started his career as a youngster at Sheffield Wednesday’s academy before being released and playing non-league for Stocksbridge Park Steelers who compete in the Northern Premier League, the eighth tier of English football. He then was signed up by Halifax town where he played during the 2010/2011 season and scored 27 goals in 37 appearances for the club. This goal scoring record brought him to the attention of Fleetwood Town who signed him up for the 2011/2012 season where he had an impressive record of 31 goals in 36 appearances.

It was this impressive goal to games played ratio that had clubs fighting over him with Cardiff City and Leicester City said to be battling it out. The midlands club landed the striker for one million pounds and he has since proved his worth with 54 goals in 149 games since signing for the Foxes in 2012.

By Dan Pointer

Many wrestling fans believe that 2016 was the year WWE finally started listening to its universe and gave them many of the things they’ve been crying out for since the PG era began. One of these things was the brand split, fans believed that by having separate rosters for Raw and Smackdown it would give more superstars a chance to flourish and get some exposure on TV and in some occasions this has been the case. Who could have ever predicted that Heath Slater would win a championship in 2016? Without the brand split, there would have been very little chance he would even get on TV let alone with the tag team titles.

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However, it’s certainly not all been plain sailing for WWE. After a positive first week of the split, every episode of Raw felt cobbled together and samey, with the same superstars getting the same opportunities week after week to such an extent, that very few people care about the raw tag team division anymore. It’s very clear that now we’re just patiently waiting for The New Day to break Demolition’s tag team title reign of 478 days so we can have some fresh champions.

Another issue with Raw that seems to be continuously irate fans is Roman Reigns. Whatever WWE try to do, they just can’t get him over and the hostile crowd reactions that have plagued him since early 2015, are still looming over him despite the fact he’s supposed to be on the company’s top faces! Fans just can’t relate to Reigns in anyway, even though he’s put on some truly fantastic matches this year. His unstoppable powerhouse gimmick just isn’t working and everybody outside of WWE can see that a huge heel turn is needed to freshen up his character and to take him out of this rut that the creative team has put him in.

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Smackdown on the other hand has been largely excellent. AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose have put on some excellent matches in their feud. The Miz has made the Intercontinental championship prestigious again, with some great heel work and the women’s division is running along very nicely thanks in part to, the most recent NXT recruits and Becky Lynch as champion. There have been some misfires though it must be said, whilst James Ellsworth was a novelty at first and very relatable to many fans, it seems this short fairytale has run its course and it won’t be long until he’s taken off of TV all together.

Five months on, both shows now seem to be on a par with each other, with Smackdown giving consistently interesting storylines and good character development and Raw improving every week. It’s finally turned the Tuesday night show into something more than a repeat of Raw and we’re getting a taste of the old rivalry we used to see in the early 2000s. Now if only we could cut down on the authority promos like Shane McMahon promised.

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By Dan Pointer

It’s one of the most maligned and talked about WWE screw ups in recent years. The women’s revolution (then divas’ revolution) got off to a very promising start in 2015, with three of the so called ‘four horsewomen’ being called up to the main roster from NXT. Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks all brought something completely new to Raw and Smackdown that fans had rarely seen outside of Full Sail University.

Then, the tag matches started, endless, pointless tag matches that did absolutely nothing to build the characters of any of the three women and that were clearly just there to stretch out Nikki Bella’s championship reign as long as possible. The three teams of PCB, BAD and the Bella Army seemingly only existed because the WWE creative team couldn’t find a way to implement all of the women at once and it fell completely flat. Fans were quickly losing interest and grew extremely tired of watching Nikki Bella’s title reign close in on AJ Lee’s record.

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However, once the record had come and gone it was clear that Charlotte was the woman who had been chosen to defeat Nikki for the divas’ championship at Night of Champions 2015 and once that happened it injected new life into the women’s division. Then followed a few months of pretty good matches and storylines (Reid Flair name drop aside). We had a truly incredible triple threat match at Wrestlemania and now we’re coming to the end of an amazing back and forth feud between Charlotte and Sasha Banks. That’s before we ever mention the well-balanced women’s division on Smackdown. So it really does beg the question, was the women’s revolution really so bad after all?

