Football is today mourning the passing of Gerard Houllier.
Former Liverpool manager Houllier has died at the age of 73.
The Frenchman, who also managed Aston Villa later in his career, guided the Reds to an FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup treble in 2001, the highlight of his six-year spell in charge.
Houllier also managed Paris St Germain, Lyon and the France national team during his career.
A visit to Pittodrie to face Aberdeen
In 2003, during Houllier’s time as Liverpool boss, he took a star-studded squad to the north-east to play Aberdeen as past of the Dons’ centenary celebrations.
Aberdeen – then bossed by Steve Paterson – made a superb start, with debutant Australian debutant David Zdrillic firing the opener past Chris Kirkland from the edge of the box after just two minutes.
Six minutes later, Danny Murphy equalised for the visitors.
However, Zdrillic, Leigh Hinds and Paul Sheerin all went close to putting the Dons back in front as they more than held their own in the first half against their illustrious guests. Just before the interval, Florent Sinama Pongolle had a penalty saved by Aberdeen goalie David Preece.
After the break, Houllier sent on nine changes, including Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen, Harry Kewell and Emile Heskey, and his big guns took the game to Aberdeen.
Heskey soon drove home to put Liverpool 2-1 up, before his fellow England striker Owen played in Zdrillic’s compatriot Kewell to make it 3-1.
Although Sheerin and Russell Anderson could’ve both scored to get the Dons back into the game, Neil Mellor’s double made the scoreline more-than-comfortable for the Premier League outfit.
Afterwards Aberdeen skipper Anderson said: “Lining up against what was two Premiership clubs in each half means we can’t be too despondent.
“It was a hard night’s work for us.
“It is not often we will come up against a team like that too often. What was disappointing was that we didn’t make them work hard for their goals.
“We need to bounce back from this and make sure we are ready for Saturday’s SPL game at Hearts.
“Liverpool’s movement was fantastic and they had many options. We have a lot of hard
work to get up to that. If you do make a mistake against them you will get punished.
“It was great to have a full house. It was good to see the stadium packed, but we are
sorry we didn’t put in a performance.”