What happened last night was pure poetry. So many people wanted to try to belittle the Anfield support and the effect it can have, driven by banter pages run by virgins who've never been to a game in their lives. All the talk of how Pep has played and managed in clasico's, Jesus was brought up in the favela's, they've seen far worse, as if Anfield can scare them. But it was obvious that the people who mattered realised what a difference it could make. Klopp knew, the players knew, just as importantly Guardiola and Man City knew it too. From the whining about the bus which finally lead to it being re-routed, to Sterling inexplicably being dropped, they were fucking shitting it last night and we were all vindicated. It will be forgotten by those banter pages and the soccer am generation by the semi finals but then that probably suits us.
It all reminded me of that headline in Marca in the build up to the visit of Madrid in 2009. Esto es Anfield...y que? Another team that fucked off home with their tails between their legs.
City sang in the first ten minutes "just like United, you live in the past." Well, last night I suppose we were living in the past, it was a throwback but not necessarily all the way back to Saint Etienne, or even Olympiakos and Chelsea. Dortmund was only a couple of years ago. Every time we play these big european fixtures we will live in the past and that's because we've got a fucking glorious past that we can use to our advantage in the present. Just like Juve used theirs to get past a younger, fitter and more fancied Tottenham side. Just like how a Real Madrid team struggling all season in the league rolled the other petrodollar club over with ease. It's called prestige and opposition fans want to discredit it as much as they can but last night was proof again of what prestige can help you achieve.
Of course, massive credit has to go to Jurgen and the players too. The fans didn't press City out of existence or smash one in the top corner from 25 yards out. But we were 1 nil up as soon as they began cry-arsing about the coach and they changed their shape to protect Sterling from the cauldron.
There is still a long way to go in this tie and it's too early to celebrate a place in the semi finals but there was a lot to celebrate last night. I've got a mate who hates Liverpool and even he said to me this morning that once the game was on he couldn't help but enjoy the passion and witnessing a genuine footballing institution tear apart a plastic, oil rich nothing club. Just another in a long list of special nights at Anfield, now we've got the small matter of a merseyside derby to look forward to before grounding ourselves and getting ready to do it again next week.