Sure, we sat through countless dull moments at the beginning, but as soon as the Divas’ Championship became the Women’s Championship everything changed. Gone are the two minute matches of a few years ago, now we have Hell in a Cell and tables matches, along with well-constructed storylines and characters that don’t make the women come across as bitchy schoolgirls. Then you have to look at some of the more recent NXT call ups from the brand split. Bayley and Alexa Bliss have been the standouts but even then, women like Nia Jax and Carmella are just waiting in the wings for their big opportunity, the amount of roster depth is truly astounding.

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Back to my original question then, has the WWE women’s revolution actually worked? Well it certainly wasn’t helped by idiotic booking in the summer of 2015, but since then it’s matured and now for the first time ever women are considered superstars instead of a separate entity in WWE. They’re the main eventing pay per views and putting on five star matches that are being talked about around the world, whilst still cutting great promos and representing the WWE in the mainstream media. I’d consider that pretty successful, wouldn’t you?

By Dan Pointer

The Cruiserweight Classic was a highly successful event when it aired on the WWE Network. It was a showcase of some of the world’s greatest wrestlers and most WWE fans had never seen anything like it before. It all culminated when TJ Perkins won the brand-new Cruiserweight Championship after months of high energy matches. But since then things have gone a little downhill. Perkins was booked absolutely horribly after the debut of several of the cruiserweights on Raw and surprise surprise, the creative team didn’t know how to handle so many call ups at once, so they just began throwing very talented wrestlers into utterly meaningless tag matches. The creation of 205 Live seems to show that WWE really want to make this a success, so here are three things that WWE could do to revive the cruiserweight division.

1. Put some established stars on the roster

One of the biggest complaints that fans have with the Cruiserweight division is the lack of well-known superstars competing in it. The Brian Kendrick is one of the few names that fans would quickly recognise and despite the amount of talent on show it’s hard for fans to get behind superstars they don’t know, adding somebody like Sin Cara is a start. However taking a quick glance at the Raw roster it’s easy to see wrestlers that aren’t being utilised properly. Why not put Sami Zayn or Neville on the roster and let them have some meaningful storylines for once? It would definitely get the crowd more into the action and help establish some more competition for the division’s top stars.

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2. Move the entire division to Smackdown

205 Live is a great idea, it gives the Cruiserweights their own show and actually gives them time to put on some good matches. However, it doesn’t really make sense to air the show right after Smackdown, when the division is featured on Raw the night before. It would make much more sense to move the division to Smackdown, so that 205 actually has some consistency in its storylines and when it airs right after the Tuesday night show, fans can stay invested in the action instead of having to wait an extra day.

3. Actually let some of the Cruiserweights have a personality

Beyond The Brain Kendrick being a bitter veteran and TJ Perkins truly awful ‘I like video games so I must reference them at every opportunity’ gimmick very few of the wrestlers have been given a chance to showcase their personality’s much, since they debuted on Monday Night Raw. Noam Dar hasn’t been able to show that he’s more than just some random Scottish guy so far however, hopefully with the introduction of Jack Gallagher this is all about to change. High ranking WWE officials are reportedly very positive about the British grapplers style and he could be the catalyst to finally help the Cruiserweight division take off.

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By Dan Smith

Seattle Sounders won their first ever MLS Cup on Saturday as they overcame Toronto FC in their own backyard.

Having already beat the reigning Supports Shield Champions and US Cup winners FC Dallas as well as Colorado and Kansas City on their path to glory the Sounders would have been in a buoyant mood coming into the season finale.

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However, they faced stiffed opposition in Toronto who were spearheaded by the Italian magician Sebastien Giovinco.

Toronto defeated Philadelphia, New York City FC and fellow Canadian side Montreal Impact on their route to the final.

