in many ways we are spoiled as fans
i dont even mean trophies, look at the European nights we have had.
If you open a debate as to what the best ones are, let the old lads in. They can regale us about Celtic and Inter in the 60s, St. Etienne in the 70s. Why not
What about the 80s. Rush with the hat trick at home to Benfica anyone?
90s, touch of meh there but Auxerre deserves a mention, especially it being the first time Liverpool trailed by 2 goals going into a second leg and still qualified.
00s, im now into my prime as a Liverpool fan, and i feel like its my time. Barcelona 01, Roma 02, Olympiakos 04, Chelsea 05 (fucking boss, finally see us in a champions league final little knowing I would see at least another 3), Chelsea again 07, Inter 08, Arsenal 08, Real Madrid 09.
Bored yet? tough im not finished. Manchester City in 2018, kicked the shit out of them. PSG 2018 and Bobby's late winner, Napoli 2018, that boss save from Alisson.
Well if you want the absolute best of the lot read on
I thought we were unlucky not just to lose in the first leg in the Nou camp, but to lose 3-0? Na it wasnt that bad a performance. Battered them for parts of it, Salah somehow hitting the post, Messi stumbling home a goal against the run of play but jesus yeah his free kick was bloody great. It could have been worse actually, had we played bad it would have been 6-0, Barca were just lethal infront of goal, apart from the last kick of the game when that cabbage Dembele missed an easy chance.
3-0, ok part of you thinks, we can still do it, but you know its unlikely especially against a team like that. Just for good measure by the time of the second leg Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah are both out. Right even with them its going to be hard, without them, see ya later good night. We still had a chance to win the Premier league, one point behind City, both those boys will be back, maybe just write this one off? Maybe try not get too embarrassed and concentrate on Sunday.
Remember getting a mail off the brother "hopefully we dont get embarrassed, keep it to 2-0 even". That is seriously how hard the task was. It wasn't a case of thinking you could pull it back, it was whether it could get even worse. With Salah and Firmino out we surely cant. it was like a Formula 1 race, you are 40 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton mid way through and your DRS has failed plus you have lost 3rd and 4th gear.
However THIS IS ANFIELD. In the words of Jurgen Klopp we were the only team in the world that could do this. We were. WE FUCKING WERE. Something in mind clicked when Jordan Henderson lead Liverpool out that night, my mind suddenly went “we can do it”. Maybe it was the noise, the see of red, the looks of determination or the sea of waving flags in the Kop. An early goal you just never know.
That did come, Jordi Alba’s header was telegraphed by Mane, he fed Henderson, he charged for the box, its saved but there is Divock Origi. 1-0, the place is going nuts and the game has pretty much only started. 3-0 deficit is now 2, 2 goals in 80 odd minutes? That really doesn’t look so hard now does it? In truth it could have been any score at half time, Barcelona nearly got a couple themselves, Alisson brought off 3 saves alone, even Andy Robertson had a couple of chances. This game is descending into mayhem but you still need a lot of stars to align. But often when there is a big obstacle in front of me I say “ok I need to do this but if I break it down into smaller bits I can gradually build it up and get it out of the way”.
Like a long run, 10k is a daunting distance sometimes, but if I can get through the first bit and feel ok, I am into a groove, then the next bit, the next bit and before I know it I am over half way. 10k has become 4k, not so impossible is it. Football is the same. I even think back to comeback that amounted to nothing, way back one time we were 3-0 down to Basel half time. It looked over. But if you take the first 15 minutes of the second half and try whittle down the deficit maybe things wont look so bad, It isn’t impossible to score 1 goal in 15 minutes. And If you do you should have at least half an hour to find 2. 2 in half an hour isn’t impossible and sure if you get another you are sucking diesel. Basel for instance we were 3 down after 45 minutes. But by 60 minutes it was 2-3. Suddenly its not such a big mountain is it?
So back to Barcelona, its 1-0, or 1-3 I suppose but there are 45 minutes to go. If we get one in the first 15 minutes then anything can happen. Even if it takes until the 80th or 85th minute we still have time to find another. One thing is for sure whatever way you break it down you do need the next goal. Alisson’s role that night was underrated. He brought off at least 3 decent saves in the first half another in the second from Messi at the near post. Then suddenly that mountain infront of us at the start was being reduced to a mole hill.
Trent Alexander Arnold was magnificent that night, a straight up 10/10 performance. He made one mistake all night, and you know what? It lead to the second goal, he lost possession but how you recover from mistakes is important, he won it back, he motored down the wing and his cross was met by Gini Wijnaldum and the ball squirmed in. Oil on the fire or what? Crowd is losing it, there is still half an hour left and only one goal to go. This is possible, this can happen. We have the wind behind us, 3rd and 4th gear has fixed itself, DRS repaired, watch fucking out HERE COME THE FUCKING REDS. CLEAR THE BLOODY LINE.
This isn’t ending 2-0, no no sunshine. Their keeper has shit the bed, Messi is looking around knowing the onslaught is coming, the greatest player to have played the game is shitting it, Suarez is shitting it, Busquets is shitting it, Alba is shitting , Coutinho is only short of hiding in the corner crying under a table.
We didn’t have time to settle as good work from Milner and Shaqiri lead to a pinpoint cross from the latter and Gini is there again, only a minute later and he buries it in the top corner. A neighbour had called in, she sat in the kitchen with my mrs hearing me going nuts.
“YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS JESUS CHRIST”
“erm I think you need to check on him, he could be having a heart attack”
Running in the kitchen even they know its going well
“ITS LEVEL, ITS LEVEL AND THERE IS STILL HALF AN HOUR LEFT”
Listen to the bloody noise after that goal, football really is nothing without fans.
We deserve this, but will we do it, as I try to figure in my mind who might take a penalty if it gets that far I look away for a split second. Then again judging by Barcelona I was in good company. I look up to see Origi sweep it home, do I cheer? I mean surely something isn’t right here, the Barcelona team aren’t even looking, there is about 2 Liverpool players in the box. Surely there is a reason its going to be ruled out but no. Trent has caught them asleep into the job and him and Divock have smashed the vault and won the lottery.
Now we are ahead, jesus. Hang on, just hang on boys, you are so nearly there. Every single fucking one of you has done us proud and there goes the final whistle. 4-0, we are off to the European cup final again. Milner sinks to his knees, Gini on his knees covers his face and wonderfully every single player (injured ones and all) with the staff line up in front of the Kop.
My neighbour comes in “did they win?
It might sound a silly question but she doesn’t care for football and she is going through a personal hell be kind.
“yes we did, any chance you could drop over for the final?”
I watch the scenes, I ready myself for the final, I sit back with a very expensive beer I have kept for a special occasion and this is bloody special so I crack it open (200 fathoms, google it and buy it if it ever comes back in stock).
And of course social media can have some. Something along the lines of
“what a bloody team. We have conquered all of Europe, we are never gonna stop.”
So your honour, in light of all this evidence, I move that this was the best night Anfield saw in Europe, the best of the best.
A few days later I am at Anfield for the Wolves game, long after the match ends I am over the main stand tunnel shaking hands with Divock Origi. Only one thing to say
“thanks for taking them down last Tuesday”
In a very humble tone he replies “no problem”.
He will always be a hero no matter what now (mind you a few weeks later in Madrid he went one better, not sure Anfield ever did)
The end.