The Chelsea F.C.– Liverpool F.C. rivalry is a rivalry between English professional football clubs Chelsea and Liverpool. Chelsea play their home games at Stamford Bridge, while Liverpool play their home games at Anfield.

Though both clubs have frequently competed in the same division for over a century, the modern rivalry between Chelsea and Liverpool began in the early 2000s, when the two clubs clashed repeatedly in cup competitions, particularly in the FA Cup, the League Cup, and the UEFA Champions League. The clubs have competed in seven major cup finals: the 2005 League Cup final, which Chelsea won 3–2 after extra time, the 2006 Community Shield, which Liverpool won 2–1, the 2012 FA Cup final, which Chelsea won 2–1, the 2019 UEFA Super Cup, which Liverpool won 5–4 on penalties, the 2022 EFL Cup and FA Cup finals, both of which saw Liverpool win on penalties after two goalless affairs, and the 2024 EFL Cup final, which Liverpool won 1–0 after extra time. The two clubs also met in five consecutive Champions League campaigns; in the group stage of the 2005–06 season, where both legs finished as goalless draws, in the quarter-finals of the 2008–09 season, which Chelsea won 7–5 on aggregate, and in the semi-finals of the 2004–05, 2006–07 and 2007–08 seasons, with Liverpool winning the former two and Chelsea winning the latter one.

Overall, Liverpool have won more of the meetings, defeating Chelsea 87 times to their 67 wins, and a further 47 games ended in draws, as of their latest clash in May 2026. Chelsea's record win over the Reds was a 6–1 win at Stamford Bridge in August 1937, whereas Liverpool's biggest win was a 6–0 home win in April 1935.

Background

Chelsea

In 1904, Gus Mears acquired the Stamford Bridge athletics stadium in Fulham with the aim of turning it into a football ground. An offer to lease it to nearby Fulham F.C. was turned down, so Mears opted to found his own club to use the stadium. As there was already a team named Fulham in the borough, the name of the adjacent borough of Chelsea was chosen for the new club; names like Kensington FC, Stamford Bridge FC and London FC were also considered. Chelsea Football Club was founded on 10 March 1905 at The Rising Sun pub (now The Butcher's Hook), opposite the present-day main entrance to the ground on Fulham Road, and were elected to the Football League shortly afterwards.

Chelsea won promotion to the First Division in their second season, and yo-yoed between the First and Second Divisions in its early years. The team reached the 1915 FA Cup final, where they lost to Sheffield United at Old Trafford, and finished third in the First Division in 1920, the club's best league campaign to that point. Chelsea had a reputation for signing star players and attracted large crowds. The club had the highest average attendance in English football in ten separate seasons including 1907–08, 1909–10, 1911–12, 1912–13, 1913–14 and 1919–20. They were FA Cup semi-finalists in 1920 and 1932, and remained in the First Division throughout the 1930s, but success eluded the club in the inter-war years.

Liverpool

Liverpool Football Club was founded following a dispute between the Everton committee and John Houlding, club president and owner of the land at Anfield. After eight years at the stadium, Everton relocated to Goodison Park in 1892 and Houlding founded Liverpool F.C. to play at Anfield. Originally named "Everton F.C. and Athletic Grounds Ltd" (Everton Athletic for short), the club became Liverpool F.C. in March 1892 and gained official recognition three months later, after The Football Association refused to recognise the club as Everton.

Liverpool played their first match on 1 September 1892, a pre-season friendly match against Rotherham Town, which they won 7–1. The team Liverpool fielded against Rotherham was composed entirely of Scottish players—the players who came from Scotland to play in England in those days were known as the Scotch Professors. Manager John McKenna had recruited the players after a scouting trip to Scotland—so they became known as the "team of Macs". The team won the Lancashire League in its debut season and joined the Football League Second Division at the start of the 1893–94 season. After the club was promoted to the First Division in 1896, Tom Watson was appointed manager. He led Liverpool to its first league title in 1901, before winning it again in 1906.

History

Competitive matches and Liverpool success (1907–2002)

Chelsea and Liverpool were not traditional rivals, meeting first for the first time on 25 December 1907 at Anfield in the Football League First Division, which ended in a 4–1 win for Chelsea. However, for the next 96 years, Chelsea would only manage one single league title, which came in 1955, whereas Liverpool (who were already two-time champions) would go on to win the First Division title sixteen more times, cementing the Reds' status as one of the biggest clubs in England and in Europe, along with major rivals Manchester United, whereas Chelsea were considered to be a mid-table club, and their rivalry with Liverpool was non-existent during the years leading up to the 21st century.