The game itself however, did not live up to the hype and at the end of extra time the scores were tied at 0-0. It was then that Seattle Sounders won the game on penalties.

The game started with a rapid fiery tempo as both teams looked to gain the upper hand. Early chances for both Jozy Altidore and Giovinco went begging for the hosts. Apart from that not much really happened in the dull 0-0 draw until the 90th minute.

Up step Stefan Frei. The Swiss goalkeeper produced a wonderful save to stop Altidore from scoring what would be the winner, thrusting himself at a cross to prevent it from contacting the Americans head.

More Heroics were to follow in extra time as Frei made a quite simply outstanding save from Altidore once more.

The striker sent a looping header over the top of the shot stopper but somehow, he managed to work his feet back and claw it out from underneath the bar. Snatching victory from the hands of Toronto.

Speaking to Sports Illustrated here is what he had to say about that save:

“Sometimes as a goalkeeper you feel like you’re not going to get to a ball, but you never know until you try. I tried to keep my feet moving and give it my best shot.”

Frei went on to save two spot kicks in the shoot-out and it was cult hero Ramon Torres who sealed the victory by putting away his penalty in sudden death.

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With a solid, experienced spine including the likes of Clint Dempsey, captain Osvaldo Alonso, designated player Nicolas Lodeiro and a mixture of youth, including the MLS Rookie of the year for 2016, Jordan Morris. It gives them plenty of reasons for optimism next season.

This victory has now given the Sounders direct qualification into the CONCACAF Champions League.

A competition that traditionally American teams have not performed very well in, with only Real Salt Lake City being the only club to record a final appearance.

This could all change next year however, with what proves to be an exciting team in the Seattle Sounders and potentially an American champion could become reality.

By Tom Ryan

Magic Johnson

Magic Johnson is regarded as one of the greatest players in National Basketball Association (NBA) history. He was a three-time MVP who had reached the championship final nine times, winning it on five occasions. His career lasted 12 seasons, all with the LA Lakers, retiring at the age of 32.

On November 7th, 1991, Magic Johnson stunned the world with two announcements. Not only did he announce his retirement, he also revealed that he was HIV positive. This announcement worried many fans, fearing it might be the end of Magic Johnson and that the HIV would rapidly turn into AIDS and lead to the death of Magic Johnson.

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Justine Henin

Justine Henin was a superstar of women’s tennis. She was world number one and was on a 32-match win streak when she abruptly announced her retirement from the sport at only 25. The shock of the announcement caught everyone off-guard but also the lack of emotion.

During the announcement, Henin said “It’s a page that’s turning. I don’t feel sadness. It’s more relief. I know it’s a shock for many people, but it’s a decision I’ve thought long and hard about.” This asks the question whether or not she was happy and enjoying tennis as 25 is very young to retire from the sport.

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Bjorn Borg

Bjorn Borg was another tennis superstar whose career lasted barely a decade. Borg was one of the most famous athletes of his generation due to his rockstar persona and meteoric rise. The world was stunned in January 1983 when Borg answered a question by announcing his retirement. Asked about upcoming competitions, Borg replied; “I have no comment, except that I’m going to retire.”

Borg had won five straight Wimbledon titles, 1976 to 1980, and had amassed a total of 11 Grand Slams. He later announced that his reason to retire was because tennis had stopped being fun for him and he could no longer give 100 per cent to the game. He attempted a comeback eight years later, but after two bad years he eventually packed it in for good.

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Michael Jordan

Before the 1993/94 season, Michael Jordan shook the basketball world by announcing his retirement from the sport in order to play in the MLB (Major League Baseball). His retirement was on the back of his third consecutive championship with the Chicago Bulls as well as being a three time MVP and nine time All-Star player.

Michael Jordan did however return to basketball after an unsuccessful stint in the MLB. Jordan went on to win three more championships with the Bulls and earned himself two more MVP honours, before retiring from the sport altogether in 2003.

