I was in Liverpool end for Mark Viduka masterclass 25 years ago – the best defeat I’ve ever seen
It’s a quarter of a century since Leeds last beat Liverpool in the Premier League at Elland Road, but Richard Garnett will never forget it
Richard Garnett Central Audience Sport Content Editor
07:30, 06 Dec 2025
Mark Viduka scored four times for Leeds against Liverpool in a classic match 25 years ago(Image: Mark Thompson/ALLSPORT/Getty Images Europe)
When Daniel Farke sends his Leeds United side into battle on Saturday evening, he will be looking to achieve what less than a week ago felt like an unlikely double.
Having ended a run of four successive Premier League defeats with a brilliant 3-1 win against Chelsea at Elland Road on Wednesday night, what looked like two extremely challenging home matches now represents the chance to record back-to-back wins, relieving the pressure on the Whites’ under-fire boss.
However, beating Liverpool would not only give Leeds their first consecutive league wins of the season, but it would also represent their first Premier League triumph over their Merseyside opponents at home for 25 years.
Granted, they have not been helped in that statistic by being out of the top-flight for a considerable length of time over the last quarter of a century, but you have to go back to November 4, 2000, for the last time that Leeds collected three points on home soil against the Reds.
That match may have been a long time ago, but it is one that I am never likely to forget. Nor so the thousands of ecstatic Leeds fans who witnessed Australian striker Mark Viduka find the net four times in a stunning 4-3 victory that ebbed and flowed with all the excitement of a true classic if it’s time.
Although I don’t expect to find much sympathy from readers on this page, as a Liverpool season ticket holder, I remember the game, all too well, from my vantage point at the front of the away end.
The form of the two sides heading into the match could hardly have been any different. Leeds were without a win in five matches, whilst Gerard Houllier’s Liverpool had won five in a row.
The Reds had the likes of Robbie Fowler and Emile Heskey in attack, but it was lynchpin defender Sami Hyypia who gave the visitors the lead in just the second minute, when the giant Finn glanced home Patrick Berger’s in-swinging free-kick.
That lead was doubled inside 20 minutes after German full-back Christian Ziege headed home Gary McAllister’s free-kick delivery for a second dead-ball goal of the first half.
But if the travelling Reds thought that was the signal for an easy afternoon at Elland Road, nothing could be further from the truth. Leeds struck back six minutes later when Alan Smith charged down Ziege’s clearance and Viduka was on hand lift the ball over Sander Westerveld in the visitors’ goal.
Liverpool still held the lead at halftime, but from then on, things started to get wilder and wilder. Leeds were level less than two minutes after the restart when their Australian front man leapt brilliantly to head in Danny Kelly’s cross at the near post.
Elland Road had lift-off. The atmosphere was white-hot. Liverpool fans were stunned, but their team had newfound resilience under Houllier and fought back.
Just past the hour mark, they were back in front as Berger scampered down the left wing and crossed low for his Czech compatriot, Valdimir Smicer, who controlled the ball before turning and slotting the ball into the corner of the net in the front of the jubilant travelling Kopites.
I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit that I was certain that Liverpool would secure all three points from that point. But Viduka had other ideas.
Houllier brought on Fowler and a young Steven Gerrard as he looked to put the game to bed, but he had forgotten all about the threat at the other end of the pitch.
With little over a quarter of an hour left to play, Olivier Dacourt’s threading pass found Viduka in the penalty area. After putting Liverpool defender Marcus Babbel on his backside, the Leeds striker made enough space to clinically arrow home an equaliser, completing his hat-trick and setting up a grandstand finish.
By this point, Elland Road could not be tamed, and the visitors were about to pay the price.
With a winning formula still fresh in his mind, Dacort played an almost identical ball through to his teammate two minutes later and the result was the same as a red-hot Viduka showed his ruthlessness to lift the ball over Westerveld and give Leeds the lead for the first time in the match.
The hosts were able to hold on and Viduka became the toast of the city thanks to his incredible exploits in front of goal. The BBC reported that Viduka had “single-handedly destroyed Liverpool with a four-goal blast in an encounter of stunning drama” and “delivered a display of almost flawless marksmanship”.
But the man himself was remarkably modest in his post-match appraisal. He said: “Every time I had a sniff of goal I scored, but I have actually played better. These days are very rare, but it was a fantastic win for us.”
Leeds boss David O’Leary was equally ground in his own assessment, adding: “We got lucky, but I always felt we could score against them. I loved beating Liverpool as a player – and I like it as a manager.”
That season was my first as Liverpool season ticket holder and I was a regular on the away circuit as well. It turned out to be a memorable campaign as we pipped Leeds to third place in the Premier League, but more significantly, completed a unique treble, winning the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup under Houllier.
That season was memorable for many reasons, but the 4-3 defeat to Leeds was right up there, becaue to this day it remains the greatest match that I have ever seen my own team lose.
Darniel Farke will be hoping to make his own history with the current Leeds side on Saturday evening, but unless Dominic Calvert-Lewin can unleash his inner Mark Viduka, I won’t be expecting a seven-goal thriller like the one it witnessed at Elland Road 25 years ago.
