As Liverpool prepare for their League Cup semi-final second leg clash with Fulham, their exploits this season are offering a reminder of their 2000/01 treble-winning season.
The Reds won the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup that season, while also qualifying for the Champions League for the first time. And while a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League table ensures they have heftier heights when it comes to the English top-flight, a repeat of that cup success is certainly possible.
A place in the League Cup final awaits if they get past the Cottagers, while they host Norwich City in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday. Meanwhile, although disappointed to miss out on Champions League football last season, a knock-on effect from such failings is the fact that Jurgen Klopp’s men are the favourites to win the Europa League this year. They return to continental action in the round-of-16 in March, and will be looking to reach May’s final in Dublin.
It was 23 years ago to this day when Liverpool secured their place in the League Cup final back in 2001. Having lost 2-1 to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, an emphatic 5-0 victory at Anfield made sure it would be the Reds that progressed to Cardiff.
Such a tie is still memorable amongst Kopites over two decades on due to former Palace striker Clinton Morrison. He infamously mocked Michael Owen and Emile Heskey for being wasteful in front of goal after scoring the winner in the first leg, but, inevitably, was quickly made to eat such words back at Anfield.
Yet for one former Red, the game is one he’ll never forget for very different reasons. Having joined Liverpool from Dinamo Zagreb the previous month, a 22-year-old Igor Biscan scored his first goal for the club, giving them a 3-0 lead on the night after just 18 minutes, when making only his 10th appearance since signing.
The Croatian would end up starting the League Cup final against Birmingham City as Liverpool won on penalties, but made just seven further appearances that season. Missing both the FA Cup and UEFA Cup finals, being cup-tied for the latter, the midfielder is not too proud to admit he struggled after moving to Anfield.
“The original plan was for me to arrive in England in January; my season in Croatia finished at the beginning of December and they told me they would give me a little rest because that’s what usually happens in Croatia and most of Europe,” he recalled. “But as soon as we finished in Croatia they said, because of injuries, I need to go straight ahead to join the team as soon as possible.
“I played my last game – I think it was December 3 in Croatia – and a week after it was the Ipswich game, it was very soon. It was a special moment for me. We lost that game, so the atmosphere in the dressing room after the game was not good, but I will remember that day forever.
“I then made my full debut at Old Trafford. Back then Man United was the team to beat and winning against our biggest rival at Old Trafford on my full league debut was great.
“It was difficult from the start. But at the beginning, maybe because of the adrenaline and how big everything was and the games – suddenly you play against some of the top players in the world, against the top teams in the world, and you play with some great players, and the atmosphere and everything is just so big – you don’t think about tiredness or fatigue.
“The first four or five games I was okay physically and mentally, but then I started to feel pain everywhere because the change of everything was just too big; the intensity, the physical demands were different to what I was used to in Croatia.
“To be honest, it was not easy. I left home at a very young age, didn’t speak the language very well, and on top of that I came there to play at a level that I had never played at before.
I was young, I didn’t really know where I was going and the stature of the club and the importance of the club and how big it really is because when I was growing up, in the media in that time some other clubs were maybe dominating and were more popular than Liverpool. So, to be honest, I didn’t really know how big it is.
“The team was full of international players, as well as some of the best English players, and you soon realise that you are in for a bit of a tough time.
“I had some problems, if I can remember, especially my back was hurting a lot. Then I struggled a bit for the remainder of that season. I struggled a lot during those next two seasons too. I will put it simply – I just was not good enough to play more.
“But you cannot complain when you get a chance to play and that first season I arrived was unbelievable, we won almost everything and there was just no time to think about it because it was game after game in which you needed to win to progress and to give yourself a chance to win something. It was amazing.
“It was a rollercoaster season for everybody. But maybe for me even more because I was really young, and to come from this league and this type of football in this environment to something like that, in which every game is just so big and the atmosphere of the fans and the importance of the games was big. But you don’t really think about it.
