When Mark Viduka Scored 4 in a Famous Leeds Win Over Liverpool

20 years ago on this day, 4 November 2000, Mark Viduka enjoyed one of the best individual performances in Premier League history when he scored all four goals for Leeds in a famous 4-3 win over Liverpool at Elland Road.

It was among several high points for a briefly golden period in Leeds’ recent history in the late 1990s and early 2000s, although it ultimately didn’t last.

Background

An exciting and developing young Leeds side pipped Liverpool to Champions League qualification in 1999/00, snatching third place by just a narrow two-point margin. That was despite being beaten home and away by the Reds during the campaign.

But a disappointing start to 2000/01, which had included defeats in successive home games to newly promoted Manchester City and Ipswich, meant Leeds were quickly playing catch up on the Premier League’s top clubs.

On the morning of Liverpool’s visit to Elland Road, Leeds were 10th in the table, six points off their opponent in third place and eight points adrift of Manchester United and Arsenal at the top. They had only managed 15 goals in 10 games and been outscored by win-less bottom club Derby.

Liverpool were in much better form, winning three in a row beforehand and fresh off the back of a win over Everton in the Merseyside derby to further boost confidence.

Viduka had been brought in from Celtic in the summer for a sizeable £6m outlay off the back of 27 goals the previous season north of the border. It was intended that he partner Michael Bridges, whose 19 Premier League goals in 1999/00 had propelled Leeds into the top three, but injuries to the former Sunderland talent and Harry Kewell only added to Leeds’ problems.

Despite his form for Celtic, Viduka didn’t hit the ground running and it took him a number of weeks to get his first goal, which came in a 6-0 thrashing of Besiktas in the Champions League.

That goal served as a catalyst as Viduka, who had missed games because of international duty, got a brace in 4-3 win over Tottenham four days later and another against Charlton. He’d also netted a late equaliser in a tough 1-1 West Yorkshire derby against Bradford the week before Liverpool.

Lineups

Leeds: Robinson; Kelly, Woodgate (Hay), Matteo, Harte; Burns, Dacourt, Bakke, Bowyer; Smith, Viduka

Liverpool: Westerveld; Carragher, Babbel, Hyypia, Ziege; Smicer, Murphy (Gerrard), Hamann, McAllister (Barmby), Berger (Fowler); Heskey

The Game

The game immediately followed the form guide when an un-marked Sami Hyypia gave Liverpool the lead just two minutes in, easily flicking in a deep free-kick from Patrik Berger.

Thing soon got worse for Leeds when Jonathan Woodgate had to come off, and worse still when Christian Ziege doubled the lead for Liverpool inside 20 minutes. The German headed in a Gary McAllister free-kick, highlighting Leeds’ vulnerability at set-pieces.

Leeds pulled one back midway through the half when Ziege turned from hero to villain. A nonchalant attempt at a clearance gave Alan Smith the chance to close him down and the ball cannoned into the path of Viduka in the area, lifting it over the onrushing Sander Westerveld.

Viduka scored his second straight after the restart to get Leeds back on level terms at 2-2. Gary Kelly got forward at right-back and Leeds’ number nine was there to head his cross in, having ghosted between Hyypia and Markus Babbel.

But Liverpool went back ahead to lead 3-2 when Ziege got forward to feed Berger, who in turn squared for Vladimir Smicer to fire beyond Paul Robinson in the Leeds goal.

The decisive goals from Viduka were scored in quick succession. The hat-trick strike came when Olivier Dacourt spotted a gap in the Liverpool defence and slid the ball through. Viduka shielded the ball from Berger and Babbel and fired low across the goal to equalise at 3-3.

Moments later, Dacourt skewed a long-range shot that turned into an inch-perfect pass to Viduka’s feet. Jamie Carragher and Babbel had stepped out to try and catch the Australian offside, but the flag stayed down and Viduka was left free to chip the ball over Westerveld to put Leeds in front.

What Happened Next

The 4-3 didn’t actually change much for Leeds in terms of their form. They drew against Chelsea a week later and were then beaten at home by West Ham. In the Champions League, consistent draws were just enough to scrape through the first group stage.

Between the Liverpool win and the end of the calendar year, Leeds lost five of their eight Premier League games. They won just two of those, bizarrely one was against Arsenal.

A key moment in the season came when Rio Ferdinand was bought from West Ham for a British record £18m transfer fee and Leeds went on to finally hit their stride in the New Year, at one stage going 13 Premier League games unbeaten and taking 33 points from a possible 39 in that run.

Liverpool took revenge in the FA Cup fourth round, but Leeds eventually went all the way to the Champions League semi-finals before elimination at the hands of a golden Valencia side.

Viduka actually scored relatively few goals in the remainder of the season following his four-goal haul. That game took his Premier League tally to nine and he got another eight to take his final league total to 17 – only Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (23) and Marcus Stewart (19) got more.

But despite his goals, the victory over Liverpool – which was also repeated in a 2-1 score-line at Anfield later – and Leeds’ strong run between February and April, the damage had already been done in the first half of the campaign. Leeds finished fourth, one point behind Liverpool, and missed out on a Champions League place. It wasn’t long after that the cracks began to show.

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