2020–21 Liverpool F.C. season

2020–21 Liverpool F.C. season

The 2020–21 season was Liverpool Football Club's 129th season in existence and their 59th consecutive season in the top flight of English football. In addition to the domestic league, Liverpool participated in this season's editions of the FA Cup, the EFL Cup, the FA Community Shield and the UEFA Champions League. The season covered the period from August 2020 to 30 June 2021. This was the first season since 2013–14 without Dejan Lovren, who departed to Zenit Saint Petersburg and Adam Lallana, who departed to Brighton and Hove Albion.

Season overview

2020–21 Liverpool F.C. season

The season was notably difficult, as the majority of games were played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and all three of the club's senior central defenders sustained long-term injuries. The team's early form was creditable and, on 22 November 2020, they broke the club record for longest unbeaten run at home in the league (which had previously stood at 63) with a 3–0 win over Leicester City. However, the run ended on 21 January 2021 following a 1–0 defeat to Burnley; it had stood at 68, the second-longest unbeaten home run in English top-flight history, behind Chelsea's run of 86 games between March 2004 and October 2008, and the longest under a single manager. A tough period followed as Liverpool suffered a run of six consecutive defeats at Anfield. This ended any chance the team had of retaining the Premier League title as by early March, Liverpool sat 8th in the table with 43 points. The team, however, was able to reverse their fortunes, winning eight of their final ten league games, which included goalkeeper Alisson Becker scoring a stoppage-time winner against West Bromwich Albion (the first goal ever scored by a Liverpool goalkeeper in the 129-year history of the club), meaning they finished third with 69 points, qualifying for the next season's UEFA Champions League.

First-team squad

2020–21 Liverpool F.C. season

Squad no.	Player	Nationality	Position(s)	Date of birth	Signed from	Apps	Goals	Assists
Goalkeepers
1	Alisson Becker		GK	2 October 1992 (aged 28)	Roma	130	1	1
13	Adrián		GK	3 January 1987 (aged 34)	West Ham United	24	0	0
62	Caoimhín Kelleher		GK	23 November 1998 (aged 22)	LFC Academy	9	0	0
97	Marcelo Pitaluga		GK	20 December 2002 (aged 18)	Fluminense	0	0	0
Defenders
4	Virgil van Dijk (3rd captain)		CB	8 July 1991 (aged 29)	Southampton	130	13	6
12	Joe Gomez		CB/RB/LB	23 May 1997 (aged 24)	Charlton Athletic	121	0	4
19	Ozan Kabak		CB	25 March 2000 (aged 21)	Schalke 04	13	0	0
21	Kostas Tsimikas		LB	12 May 1996 (aged 25)	Olympiacos	7	0	0
26	Andy Robertson		LB	11 March 1994 (aged 27)	Hull City	177	5	37
28	Ben Davies		CB/LB	21 August 1995 (aged 25)	Preston North End	0	0	0
32	Joël Matip		CB	8 August 1991 (aged 29)	Schalke 04	123	6	3
46	Rhys Williams		CB	3 February 2001 (aged 20)	LFC Academy	19	0	0
47	Nat Phillips		CB	21 March 1997 (aged 24)	LFC Academy	21	1	1
66	Trent Alexander-Arnold		RB	7 October 1998 (aged 22)	LFC Academy	179	10	43
76	Neco Williams		RB	13 April 2001 (aged 20)	LFC Academy	25	0	2
Midfielders
3	Fabinho		DM/RB/CB	23 October 1993 (aged 27)	Monaco	122	3	6
5	Georginio Wijnaldum (4th captain)		CM/DM/AM	11 November 1990 (aged 30)	Newcastle United	237	22	15
6	Thiago		CM/DM	11 April 1991 (aged 30)	Bayern Munich	30	1	0
7	James Milner (vice-captain)		CM/DM/LB/RB	4 January 1986 (aged 35)	Manchester City	250	26	40
8	Naby Keïta		CM/AM	10 February 1995 (aged 26)	RB Leipzig	76	7	4
14	Jordan Henderson (captain)		CM/DM/CB	17 June 1990 (aged 31)	Sunderland	392	30	49
15	Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain		CM/AM/RW/LW	15 August 1993 (aged 27)	Arsenal	104	14	11
17	Curtis Jones		CM/AM	30 January 2001 (aged 20)	LFC Academy	47	7	6
23	Xherdan Shaqiri		RW/LW/AM/CM	10 October 1991 (aged 29)	Stoke City	63	8	9
58	Ben Woodburn		AM/CM/LW/RW	15 October 1999 (aged 21)	LFC Academy	11	1	0
Forwards
9	Roberto Firmino		ST/AM	2 October 1991 (aged 29)	1899 Hoffenheim	292	87	63
10	Sadio Mané		LW/RW/ST	10 April 1992 (aged 29)	Southampton	218	97	37
11	Mohamed Salah		RW/LW/ST	15 June 1992 (aged 29)	Roma	203	125	43
20	Diogo Jota		LW/RW/ST	4 December 1996 (aged 24)	Wolverhampton Wanderers	30	13	1
27	Divock Origi		ST/LW	18 April 1995 (aged 26)	Lille	157	35	11