“Of course, I wasn’t playing all the time, but when you prepare for the game you are positive because your team is winning and everything around you is so positive, so it gets you through. In the end it was perfect, a perfect six months and season for us.”
Biscan has admittedly he wasn’t good enough to play for Liverpool at the time on more than one occasion. Making 21 appearances in his first half-season at Anfield, he was frozen out for the majority of the next two years as a result.
When returning in 2003/04, he would often be fielded out of position at centre-back. Yet the arrival of Rafa Benitez would change things for the Croatian. While he left the club on a free transfer at the end of his contract the following summer, his final year at Anfield proved to be his best as he helped the Reds win the Champions League, shining on the run to Istanbul even if he didn’t play in the final.
“I wasn’t good enough, to be honest,” he admitted. “It took me some time to really adapt and understand and find my place in the team, within the team in this type of football.
“It wasn’t easy and I didn’t play much. I just needed to change some things about the way I think about the game; then I did it and when I did it, when I changed some things, of course I still had to be patient and give myself a little bit of time. Then it was okay, I felt much better and felt I could play much easier.”
“At some point I wanted to leave because I wanted a fresh start and had some options abroad, but the manager convinced me to stay. In the end that proved to be the right decision.
“When he (Benitez) first spoke to me, he asked me which position I preferred to play and I told him I’d like to play as a central midfielder or defensive midfielder.
“Maybe that was the main thing for me, because I felt I could give my best in that position and it proved to be true. This season was really famous in the end; it was a special season, and for me personally as well because I would say that season was the only season out of the five I was there that I really, I believe, played the level at the top of my abilities.
“At least that’s what I thought. And I contributed the way I expected myself to contribute during the whole period I was there. Sometimes it just happens like this. Fortunately for me, I managed to reach at least that level of quality that I could play a part.
“That last season was by far my best. I felt good playing in the midfield. The team played well in Europe and everything finished perfectly with our win in Istanbul.”
While Biscan’s Liverpool career did not work out as he would have liked under the manager who signed him, Gerard Houllier, the Frenchman had conducted a lengthy charm offensive to persuade the Croatian to join the Reds.
Having impressed for Dinamo Zagreb, both domestically and in the Champions League, the Reds saw off interest from Juventus, Barcelona, Ajax and AC Milan to land the midfielder’s signature with the deal seen as something of a coup at the time.
Ultimately, he would fail to live up to such expectations following the £5.5m transfer, perhaps making Houllier’s extra efforts seem a little futile. But that didn’t stop him from becoming something of a cult hero with Kopites due to his trophy-winning exploits.
“I didn’t know Liverpool were after me”, he recalled. “I was in some talks with some other clubs; not me personally but Dinamo Zagreb.
“I went to Amsterdam to visit Ajax, they invited me to come there to get to know the club. There were rumours they would buy me but in the end, when Liverpool made an offer that was it.
“That was the best offer for me and for the club and I made the decision. That was it.
“I did speak with the manager a few times before I joined the team. I was invited to come and watch one game (Sunderland a few months earlier) at Anfield, which was amazing.
“After the game I spent some time with Mr. Houllier. He explained everything to me about the club and the team, and then a couple of months later I signed.”
He continued: “All those finals and trophies are great memories. I remember in the League Cup we played a Championship side (Birmingham City) in the final and felt that we have a good chance of winning the trophy.
“It was a really difficult game in the end, but we won it and that gave us the confidence to go on and win every other final we played that season. But of course, Istanbul is my number one.
“I am thankful and really appreciate the fans’ support. It is nice to hear that, but I do not consider myself a cult hero. I think that there are so many other players who deserve that status before me.
“I know at times the fans didn’t want to see me in the team. There were other players, and they were better than me. That is okay. That is the reality of the situation but I felt like I always had their support, they were loyal and are special fans. It’s only when you are part of the club you realise how much.”
