page_title: Liverpool F.C. in international football competitions
section_title: First steps in Europe – the Shankly years (1965–74)
hierarchical_section_title: Liverpool F.C. in international football competitions / History / First steps in Europe – the Shankly years (1965–74)
caption_attribution_description: English: Statue of Bill Shankly at the front of Anfield stadium.Depicted person&#58; &#32;Bill Shankly&#32;– Scottish footballer and manager
context_page_description: Liverpool Football Club is a professional association football club in Union of European Football Associations competitions. Since 1964, they have won fourteen European and Worldwide trophies, more than any other British club. These consist of the UEFA Champions League six times, the UEFA Europa League three times, the UEFA Super Cup four times, and the FIFA Club World Cup once.
  Qualification for European competitions is determined by a team's success in its domestic league and cup competitions from the previous season. Liverpool competed in European competitions for 21 consecutive seasons until the 1985 European Cup Final, the occasion of the Heysel Stadium disaster, following which the club was banned from European competitions for six seasons. Since being readmitted in 1991, they have qualified for the UEFA Champions League twelve times, the UEFA Europa League twelve times, and the UEFA Cup Winners Cup twice.
  As a result of their victory in the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, Liverpool won the European Champion Clubs' Cup trophy outright and were awarded a multiple winner badge. Only 2 teams have won more Champions Leagues than Liverpool – Real Madrid and A.C.
context_section_description: Bill Shankly began managing Liverpool in 1959, and it was under him that the team first competed in European competition in 1964–65, qualifying for the European Cup by winning the First Division championship the previous season. The club's first opponents were Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur of Iceland, who they played in the preliminary round. Liverpool won 11–1 on aggregate. The next round, against Belgian club Anderlecht, was the first time in Liverpool's history that they wore their now common all-red strip. The decision was made to change from red shirts, white shorts and socks by Shankly, who wanted his players to make more of a psychological impact on opponents. They beat Anderlecht and progressed to the semi-finals, where they met Italian team Inter Milan. Before the first leg at Anfield, Shankly asked two injured players to parade the FA Cup, which Liverpool had won the previous week, to intimidate the Italians. The team won the match 3–1, but Inter won the second leg 3–0, securing a 4–3 aggregate victory. The second leg was controversial; Shankly described it as "a war". He felt that the referee, José María Ortiz de Mendíbil, had shown bias towards Inter, and the Liverpool players felt cheated by his decisions. The club's 1964–65 FA Cup victory ensured qualification for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup the following season, and in that competition, they reached their first European final. Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool's opponents, employed counter-attacking tactics that had paid dividends in previous rounds and did so again, with the West Germans beating Liverpool 2–1 after extra time. Striker, Roger Hunt, described the defeat as "an off night" and said, "it was probably the most disappointing defeat over the years because we just didn't play.
  In the next four seasons, they competed in the European Cup and Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, but failed to progress past the third round in either competition. A tie against Dutch team Ajax during the 1966–67 European Cup was to prove pivotal in the history of Liverpool in European competition. Ajax beat Liverpool 7–3 on aggregate. However, the style of football that Ajax played – a patient passing game, inspired by Johann Cruyff – convinced Shankly that Liverpool had to replicate this style to be successful in Europe. Liverpool reached the semi-finals of the 1970–71 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, losing 1–0 on aggregate to Leeds United. They competed in the 1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup, despite losing the 1971 FA Cup Final, as the FA Cup winners, Arsenal, had also qualified for the European Cup by winning the league championship. Liverpool were eliminated in the second round by Bayern Munich of Germany, losing 3–1 on aggregate.
  The changes made to Liverpool's tactics came to fruition during the 1972–73 UEFA Cup. The club reached their second European final, where they faced Borussia Mönchengladbach of Germany. Liverpool won the first leg 3–0 as a result of two goals from Kevin Keegan and one from Larry Lloyd. Victory in this first leg meant Liverpool only needed to avoid losing by three or more goals in order to win the final. This influenced their tactics – The Times reported that Liverpool employed a "holding action" against the "attacking Germans". The tactics worked, allowing Mönchengladbach only two goals, granting Liverpool a 3–2 aggregate victory. Liverpool also won the First Division championship that season, and as a result, qualified for the 1973–74 European Cup, where they were eliminated in the second round by Red Star Belgrade of Yugoslavia. The defeat marked a shift in emphasis in the style of Liverpool's play to a more patient approach. At the end of that season, Shankly retired.
caption: Statue of Bill Shankly outside Anfield. Shankly was the first Liverpool manager to win a European trophy.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 1300D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "350", "Image YResolution": "350", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2018:09:01 22:43:00", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "232", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 3, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "1136", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1250", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5948", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/100", "EXIF FNumber": "71/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:08:31 11:09:36", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:08:31 11:09:36", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "53/8", "EXIF ApertureValue": "45/8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "47", "EXIF SubSecTime": "86", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "86", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "86", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3340", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "4980", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3452", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "5178", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1080", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": "", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "123071006485", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[18, 55, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 III", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "00009712fd"}