Although there were occasional challenges to his position as Liverpool's number 1, Grobbelaar was a virtual ever-present from Clemence's departure to the start of the 1990s, when the club itself also started to slide, culminating in Kenny Dalglish's resignation in February 1991.

The match is best known for the antics of Liverpool keeper Bruce Grobbelaar.

In the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final between A. C. Milan and Liverpool F. C., Liverpool keeper Jerzy Dudek used tactics similar to Bruce Grobbelaar in 1984 ( known as the " Dudek dance " in 2005 ) to distract the Milan shootout takers which resulted in victory for his team.

During the period 1981 – 1994, Grobbelaar played 627 first team games for Liverpool, becoming known for his eccentric and flamboyant style.

Bruce David Grobbelaar ( born 6 October 1957 in Durban, South Africa ) is a former football goalkeeper and manager.

In 2009 Grobbelaar appeared in a British television commercial for the Irish bookmaker Paddy Power, in which he is seen returning a losing stake to a punter.

He is the third Zimbabwean to play in the Premier League after goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar, who played for Liverpool, and Peter Ndlovu, who played for Coventry City and later Sheffield United.

Liverpool approached Tony Waiters with the idea of taking Grobbelaar to Anfield, and Waiters, who had a working relationship with Liverpool in the 1970s, paved the way for the move.

Grobbelaar has recently stated that he " hopes to one day return to Anfield as the manager of Liverpool FC.

Over 110, 000 worldwide voted for their best 10 players in the Anfield club's history, with Grobbelaar finishing 2nd in the goalkeeping stakes.

He was at Anfield for eight years, during which time the club won six major trophies, but his first team opportunities were limited by the presence of Bruce Grobbelaar, his only real opportunities of first team football coming in 1988 – 89 when Grobbelaar missed 17 league games through injury, but when Grobbelaar resumed his fitness Hooper was back in the reserves.

Although the Whitecaps had signed former Scotland international David Harvey from Leeds United, Grobbelaar emerged as first choice and became a cult figure for the Whitecaps faithful.

He saved from Andrea Pirlo and Shevchenko in the ensuing penalty shootout, in an eventual 3 – 2 win: during the shootout, he attempted to distract the Milan players with the " spaghetti legs " tactic that was used by former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar in the 1984 European Cup Final.

This was not the first time a goalkeeper had scored an own goal at Wembley however, Bruce Grobbelaar had scored one in the 1984 Charity Shield for Everton against his team Liverpool.

In his teenage years, Grobbelaar was a talented cricketer and was offered a baseball scholarship in the United States, but a career in football was his main ambition.

In 1979 Grobbelaar was signed up by the Vancouver Whitecaps of the NASL after he had attended their scouting camp in South Africa.

Atkinson was keen to sign Grobbelaar but owing to difficulties over gaining a work permit, the deal fell through.

In an early League appearance for the Railwaymen in Division 4, the unknown Grobbelaar was named on the Team Sheet in the York City Match Day Programme as " Bill Grobbelaar ".

Grobbelaar was retained by three of Liverpool's greatest managers ; Paisley, Fagan and Dalglish, over a period of 13 years.

It was the signing of David James from Watford in mid-1992 that spelt the beginning of the end for Grobbelaar.

The Southern Daily Echo reported that Grobbelaar was " swept along on a tidal wave of emotion, to emerge triumphant from the toughest match of his life ".

On 10 November 1994, Grobbelaar was accused by the British tabloid newspaper The Sun of match fixing during his time at Liverpool to benefit a betting syndicate, after being caught on videotape discussing match-fixing.

Grobbelaar pleaded not guilty, claiming he was only gathering evidence with the intent of taking it to the police.

Grobbelaar later sued The Sun for libel and was awarded £ 85, 000.

Grobbelaar was unable to pay the costs and was declared bankrupt.

Winterbourne at that time were managed by Nicky Tanner, who was a team mate of Grobbelaar at Liverpool.

* Grobbelaar made a guest appearance as himself in an episode of Brookside, the Liverpool based TV soap opera on Channel 4, which was aired on 14 January 1994.

After conceding twenty goals in eleven matches in the first half of the 1993 – 94, he was dropped in favour of veteran Bruce Grobbelaar, but was recalled to the starting lineup and kept his first clean sheet of the season in a 1 – 0 away win over Arsenal on 31 January 1993, which included a penalty save.

To the west on Connaught Street are the shops of ' Connaught Village ' which include Markus Coffee, one of the first specialist coffee roasters in London founded by Hungarian refugees in 1956, which supplies many of the best London hotels with freshly roasted coffee, roasted on the premises, and the Chinese restaurant which was the location of dealings during the Grobbelaar football bungs scandal.

He was most notable for his spell with Liverpool, where he mainly operated as an understudy to Bruce Grobbelaar.

Grobbelaar's early days as No. 1 were strewn with errors and the Reds struggled to obtain any sort of consistency, Grobbelaar taking a lot of the blame.

The Liverpool sides of the late 1970s to late 1980s were famously notable for numbers of moustachioed players, including Mark Lawrenson, Graeme Souness, Bruce Grobbelaar, Terry McDermott, Ian Rush and David Mc Gurrin.

With only seconds to go, a Smith flick-on found Michael Thomas surging through the Liverpool defence ; the young midfielder calmly lifted the ball over Bruce Grobbelaar and into the net, and Arsenal were League Champions.

The Blues opened the scoring when Gary Lineker outpaced Alan Hansen to shoot past Grobbelaar at the second attempt and held this lead until half-time as Liverpool struggled to find their usual rhythm.

As Roma's Bruno Conti prepared to take his kick, Grobbelaar walked towards the goal smiling confidently at the cameras lined-up behind, then proceeded to bite the back of the net, in imitation of eating spaghetti.

Grobbelaar then produced a similar performance before Francesco Graziani took his kick, famously wobbling his legs in mock terror.

At the Vancouver Whitecaps, Grobbelaar played under the management of former England and Blackpool goalkeeper, Tony Waiters, making his debut on 4 August 1979 against the Los Angeles Aztecs away.

Grobbelaar spent the rest of the season as second choice to former Wolves keeper Phil Parkes.

In stepped Crewe Alexandra, signing Grobbelaar on loan on 18 December 1979.

During his time at Crewe, Grobbelaar played 24 League games and scored his only professional goal, a penalty, in his last game.

At the end of the loan period, Grobbelaar returned to Vancouver for the 1980 NASL-season.

By the time Liverpool FC had completed their research on Grobbelaar, he had returned to Vancouver with his loan spell now over.

Grobbelaar signed for Liverpool for £ 250, 000 on 17 March 1981 as their reserve goalkeeper, but in mid-1981, regular goalkeeper Ray Clemence's surprise departure to Tottenham Hotspur gave Grobbelaar his opportunity.