Players That Have Scored The Most Own Goals For Liverpool FC

carragher own goal

Goals are the number one currency in football. When it comes down to it, you can’t win matches without scoring them, whilst conceding them can see you drop points when you really don’t want to. It is why strikers and goalkeepers are amongst the most important players that a team can have in their starting XI.

It is often said that winning in both boxes is crucial to a team’s success and that titles are built on the bedrock of a solid defence first and foremost. It is also why own goals can be such killers, sucking the life out of the players that score them and the team that concedes them. Who, then, has scored the most in a Red shirt?

The Top Ten

Is it an own goal scored ‘for’ Liverpool or an own goal scored ‘against’ Liverpool? It is also important to note that our information comes from the excellent LFCHistory.net, with the people there readily admitting that it isn’t a complete list. Regardless, here are the top players who found the net in their own goal more often than anyone else:

Player Number of Own Goals Scored
Jamie Carragher 8
Martin Skrtel 8
Ron Yeats 6
Dick White 5
Alan Hansen 4
Joël Matip 4
Alec Lindsay 3
Geoff Twentyman 3
Tiny Bradshaw 3
John Arne Riise 3

It is a list that is something of a rogue’s gallery from a Liverpool point of view, with some of the own goals proving to be quite important in the grand scheme of the match that the own goals were scored in. With that in mind, here is a closer look at the players that made it onto our Top Ten list:

Jamie Carragher – 8 Own Goals

It is not likely to be a coincidence that Jamie Carragher’s name also appears on the list of players with the most appearances for Liverpool Football Club. The more that you play, especially as a central defender, the more likely it is that you’re going to end up scoring an own goal every now and then.

If you wanted to be generous to ‘Carra’ then you could say that he has scored the joint-most own goals in the club’s history because he put his body on the line to stop a goal on a regular basis. Even so, scoring eight own goals is pretty impressive by anyone’s standards, especially when two of them were in the same game…

His first came against Tottenham Hotspur in a 2-1 loss in the Premier League, with his second coming against the same opposition and in the same competition, only this time in a 3-2 defeat. It was against Liverpool’s arch rivals Manchester United when he committed his worst sin, though, finding the back of his own net twice in the same match.

The Red Devils had come to Anfield and seen Carragher score an own goal after three minutes, then another just before half-time to put them 3-1 up in a game they won 3-2. Carragher managed another four own goals before retiring, including another one against Spurs. Ouch.

Martin Skrtel – 8 Own Goals

It is telling that only one player has scored more own goals in the history of the Premier League than Martin Skrtel, with Richard Dunne finding the back of his own net on ten occasions. From a Liverpool point of view, it is sad that one of the two players level with him is Jamie Carragher, with the pair of them scoring seven own goals in the top-flight as well as one apiece in the FA Cup.

For Carragher, that was in the final in 2006. At least in Skrtel’s case it was ‘only’ in the fourth round of the competition, netting an own to put Havant and Waterlooville 2-1 up in a match that the Reds eventually went on to win 5-2 to progress.

That was in 2008, with his next not coming for two years. In keeping with Jamie Carragher’s tradition, it was against Tottenham Hotspur in a 2-1 loss. He scored the only goal in a Premier League game against Fulham, it’s just unfortunate that it was in his own net.

A 3-1 loss to Hull City at the KC Stadium in 2013 was part of a bad week for Skrtel, scoring one of the three before also finding the back of his own net six days later, thankfully with a consolation goal in a game that Liverpool won comfortably. Another own goal from Skrtel came in a win against Swansea City, rounding out his own goals with two in two games against Newcastle United.

Ron Yeats – 6 Own Goals

Ron Yeats will forever be remembered as the man about whom Bill Shankly told a pack of journalists, “Take a walk around my centre-half, gentlemen, he’s a colossus!” The Scot believed that Yeats would help Liverpool escape the Second Division into the top-flight and win the FA Cup; both things that happened with him in the side.

Between 1961 and 1970, Yeats was Liverpool’s captain, putting his body in the way of anything and everything to protect the Reds’ goal. Unfortunately, he didn’t always succeed in his aim and actually found the back of the net on more than one occasion whilst playing for Liverpool.