Abramovich takeover and rivalry beginnings (2003–04)

The seeds of the Chelsea vs. Liverpool rivalry were beginning to be sowed in May 2003. The first major meeting that would spark this feud was on the final day of the 2002–03 Premier League season, where fourth-placed Chelsea were to play fifth-placed Liverpool at Stamford Bridge in a clash for UEFA Champions League football. Both teams were level on 64 points, with the Blues having a +8 superior goal difference. The three teams that were above them, Manchester United in 1st, Arsenal in 2nd and Newcastle United in 3rd had already accumulated enough points to qualify for next season's Champions League, and sixth-placed Blackburn Rovers were unable to qualify, meaning Liverpool had to defeat Chelsea otherwise they would miss out on Champions League football next season. A goal from Sami Hyypiä in the 11th minute put the Reds 1–0 up, but Chelsea equalised just two minutes later through Marcel Desailly. Fourteen minutes later, Chelsea found themselves ahead via a Jesper Grønkjær strike. Steven Gerrard was dismissed two minutes from full-time, as Chelsea won 2–1 and ensured their place in the Champions League next season, with Liverpool having to settle for UEFA Cup (now Europa League) football instead.

In July 2003, long-time chairman of Chelsea Ken Bates sold the club to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich for £140,000,000. Chelsea spent £103,000,000 on transfers in the summer of 2003, which included the signings of Joe Cole from West Ham United and Hernán Crespo from Inter Milan. Unlike the previous years, Chelsea under Abramovich had now become serious title contenders, threatening the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal, who combined had won ten of the first eleven Premier League titles.

The first meeting between Chelsea and Liverpool after the Abramovich takeover was on the first matchday of the new campaign, at Anfield. Chelsea won 2–1, courtesy of goals from Juan Sebastián Verón and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. Liverpool would get revenge in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge in January 2004, which saw Bruno Cheyrou condemn Chelsea to a 1–0 home defeat. However, despite the mass spend of Chelsea, they would still be unable to win the league, finishing as runners-up to the undefeated Arsenal. Meanwhile, Liverpool finished in fourth place, nineteen points behind Chelsea, but still qualifying for the Champions League.

Mourinho vs. Benítez (2004–07)

In the summer of 2004, Chelsea and Liverpool had respectively appointed managers José Mourinho and Rafael Benítez, which was the beginning of a vicious rivalry between the pair. In their first season as rivals, they clashed five times, including two Premier League victories for Mourinho, both of which finished 1–0 to Chelsea and both of those goals being scored by Joe Cole. In the year 2005 alone, Chelsea and Liverpool met seven times.

2005 League Cup final

On 27 February 2005, Liverpool faced Chelsea in the final of the Football League Cup. This was Liverpool's tenth appearance in a Football League Cup final, having won seven of them (1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1995, 2001, 2003) and losing twice (1978, 1987). For Chelsea, this was their fourth appearance in the final, winning the cup final in 1965 and 1998, and losing in 1972. Liverpool had defeated Millwall, Middlesbrough, Tottenham Hotspur and Watford en route to the final, whereas Chelsea got past West Ham United, Newcastle United, West London rivals Fulham and Manchester United.

A crowd of 78,000 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff saw John Arne Riise score a volley inside the first minute to put Liverpool ahead. The score remained 1-0 to the Reds for 79 minutes, until Steven Gerrard headed into his own net from a Chelsea free kick to give the Blues a lifeline. José Mourinho was also made to watch from the stands after making a gesture to the Liverpool fans. The score was 1–1 at full-time, taking the game to extra-time. Goals from Didier Drogba and Mateja Kežman put Chelsea 3–1 up. A goal from Antonio Núñez a minute later reduced the deficit for Liverpool, but the Blues would triumph 3–2 and win the League Cup for the third time.

Following the match, Mourinho defended the gesture that saw him dismissed, claiming that it had been intended for the media and not Liverpool fans: "The signal of close your mouth was not for them but for the press, they speak too much and in my opinion they try to do everything to disturb Chelsea. Wait, don't speak too soon. We lost two matches and in my opinion you (the media) try to take confidence from us and put pressure on us." Mourinho was happy that Chelsea had won, but said the victory was not special: "It's just one more. I had a few before this, I'm very happy to win. It's important for the fans, for the club and especially for the players."

Luis García "ghost goal"

Just two months after the League Cup final, the two clubs met yet again in the semi-finals of the Champions League. The first leg at Stamford Bridge ended in a goalless stalemate, however, in the second leg at Anfield, Liverpool controversially won 1–0, thanks to a goal scored by Luis García, which despite Chelsea's attempts to clear the ball off the line, the goal was given. It was dubbed as a "ghost goal" by José Mourinho, which popularised the term for other future incidents. This would seal Liverpool's place in the Champions League final, where they would take on AC Milan, famously coming back from 3–0 down and winning the Champions League on penalties.

Prior to the match, Chelsea were in hot pursuit of Steven Gerrard. Liverpool had rejected a £32,000,000 bid from Chelsea, however, in a shocking turn of events, Gerrard had rejected a £100,000-a-week contract offer and had submitted a transfer request, just six weeks after inspiring the comeback to help Liverpool win their fifth Champions League. He eventually changed his mind, soon after signing a new four-year deal and later stating that he would rather win one Premier League title at Liverpool than multiple at Chelsea, as it would mean more to him. Chelsea's failed signing of Liverpool's elite poster boy resulted in yet more bad blood developing between the two sets of supporters.