Liverpool's bizarre game at Sunderland summed up nightmare season

Sunderland hosts Arne Slot's Liverpool at the Stadium of Light on Wednesday in a fixture that produced one of the most bizarre goals in Premier League history 17 years ago

Darren Bent scored a controversial goal against Liverpool in 2009(Image: Getty Images)

Out of all of the bizarre goals that have been scored since the inception of the Premier League, one sticks out more than most.

The 2009-10 season was a couple of months old when Liverpool traveled to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland, and the game was settled by a single, controversial goal. A low cross into the box was met with a first-time shot from Darren Bent, but with the ball seemingly heading toward the gloves of Pepe Reina, a rogue beach ball in front of the Liverpool goalkeeper diverted it past the Spaniard and into the back of the net.

Categorically, the goal should not have stood, but the introduction of VAR was still a decade away, and it was allowed to stand.

"I've seen the goal played back, I don't know how many times now, and you look at the reactions on different people's faces," Bent said years later.

"Pepe Reina's face, Glen Johnson's face, Jamie Carragher's face... everyone is like, 'What's happened here?'

"I remember the referee's face at half-time when he came to see me.

"He said, 'Did it hit the ball?' When I said, 'Yeah,' there was panic in his face. He realized he'd made a bit of a mistake!

"Then Pepe Reina came up to me and was like, 'It hit the ball! It hit the ball!' and I was like, 'I know!'"

Pepe Reina complains to the assistant referee(Image: 2009 AFP)

The beach ball was actually thrown onto the field by a traveling Liverpool supporter, 16-year-old Calum Campbell, who issued an apology in the national press.

"It was me," Campbell told the Sunday Mirror. "I'm the one who did it. I'm the one caught on camera. I'm so, so sorry. This is my worst, worst nightmare."

The incident even had an impact on his health. Campbell added: "When I got home, I went into the garden and threw up. I was physically sick - and that's before the death threats started appearing on the Internet the next day.

"I watched it over and over again, and I still can't work out how it happened. But my mum tells me it wasn't my fault - and that's what I have to believe. The referee should never have allowed the goal. I just hope the real fans understand and forgive me."

That loss to Sunderland was one of 11 that Liverpool experienced in the Premier League that season, as the Reds endured a disappointing campaign and finished seventh on 63 points – 23 fewer than they managed a year earlier when finishing in second place behind Manchester United.

The 2009-10 season was Rafa Benitez's last as Liverpool manager, as he was replaced by Roy Hodgson during the summer of 2010.