UEFA Champions League: Ranking Liverpool's top 5 group stage games in the last 15 years

#1 Liverpool 3-1 Olympiakos (2004-05)

This was the night that kept the dream alive.

Did you honestly think this game was not going to be on top of this list? This one had it all. A condition to qualify, a rocking home stadium, late drama, an iconic goal, and eventual success in the Champions League. Liverpool went into their final game of the 2004-05 Champions League group stage needing to win by two clear goals against Olympiakos.

Their job became tougher when Rivaldo slotted home a free-kick for the Greek outfit. The Reds needed three goals to keep their Champions League hopes, and possibly any future ambition, alive. Had Liverpool crashed out, it would have been hard to see Steven Gerrard staying at Anfield.

Fortunately, Liverpool turned it on in the second half. Unsung substitute heroes Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Neil Mellor scored a goal each to make it 2-1. However, the Reds still required one goal.

And they got it in the most incredible of circumstances, as Gerrard stepped up and volleyed his boyhood club into the knockout stage of the Champions League. It was an essential goal, one which meant so much to every Liverpool fan, specifically Gerrard. He had kept the dream alive, a dream that had been realised the next May. If it wasn't for Olympiakos, we would not have seen an Istanbul in 2005. It will take a mammoth effort to top this as the greatest group game in Liverpool's Champions League history.