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Nico Rosberg

Nico Rosberg’s retirement is up there with the biggest shocks in the world of sport. Rosberg’s decision to retire from Formula One was made less than 24 hours after he won his only career world championship at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with the decision being publicly announced five days later. After a season of battling against team mate Lewis Hamilton, Rosberg saw his title winning season as the perfect moment to end his career that started in 2006.

Many fans were shocked at the announcement as many were looking forward to his title defence in 2017 but many of his colleagues however had a different way of seeing it. Toto Wolff, Mercedes team boss said, “He has chosen to leave at the pinnacle of his career, as world champion, having achieved his childhood dream.”

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By Tom Ryan

Liverpool v Barnsley (2007/08)

During the 2007/08 season, Barnsley completed two giant-killings. The game against Liverpool being the most impressive, as Barnsley came from behind to win in front of the Kop. Liverpool started the brightest, going ahead through Dirk Kuyt, but failed to double their lead, with Barnsley’s goalkeeper, Luke Steele, pulling off world-class saves to keep the score at 1-0.

Barnsley equalised through Steven Foster and it was their captain Brian Howard, who scored the winner to add a fairytale ending to the tie. After progressing to the next round, Barnsley went on to beat Chelsea before eventually losing in the Semi Finals to West Bromwich Albion.

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Manchester United v Leeds (2009/10)

This game can be seen as one of the best results in Leeds United’s recent history. Not many results are better than beating your arch-rivals during some of the darkest times in the club’s history. Leading up to this game, Leeds were climbing up to the top of the League One table under the guidance of Simon Grayson after dropping down the divisions. Unlike Leeds, Manchester United was at their usual spot near the top of the Premier League with Sir Alex Ferguson in charge.

Leeds took the lead after only 19 minutes through top goal scorer Jermaine Beckford, after he latched onto a deep ball from Jonny Howson. This would end up being the only goal of the game and one that Sir Alex would not want to remember from his reign as Manchester United boss.

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Leicester City v Wycombe Wanderers (2000/01)

Division Two side Wycombe Wanderers pulled off a huge win in their Quarter Final clash away against Premier League side Leicester City. At the time Wycombe were in financial trouble and used Ceefax to call for strikers to come to the club on trial due to injuries. Northern Ireland born, Finland based Roy Essandoh answered the call, earning himself a week-to-week contract as well as a place on the bench for this momentous occasion.

Wycombe went ahead in the tie through Paul McCarthy in the second half only for Muzzy Izzet to equalise for Leicester. Controversy struck 12 minutes from time as Leicester midfielder Stefan Oakes appeared to handle a Wycombe cross. Wycombe boss Lawrie Sanchez was furious with the decision and after an angry exchange with the officials, the referee sent him to the stands. Deep into injury time, jubilation struck for Wycombe as Roy Essandoh headed home, to put Wycombe into the FA Cup Semi Finals and put his name into Wycombe folklore.

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Hereford v Newcastle United (1971/72)

This game was one of the greatest FA Cup giant-killings in history. Hereford had already earned a replay through a 2-2 draw at Newcastle, which can be seen as an upset in itself as Newcastle were expected to win comfortably. It was Newcastle who went ahead in the tie through a Malcolm Macdonald strike in what looked to be a comfortable lead. This was until Ronnie Radford scored what can be argued as the greatest goal in FA Cup history. Picking the ball up in midfield, Radford passed the ball to his teammate who tapped the ball back for Radford who then unleashed a 30 yard strike straight into the roof of the net to equalise.

The game finished level at 1-1 which meant extra time followed. It was in extra time that Hereford won the game through their substitute Ricky George, dubbed “George the Substitute” by John Motson. The winning goal sent Edgar Street into raptures and caused a pitch invasion from the Hereford fans as they celebrated a historic giant-killing.

