Liverpool legend to make emotional Anfield return for trophy celebration

Evening Standard

·22 mai 2025

Liverpool legend to make emotional Anfield return for trophy celebration

Reds icon to play key role in Anfield presentation after major health scare last year

Liverpool legend Alan Hansen will play a prominent role in the club’s Premier League title celebrations this weekend, the club have announced.

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The Reds will on Sunday officially lift the trophy they sealed with four games to spare at Anfield last month, after the conclusion of their final match of the season at home to surprise FA Cup winners Crystal Palace.

After the memorable scenes that followed their championship-clinching demolition of Tottenham in April, it will be another momentous occasion on Merseyside for Liverpool and the club’s fans, who were not inside the stadium to celebrate their first title triumph for 30 years under Jurgen Klopp in 2019/20 due to Covid-19 restrictions.

And things will be made even more special by the presence of Hansen, whom it has been confirmed will hand over the trophy for current captain Virgil van Dijk to hoist aloft on Sunday after it has been placed on a plinth on the pitch by community representatives Mark and Jo McVeigh of the Owen McVeigh Foundation.

Liverpool legend and ex-Match of the Day stalwart Alan Hansen was awarded an MBE at Windsor Castle in March

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Hansen is sure to get a warm reception on what is likely to be an emotional return to Anfield, having last summer been hospitalised with a serious illness before later making a recovery and being discharged.

The 69-year-old was an instrumental part of the famous Liverpool teams that enjoyed such sustained success in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s under Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Kenny Dalglish, making 620 appearances for the club across all competitions and winning eight First Division titles in total in addition to three European Cups, two FA Cups and four League Cups.

Hansen began at Partick Thistle and also earned 26 senior international caps for Scotland, featuring at the 1982 World Cup, during an illustrious playing career as a defender that lasted from 1973 until his retirement in 1991.

Hansen later spent 22 years as a lead football pundit on the BBC’s Match of the Day Premier League highlights programme, retiring from that job in 2012.

He was awarded an MBE for services to football and broadcasting during the most recent New Year Honours list, receiving the honour from the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle back in March.