New contracts

Date	Position	No.	Player	Ref.
17 August 2020	DF	76	Neco Williams

Transfers

Transfers in

Entry date	Position	No.	Player	From club	Fee	Ref.
10 August 2020	DF	21	Kostas Tsimikas	Olympiacos	£11,750,000
18 September 2020	MF	6	Thiago	Bayern Munich	£20,000,000
19 September 2020	FW	20	Diogo Jota	Wolverhampton Wanderers	£41,000,000
8 October 2020	GK	97	Marcelo Pitaluga	Fluminense	£1,000,000
1 February 2021	DF	28	Ben Davies	Preston North End	£500,000
Total	£74,250,000

Loan in

Start date	End date	Position	No.	Player	From club	Fee	Ref
1 February 2021	End of season	DF	19	Ozan Kabak	Schalke 04	£1,000,000
Total	£1,000,000

Transfers out

<table><thead><tr><th>Exit date</th><th>Position</th><th>No.</th><th>Player</th><th>To club</th><th>Fee</th><th>Ref.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>27 July 2020</td><td>GK</td><td>22</td><td>Andy Lonergan</td><td>Stoke City</td><td>Released</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>27 July 2020</td><td>MF</td><td>20</td><td>Adam Lallana</td><td>Brighton & Hove Albion</td><td>Released</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>27 July 2020</td><td>DF</td><td>6</td><td>Dejan Lovren</td><td>Zenit Saint Petersburg</td><td>£10,900,000</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>28 August 2020</td><td>MF</td><td>53</td><td>Ovie Ejaria</td><td>Reading</td><td>£3,000,000</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>19 September 2020</td><td>DF</td><td>51</td><td>Ki-Jana Hoever</td><td>Wolverhampton Wanderers</td><td>£9,000,000</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2 October 2020</td><td>FW</td><td>24</td><td>Rhian Brewster</td><td>Sheffield United</td><td>£18,000,000</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>16 October 2020</td><td>FW</td><td>55</td><td>Herbie Kane</td><td>Barnsley</td><td>£1,250,000</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Total</td><td>£42,150,000</td></tr></tbody></table>

