Liverpool's 8 Worst Individual Errors Of The Last 25 Years

6. Gerard Houllier's Champions League Howler

Having qualified for the 2001/02 Champions League under Gerard Houllier, Liverpool impressed greatly in the competition. They battled their way through to the quarter-finals, where they faced a Bayer Leverkusen side who, despite having the likes of Michael Ballack and Lucio in their ranks, were not expected to cause the Reds too many problems. Having won the first-leg 1-0 at Anfield, thanks to Sami Hyypia's goal, they were definite favourites to qualify for the last-four. United would be the opponents in the semis, which was extra motivation for Houllier and his players. With Abel Xavier's goal cancelling out Ballack's opener, Liverpool knew Leverkusen had to score twice to qualify. In the 61st minute, however, Houllier decided to change things, substituting the brilliant, defence-minded Dietmar Hamann and replacing him with attacking wide man Vladimir Smicer. The rest, as they say, was history. Ballack and Dimitar Berbatov made it 3-1 in no time, and although Jari Litmanen made it 3-2 and put the Reds back in control of their own destiny, Lucio scored a fourth for the German side late on, sending them through in the process. Houllier never really seemed to recover from that miserable night, and he was eventually sacked in 2004.