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Chelsea v Bradford City (2014/15)

This result put Bradford City into the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time in 18 years. In what was a remarkable game, Bradford came back from two goals down to win 4-2 at Stamford Bridge, the home of Chelsea. Chelsea struck first after 21 minutes through defender Gary Cahill before doubling their lead 17 minutes later through Ramires. This put Chelsea firmly in the driving seat coming up to halftime. Four minutes before the end of the half, Jon Stead pulled a goal back for Bradford with an 18 yard finish to give Bradford some hope.

It took half an hour after the restart for Bradford to find an equaliser and it came from Chelsea youth product Filipe Morais. After Chelsea had wasted multiple opportunities to take the lead, Bradford capitalised on the poor finishing to take the lead themselves through Andy Halliday with eight minutes of normal time to go. The game was settled in the fourth minute of injury time as Mark Yeates controlled a Jon Stead back-heel to score Bradford’s fourth goal of the game and put the result beyond doubt.

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By Ellis Lander

Down the years, meetings between Liverpool and Everton have produced late drama, red cards and incredible goals. Despite the clash being dubbed ‘The Friendly Derby’, there is certainly no love lost between the two clubs, with the fight for bragging rights in the city a big factor when the teams meet.

Ahead of Monday night’s 227th Merseyside derby, I wanted to take a look at the top 5 greatest clashes between Merseyside’s two great clubs.

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Liverpool 4-0 Everton – 28 January 2014

On a chilly night at Anfield, Liverpool ran out 4-0 winners to record their biggest win at home over their great rivals since 1972. It took 21 minutes for the reds to get off the mark as captain Steven Gerrard headed home from a Luis Suarez corner. This was then followed up with two fantastic Daniel Sturridge goals within three minutes of each other just after the half hour mark to send Liverpool into the break with a three goal lead. 5 minutes into the 2nd half, and the home side had a fourth thanks to a wonderful breakaway goal by Luis Suarez.

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Everton 3-0 Liverpool – 9 September 2006

On a disastrous evening for the reds, Everton recorded their biggest win over their rivals in 42 years. It was a day of defensive struggles for Liverpool as Tim Cahill took advantage of a struggling backline

to finish from close range just 12 minutes before Andy Johnson doubled Everton’s lead after a Jamie Carragher mistake. The away side’s misery was confirmed with just minutes to go as Pepe Reina fumbled a long range Lee Carsley effort to allow Andy Johnson to grab his second of the day.

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Liverpool 2-1 Everton – 14 April 2012

On a sunny Saturday afternoon at Wembley, it was the Liverpool that emerged victorious as Merseyside’s two great clubs met for the first time since the stadium reopened. It wasn’t always looking that way though, as Everton took an early through Nikica Jelavić who slid a tidy finish past Liverpool third choice keeper Brad Jones. It took Liverpool until the hour to get the equaliser, which came courtesy of Sylvain Distin’s weak backpass that saw Luis Suarez run through on goal and beat Tim Howard. The winner came with three minutes to go as Andy Carroll glanced home Craig Bellamy’s inswinging free-kick to send the red half of the stadium into delirium.

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Everton 4-4 Liverpool – 20 February 1991

In complete contrast to the 0-0 the two sides endured just 3 days earlier, this FA Cup fifth round replay saw fans enjoy an absolute goal fest. A last minute equaliser from substitute Tony Cottee took the game into extra-time before John Barnes curled in a screamer from 30-yards. With only five minutes remaining in added time, it was Cottee who beat Bruce Grobbelaar for the second time to force another replay and ultimately end Kenny Dalglish’s first reign at Anfield.

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Liverpool 3-2 Everton – 20 May 1989

It was an emotional time for Merseyside as almost the whole city descended on London just five weeks after the Hillsborough disaster. After much debate about whether the match would even go ahead, it was decided the fixture would enable a unique opportunity for the healing process of the great footballing city. It took just four minutes for Liverpool to take the lead through John Aldridge but it wouldn’t be until stoppage time that Stuart McCall would pop up to send the final into extra time. Ian Rush came off the bench to score two goals either side of a McCall screamer to send the cup to Anfield.

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