The first came in a Second Division match against Norwich City, with Yeats scoring in the 36th minute to put the Reds 1-0 down. Thankfully a second-half brace from Roger Hunt gave Liverpool the win. A consolation goal for Walsall in a 6-1 routing by the Reds the following month wasn’t ideal for Yeats, but it was another three years before he scored in his own net again.

That was in a 4-2 loss to Leeds United, with Yeats also scoring against his own club in the ECW Cup final. A goal in a draw with Fulham stopped the Reds taking all three points, whilst his final own goal came in a 4-1 loss to Manchester United at Anfield.

Dick White – 5 Own Goals

There won’t be many people who know a huge amount about Dick White, largely because he arrived at the club in 1955, didn’t get his debut until 1956 and played his last game in 1962. It means that he wasn’t really around for much of the club’s largest periods of success, but there is an argument that he was one of the bricks upon which it was built.

He was, for example, part of the team that won the Second Division title in the 1961-1962 season, after which Bill Shankly’s side never really looked back. Unfortunately, he also scored a number of own goals that turned out to be crucial to the match’s result.

The first came in the FA Cup third round against Worcester City, with White putting the opposition 2-0 up as the Reds pushed for an equaliser. It proved to be decisive, with Geoff Twentyman’s goal three minutes later being only a consolation.

White also scored an own goal to give Huddersfield Town a draw at Anfield, in a home defeat to Stoke City and when the Reds lost 2-0 to Middlesbrough in the Second Division. That match was particularly painful for him on account of the fact that the Reds conceded two goals and both of them were scored against his own club by White towards the end of his career.

Alan Hansen – 4 Own Goals

Alan Hansen appears on numerous lists on this site, such is the Scot’s importance during his time at Anfield. Signed for £100,000 from Partick Thistle, he was one of the players that won the most trophies whilst playing for Liverpool. Being a sold member of the Reds’ backline, it is perhaps no surprise that Hansen found the back of his own net on more than on occasion. The first time it happened made no odds to the ultimate result of the game against Coventry City, with John Wark scoring twice and a goal from Ian Rush seeing the Reds score three, with Hansen find the back of his own net for Coventry City’s one.

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Some might say that Hansen saying ‘You can’t win anything with kids’ about Manchester United before they won absolutely everything was something of an own goal by him. The second one that he actually scored against the Reds came when we lost 2-1 to Nottingham Forest, giving the home side a lead after 24 minutes.

He scored a consolation goal for Wimbledon, thanks to goals from John Aldridge and John Barnes turning the game in our favour in the second-half. That was in May 1989, then in the April of 1990 he did the same thing, this time after goals from Ian Rush and Gary Gillespie.

Joël Matip – 4 Own Goals

There was always something quite comical about Joël Matip for Liverpool that meant that the centre-back wasn’t given the respect that he deserved. The fact that he scored four own goals in Red certainly didn’t help with that image. Even worse is the fact that 50% of them, in the form of his first and last, proved to be decisive in the outcome of the game that he netted in.

The first time it happened was when Liverpool were taking on West Bromwich Albion in the fourth round of the FA Cup at Anfield. Having taken the lead after five minutes, Liverpool were turned around by the Baggies and led 3-1 by the break thanks to his own goal.

That game finished 3-2, whilst his second own goal came in the last 16 of the Champions League in a result that ultimately made no difference to the outcome. The Reds went to Allianz Arena to face Bayern Munich, going a goal up before Matip’s own goal made it level.

Liverpool scored two more, though, to win comfortably and progress on their way to winning the entire competition. A 3-0 loss to Wolves in 2023 was his third own goal, whilst his final one came in a 2-1 defeat in heartbreaking fashion against, who else, Tottenham Hotspur. It was the last kick of the game that robbed Liverpool of a hard-fought draw.

Alec Lindsay – 3 Own Goals

Alec Lindsay will be known to Liverpool fans of a certain vintage, having signed by the Reds from Bury when he was just 21. Bill Shankly believed in him, which proved to be wise when you consider that he left the club with a First Division winner’s medal, an FA Cup, a UEFA Cup and a European Cup to his name.

