Founded in 1930, the Coupe des Nations featured clubs of ten major European football leagues and was deemed a success.

The decision was made to change from red shirts, white shorts and socks by Shankly, who wanted his players to make more of a psychological impact on opponents.

Before the first leg at Anfield, Shankly asked two injured players to parade the FA Cup, which Liverpool had won the previous week, to intimidate the Italians.

[24] Liverpool also won the First Division championship that season, and as a result, qualified for the 1973–74 European Cup, where they were eliminated in the second round by Red Star Belgrade of Yugoslavia.

Liverpool recovered from a two-goal deficit to win the first leg at Anfield 3–2, with Ray Kennedy, Jimmy Case, and Keegan scoring a goal each in a span of six minutes.

They defeated Crusaders of Northern Ireland and Trabzonspor of Turkey to reach the quarter-finals, where they faced the runners-up from the previous season, Saint-Étienne.

With six minutes remaining, David Fairclough was brought on to replace John Toshack; he immediately scored in front of the Kop, ensuring a 3–2 aggregate victory for Liverpool.

Liverpool won the second leg 3–0, progressing to a second successive European Cup final, this time against Club Brugge at Wembley Stadium in London.

In the final Kenny Dalglish, who had been signed to replace Keegan, scored the winning goal after receiving the ball from a Graeme Souness pass.

[38] Liverpool entered the 1979–80 European Cup as English champions but were again eliminated in the first round, this time beaten 4–2 on aggregate by Dinamo Tbilisi of the Soviet Union.

In the second leg at the Olympiastadion in Munich, Ray Kennedy scored in the 83rd minute and, although the German side equalised, Liverpool went through to the final on the away goals rule.

The tie proved a brutal encounter, characterised by Souness breaking the jaw of the Bucharest captain Lică Movilă, and was won 3–1 on aggregate by Liverpool.

The final was played at Rome's Stadio Olimpico, and Liverpool went ahead in the 13th minute when Phil Neal scored, though Roma equalised towards the end of the first half.

[63] The club defeated Swarovski Tirol of Austria in the third round 6–0 on aggregate before losing to Genoa (Italy) 4–1 over two legs in the quarter-finals.

This proved the club's most successful campaign since their return to European competition, as they reached the semi-finals, where they were eliminated 3–2 on aggregate by Paris Saint–Germain.

[67] In the next two seasons, Liverpool played in the UEFA Cup but were eliminated at an early stage of the competition, by Strasbourg and Celta Vigo, respectively.

[88] The victory also entitled Liverpool to compete in the 2005 UEFA Super Cup at Stade Louis II, Monaco in August.

[89] Their success in the Champions League meant Liverpool also qualified for the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship, where they lost 1–0 in the final to Brazilian team São Paulo.

[94] In the 2006–07 Champions League, Liverpool progressed from the group stages and beat holders Barcelona, PSV and Chelsea to face Milan in a rematch of the 2005 final.

[95] The Liverpool team, which contained only five players from the 2005 final, enjoyed more possession than in 2005,[96] but two goals from Filippo Inzaghi gave Milan their seventh European Cup in a 2–1 win.

They entered the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League, progressing to the semi-finals, where they were eliminated by eventual winners Atlético Madrid of Spain on the away goals rule after the tie finished 2–2 on aggregate.

They beat Rabotnički of Macedonia and Trabzonspor of Turkey to progress to the group stage, where Liverpool were drawn alongside Napoli, FC Utrecht and Steaua București.

[106] A seventh-place finish in the 2012–13 Premier League and a failure to secure qualification via domestic cups meant Liverpool failed to qualify for any European competition in the 2013–14 season.

Philippe Coutinho, Mamadou Sakho and Dejan Lovren (with a last minute winner) provided the necessary goals, as Liverpool completed the comeback and qualified for their first European semi-final since 2010.

[116] There they faced Villarreal, completing a second comeback after overturning a 1–0 defeat in the first leg at El Madrigal to qualify for the final with a 3–1 aggregate win.

[126][127] The Champions League title defence ended early for the Reds, as they were eliminated by Atlético Madrid following a 4–2 defeat across two legs after extra time in the round of 16.

[131] On 7 December, Liverpool won 2–1 against AC Milan at the San Siro and became the first English club to win all six Champions League group games in the competition's history.

[132] On 3 May 2022, the club reached an English record-extending 10th European Cup final after a 5–2 aggregate win over Villarreal in the Champions League semi-finals.

Liverpool took an early two-goal lead in the first leg on 21 February 2023 at Anfield, after goals from Salah and new signing Darwin Núñez; however, they were eventually comprehensively beaten 5–2.

The following season, Liverpool played in the Europa League, topping their group against LASK, Toulouse and Union SG, winning 4 out of 6 games, advancing to the Round of 16 drawing Sparta Prague.