Loans out

<table><thead><tr><th>Start date</th><th>End date</th><th>Position</th><th>No.</th><th>Player</th><th>To club</th><th>Fee</th><th>Ref</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>12 August 2020</td><td>2 January 2021</td><td>DF</td><td>—</td><td>Morgan Boyes</td><td>Fleetwood Town</td><td>None</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>18 August 2020</td><td>14 January 2021</td><td>DF</td><td>—</td><td>Adam Lewis</td><td>Amiens SC</td><td>None</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>7 September 2020</td><td>End of season</td><td>MF</td><td>54</td><td>Sheyi Ojo</td><td>Cardiff City</td><td>None</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>14 September 2020</td><td>31 December 2020</td><td>DF</td><td>—</td><td>Tony Gallacher</td><td>Toronto FC</td><td>None</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>19 September 2020</td><td>End of season</td><td>FW</td><td>—</td><td>Taiwo Awoniyi</td><td>Union Berlin</td><td>None</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>28 September 2020</td><td>End of season</td><td>GK</td><td>22</td><td>Loris Karius</td><td>Union Berlin</td><td>None</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>28 September 2020</td><td>End of season</td><td>GK</td><td>73</td><td>Kamil Grabara</td><td>AGF</td><td>None</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>6 October 2020</td><td>End of season</td><td>DF</td><td>—</td><td>Anderson Arroyo</td><td>Salamanca</td><td>None</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>6 October 2020</td><td>End of season</td><td>MF</td><td>16</td><td>Marko Grujić</td><td>Porto</td><td>£1,000,000</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>16 October 2020</td><td>18 January 2021</td><td>MF</td><td>58</td><td>Ben Woodburn</td><td>Blackpool</td><td>None</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>16 October 2020</td><td>End of season</td><td>MF</td><td>59</td><td>Harry Wilson</td><td>Cardiff City</td><td>£1,200,000</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>16 October 2020</td><td>End of season</td><td>MF</td><td>67</td><td>Harvey Elliott</td><td>Blackburn Rovers</td><td>None</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>5 January 2021</td><td>End of season</td><td>FW</td><td>—</td><td>Liam Millar</td><td>Charlton Athletic</td><td>None</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>14 January 2021</td><td>End of season</td><td>DF</td><td>—</td><td>Adam Lewis</td><td>Plymouth Argyle</td><td>None</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>1 February 2021</td><td>End of season</td><td>DF</td><td>72</td><td>Sepp van den Berg</td><td>Preston North End</td><td>None</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>1 February 2021</td><td>End of season</td><td>FW</td><td>18</td><td>Takumi Minamino</td><td>Southampton</td><td>£500,000</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>3 February 2021</td><td>30 November 2021</td><td>GK</td><td>—</td><td>Vítězslav Jaroš</td><td>St Patrick's Athletic</td><td>None</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Total</td><td>£2,700,000</td></tr></tbody></table>

Pre-season friendlies

2020–21 Liverpool F.C. season

On 19 August 2020, Liverpool announced that they would play two friendlies as part of their pre-season training camp in Austria. On 2 September 2020, they announced that they would complete their pre-season campaign with a home game against Blackpool.

Competitions

Overview

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Premier League	12 September 2020	23 May 2021	Matchday 1	3rd	38	20	9	9	68	42	+26	052.63
FA Cup	8 January 2021	24 January 2021	Third round	Fourth round	2	1	0	1	6	4	+2	050.00
EFL Cup	24 September 2020	1 October 2020	Third round	Fourth round	2	1	1	0	7	2	+5	050.00
UEFA Champions League	21 October 2020	14 April 2021	Group stage	Quarter-finals	10	6	2	2	15	6	+9	060.00
FA Community Shield	29 August 2020	Final	Runners-up	1	0	1	0	1	1	+0	000.00
Total	53	28	13	12	97	55	+42	052.83

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Manchester City (C)	38	27	5	6	83	32	+51	86	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Manchester United	38	21	11	6	73	44	+29	74
3	Liverpool	38	20	9	9	68	42	+26	69
4	Chelsea	38	19	10	9	58	36	+22	67
5	Leicester City	38	20	6	12	68	50	+18	66	Qualification for the Europa League group stage

Results summary

Overall	Home	Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
38	20	9	9	68	42	+26	69	10	3	6	29	20	+9	10	6	3	39	22	+17

Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 20 August 2020.