Things started slow for him, with Shankly even questioning whether he’d ‘bought the right player’. The first time he scored an own goal was against Southampton at The Dell, with Liverpool having kept a clean sheet all the way up to the 81st minute before Lindsay put it into the back of his own net to hand Saints the win.

That was in the September of 1970, only for Lindsay to do a similar thing at Stamford Bridge a few months later. This time, at least, the goal was scored early enough for Liverpool to respond, coming as it did in the 16th minute. The Reds couldn’t respond, however, falling to a 1-0 defeat that saw Chelsea move to fourth and Liverpool to sixth.

There was to be one more own goal before Lindsay left Anfield, but thankfully this one didn’t matter. It came as a consolation goal for Hull City in a League Cup fourth round replay, with the Reds having already scored two and adding one more before the end of the game.

Geoff Twentyman – 3 Own Goals

Geoff Twentyman is arguably one of the most important figures in the history of Liverpool Football Club, although not really because of what he did on the pitch. Having established himself as a centre-half at Carlisle United, Twentyman became a left-half for the Reds and scored three own goals during his time at the club.

His first came in a 3-1 loss to Sheffield United, scoring the final goal for the Blades in 1954. The second also came in a defeat for Liverpool, this time at the hands of West Ham United. Interestingly, both of the goals in the 2-0 loss were scored by players who scored three times in their own net for the Reds.

The first of the two was scored by John Molyneux, with Twentyman scoring the second in the 89th minute. By that point, Liverpool had been relegated down to the Second Division. The third own goal at least came in a win, this time against Stoke City, with Twentyman putting the Potters a goal up before the Reds turned things around.

Regardless, it was what Twentyman would go on to do as a scout for Liverpool that would see him become such an important figure in our history, scouting the likes of Ian Rush, Kevin Keegan, Alan Hansen and Phil Neal. The rock upon which our success was built.

Tiny Bradshaw – 3 Own Goals

With a name like ‘Tiny’, you’re faint to stand out. It should go without saying that it was a nickname rather than his real one, as he was born Thomas Bradshaw but nicknamed ‘Tiny’ on account of how tall he was. He was part of the Scotland team that defeated England 5-1 at Wembley in one of the Three Lions’ most humiliating defeats.

From a Liverpool point of view, Bradshaw scored three own goals and two of them came in defeats. The first didn’t matter a huge amount, given the Reds lost 5-0 to Leeds United, but was at least noteworthy for being the first goal in the game that gave Leeds some belief.

The second own goal from Bradshaw was a consolation goal for another team from Yorkshire, this time in the shape of Sheffield United. The Reds had taken the lead thanks to a goal from Dave Wright after 17 minutes, only for Bradshaw to put into his own net 20 minutes later. Thankfully a brace from Gordon Hodgson and another from Wright secured the win.

A few weeks later and an away game against Manchester City started perfectly when Hodgson scored after two minutes, but a goal from Bobby Marshall a minute later made it level, with Bradshaw putting them ahead just before half-time.

John Arne Riise – 3 Own Goals

In some ways, John Arne Riise is unlucky to feature on this list. Not because he didn’t score three own goals, he did. Instead, because John Molyneux, Laurie Hughes, Mark Lawrenson, Neil Ruddock, Phil Neal, Phil Thompson, Sammy Hyypia and Steven Gerrard also scored three own goals against the Reds. It is Riise that we’ve chosen to write about, though, if for no other reason than he’s unlikely to appear on any other lists that we’ve put together on this site.

As far as Riise is concerned, he will be remembered by many for the absolute rocket that he scored against Manchester United at Old Trafford once.

For most others, though, his own goal against Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final first-leg is more what will stick in the memory. The Norwegian’s first own goal came against Southampton in the league, scoring the second for the Saints just seven minutes after James Beattie had given them the lead. His next was in the FA Cup third round, handing Luton Town a draw three minutes after Peter Crouch had given us the lead. It is the own goal against Chelsea that he will be remembered for, though.

Dirk Kuyt had given Liverpool a vital lead, only for Riise to score in his own net in the 95th minute. Painful isn’t the word.

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