Did you know...? 23 interesting facts about Liverpool FC's history

Do you know why Pepe Reina was forced to change his Liverpool shirt? How many Reds have scored on their birthday? And who has played for both teams in a Merseyside derby in the same season?

Club statistician Ged Rea has unearthed a collection of unusual and interesting facts from LFC's history, and here are 23 of our favorites...

Ian Rush played seven times for the Reds on New Year's Day throughout his career, scoring on each occasion. His first goal came in 1983 (a hat trick against Notts County) and his last against Ipswich Town in 1994.

In the 1984-85 season, John Wark became the first Liverpool player to score a hat-trick in three different competitions in the same season, against Lech Poznan in the European Cup and York City in the FA Cup (both at Anfield) and away to West Bromwich Albion in the league. To date, he is the only player to achieve this feat.

In September 1982, Liverpool scored against three different Luton Town goalkeepers in a league match at Anfield. Jake Findlay, the regular goalkeeper, came off injured after Graeme Souness's goal. Rush then scored against full-back Kirk Stephens before centre-back Mal Donaghy replaced Stephens (who returned to his original position) and conceded the goal to Craig Johnston. Surprisingly, the match ended 3-3.

Steve Heighway was the first Reds player to score in two different FA Cup finals. He scored against Arsenal in 1971 and against Newcastle United three years later.

In 1946, Jack Balmer became the only player to score three consecutive league hat-tricks with Liverpool. He scored three against Portsmouth, four against Derby County, and another three in the win over Arsenal.

Abel Xavier is the only player to have played in Merseyside derbies with Liverpool and Everton in the same season. He played for Everton in their 3-1 home defeat to the Reds at Goodison Park and subsequently for Gerard Houllier's men in their 1-1 draw at Anfield in the 2001-02 season.

Rush scored hat tricks for Liverpool in six different competitions. He did so in the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, European Cup, European Cup Winners' Cup, and the Screen Sport Super Cup.

Ian Callaghan's only yellow card in 857 appearances for the club came in the 1978 League Cup Final replay at Old Trafford. He was booked by referee Pat Partridge in the 1–0 defeat to Nottingham Forest.

In the 2014-15 season, Steven Gerrard surpassed Billy Liddell's record by scoring for the Reds for the 16th consecutive season. Liddell's record had stood since 1960.

Three Liverpool players have played more than 200 games without scoring a single goal for the club. Eph Longworth made the most appearances (370), followed by Rob Jones (243) and Stéphane Henchoz (205).

Antonio Núñez scored just once for Liverpool, in the 2005 League Cup final defeat to Chelsea; he is the only player to have scored his only goal for the club in the final.

In 2019, for the first time in their history, Liverpool played a competitive match during the month of June. On the first day of the month, they beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in the Champions League final in Madrid.

Liverpool is the only club to have played in a major final in three mainland British countries. They have played in Glasgow, Cardiff, and London.

In March 1967, more than 100,000 fans watched a Merseyside derby; 64,000 watched the FA Cup clash at Goodison, and more than 40,000 watched it on closed-circuit television at Anfield.

Liverpool have scored 21 goals in FA Cup finals, and only two of them (John Aldridge (1989) and Djibril Cisse (2006)) came in the first half.

The Reds have played the most FA Cup matches against each other in the FA Cup. This season marked the nineteenth time the two sides met in the world's oldest domestic club competition, five of which required at least a playoff.

Joe Cole's first goal for the Reds was the club's fastest ever European goal. It came 27 seconds into the 2010 match against Steaua Bucharest at Anfield.

In Liverpool's first Football League match, played in 1893, there were seven "Macs" in the starting eleven and the club earned the nickname "the all-Macs team" due to the number of Scottish players it fielded.

Between 1973 and 1991, Liverpool finished outside the top two in the top flight in just one campaign, finishing fifth in 1981. However, they won their third European Cup that season.

Three of Liverpool's substitute goalkeepers in the European Cup finals never played for the club. Peter McDonnell was in the dugout in 1977, Bob Bolder in 1984, and Chris Pile was Bruce Grobbelaar's understudy the following year.

Daniel Sturridge is the last of 20 players to have scored a goal for the Reds on their birthday. He scored the only goal of the game against Manchester United on September 1, 2013.

Only 15 players have scored for Liverpool seven days a week during their Reds career. Three of them have done so this season: Divock Origi, Sadio Mané, and Mohamed Salah.

At the 2005 FIFA Club World Cup, Reina wore the number 12 throughout the tournament. Squads were required to be numbered 1 to 23, and the Spaniard's usual number was 25.