FA Cup

Liverpool entered the competition in the third round. The draw was confirmed on 30 November 2020 live on BT Sport. The draw for the fourth and fifth round were made on 11 January 2021, conducted by former Liverpool player Peter Crouch.

EFL Cup

Liverpool entered the competition in the third round. The draw was confirmed on 6 September 2020 live on Sky Sports. The fourth round draw was conducted on 17 September 2020, also live on Sky Sports.

UEFA Champions League

Liverpool entered the competition in the group stage.

Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 1 October 2020.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		LIV	ATA	AJX	MID
1	Liverpool	6	4	1	1	10	3	+7	13	Advance to knockout phase		—	0–2	1–0	2–0
2	Atalanta	6	3	2	1	10	8	+2	11		0–5	—	2–2	1–1
3	Ajax	6	2	1	3	7	7	0	7	Transfer to Europa League		0–1	0–1	—	3–1
4	Midtjylland	6	0	2	4	4	13	−9	2			1–1	0–4	1–2	—

Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 14 December 2020.

Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 19 March 2021.

Squad statistics

Appearances

Players with no appearances are not included on the list.

No.	Pos.	Nat.	Player	Premier League	FA Cup	EFL Cup	Champions League	Community Shield	Total
Apps	Starts	Apps	Starts	Apps	Starts	Apps	Starts	Apps	Starts	Apps	Starts
1	GK		Alisson Becker	33	33	1	1	0	0	7	7	1	1	42	42
3	MF		Fabinho	30	28	2	2	1	0	8	7	1	1	42	38
4	DF		Virgil van Dijk	5	5	0	0	2	2	0	0	1	1	8	8
5	MF		Georginio Wijnaldum	38	34	2	2	1	0	9	8	1	1	51	45
6	MF		Thiago	24	20	2	1	0	0	4	2	0	0	30	23
7	MF		James Milner	26	11	2	2	1	1	6	4	1	1	36	19
8	MF		Naby Keïta	10	7	0	0	1	0	4	2	1	0	16	9
9	FW		Roberto Firmino	36	33	2	1	0	0	9	3	1	1	48	38
10	FW		Sadio Mané	35	31	2	1	0	0	10	8	1	1	48	41
11	FW		Mohamed Salah	37	34	2	2	1	1	10	9	1	1	51	47
12	DF		Joe Gomez	7	6	0	0	1	0	3	3	1	1	12	10
13	GK		Adrián	3	3	0	0	2	2	1	1	0	0	6	6
14	MF		Jordan Henderson	21	20	1	1	0	0	6	4	0	0	28	25
15	MF		Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain	13	2	1	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	17	2
17	MF		Curtis Jones	24	13	2	2	2	2	5	5	1	0	34	22
19	DF		Ozan Kabak	9	9	0	0	0	0	4	4	0	0	13	13
20	FW		Diogo Jota	19	12	0	0	2	1	9	6	0	0	30	19
21	DF		Kostas Tsimikas	2	0	0	0	1	1	4	2	0	0	7	3
23	MF		Xherdan Shaqiri	14	5	2	0	1	1	5	1	0	0	22	7
26	DF		Andrew Robertson	38	38	1	1	0	0	10	8	1	1	50	48
27	FW		Divock Origi	9	2	2	0	2	1	4	3	0	0	17	6
32	DF		Joël Matip	10	9	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	12	11
46	DF		Rhys Williams	9	7	2	2	2	2	6	3	0	0	19	14
47	DF		Nat Phillips	17	15	0	0	0	0	3	3	0	0	20	18
62	GK		Caoimhín Kelleher	2	2	1	1	0	0	2	2	0	0	5	5
65	MF		Leighton Clarkson	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	1
66	DF		Trent Alexander-Arnold	36	34	1	1	0	0	8	8	0	0	45	43
76	DF		Neco Williams	6	3	1	1	2	2	4	2	1	1	14	9
89	DF		Billy Koumetio	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
Players who went out on loan or left permanently but made appearances for Liverpool prior to departing
16	MF		Marko Grujić	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	2	2
18	FW		Takumi Minamino	9	2	1	1	2	2	4	2	1	0	17	7
24	FW		Rhian Brewster	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
59	MF		Harry Wilson	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1
67	MF		Harvey Elliott	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1
Total	38	2	2	10	1	53

Goals

Rank	Pos.	No.	Player	Premier League	FA Cup	EFL Cup	Champions League	Community Shield	Total
1	FW	11	Mohamed Salah	22	3	0	6	0	31
2	FW	10	Sadio Mané	11	2	0	3	0	16
3	FW	20	Diogo Jota	9	0	0	4	0	13
4	FW	9	Roberto Firmino	9	0	0	0	0	9
5	MF	17	Curtis Jones	1	0	2	1	0	4
FW	18	Takumi Minamino	1	0	2	0	1	4
7	MF	5	Georginio Wijnaldum	2	1	0	0	0	3
8	DF	66	Trent Alexander-Arnold	2	0	0	0	0	2
9	GK	1	Alisson Becker	1	0	0	0	0	1
DF	4	Virgil van Dijk	1	0	0	0	0	1
MF	6	Thiago	1	0	0	0	0	1
MF	14	Jordan Henderson	1	0	0	0	0	1
MF	15	Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain	1	0	0	0	0	1
MF	16	Marko Grujić	0	0	1	0	0	1
MF	23	Xherdan Shaqiri	0	0	1	0	0	1
DF	26	Andy Robertson	1	0	0	0	0	1
FW	27	Divock Origi	0	0	1	0	0	1
DF	32	Joël Matip	1	0	0	0	0	1
DF	47	Nat Phillips	1	0	0	0	0	1
Own goals	3	0	0	1	0	4
Total	68	6	7	15	1	97

Clean sheets

No.	Player	Premier League	FA Cup	EFL Cup	Champions League	Community Shield	Total
1	Alisson Becker	10	0	0	5	0	15
13	Adrián	1	0	1	1	0	3
62	Caoimhín Kelleher	1	0	0	1	0	2
Total	12	0	1	7	0	20

Disciplinary record

No.	Pos.	Name	Premier League	FA Cup	EFL Cup	Champions League	Community Shield	Total
1	GK	Alisson Becker	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
3	MF	Fabinho	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
4	DF	Virgil van Dijk	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
5	MF	Georginio Wijnaldum	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	3	0
6	MF	Thiago	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	5	0
7	MF	James Milner	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	6	0
8	MF	Naby Keïta	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
9	FW	Roberto Firmino	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
10	FW	Sadio Mané	3	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	6	0
14	MF	Jordan Henderson	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0
17	MF	Curtis Jones	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	4	0
18	FW	Takumi Minamino	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
19	DF	Ozan Kabak	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	4	0
20	FW	Diogo Jota	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
21	DF	Kostas Tsimikas	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
23	MF	Xherdan Shaqiri	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
26	DF	Andy Robertson	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	0
32	DF	Joël Matip	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
47	DF	Nat Phillips	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	0
59	MF	Harry Wilson	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
62	GK	Caoimhín Kelleher	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
66	DF	Trent Alexander-Arnold	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	4	0
76	DF	Neco Williams	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Total	40	0	3	0	2	0	17	0	1	0	63	0

Club awards

End-of-season awards

• Standard Chartered Men's Player of the Season: Mohamed Salah • Goal of the Season: Alisson Becker (vs West Brom, 16 May 2021)

Liverpool Standard Chartered Player of the Month award

Awarded monthly to the player that was chosen by fans voting on Liverpoolfc.com

Month	Player	Ref
September	Sadio Mané
October	Diogo Jota
November
December	Mohamed Salah
January
February
March	Nat Phillips
April	Trent Alexander-Arnold