LIVERPOOL’s ROAD TO ENDING A LONG AWAITED TROPHY HUNT

It all started on May 26 2018 when they were beaten by Real Madrid in the Champions League final. Loris Karius fell to his feet asking for forgiveness from the 5000 Liverpool fans that were distraught at what they were seeing. Their team played well but lost to two costly mistakes from Loris Karius who was later judged to have a concussion. He threw the ball straight at Karim Benzema who just guided it into the empty net and again let in a straight shot from Gareth Bale to put the game out of the Reds reach. The Liverpool faithful were angry, unwilling to accept defeat but when Karius asked for forgiveness they let their hearts melt and were quick to forgive him.

Liverpool were underdogs in the final. They were pretty much underdogs in the tournament having to defeat Hoffenheim to qualify for the tournament in the first place. This pain made them stronger, giving them the passion to grind out results no matter what it took to achieve the right results.

But they again left it late in the group stage last year losing all the three away matches to Napoli, Red Star Belgrade and Paris Saint German. They had to win their last game at Anfield against Napoli with a 1-0 or a two-goal difference to qualify for the knockout stages again. They did just that with a flying last ditch save from Alisson in the dying minutes to win 1-0 courtesy of a fine finish from Mohammed Salah.

Alisson was bought as the costliest GK in the world for € 72.5 in the summer largely funded by the departure of Phillipe Coutinho. Liverpool did great business to address two areas of the pitch that they lacked in bringing in Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson Becker for the fee that they sold Phillipe Coutinho to Barcelona. That was a shrewd piece of business by Michael Edwards, the sporting director and the recruitment team.

While they qualified for the Champions League knockout stages, their Premier League campaign was taking shape as well. They won each and every fixture in the busy December period while the Champions Manchester City lost two games and went 10 points behind the REDs with a game in hand before they faced off in January. It was a feisty contest with some gruel tackles, and competitive football until the last minute. Liverpool dominated the initial periods of the game, albeit almost scoring if not for 11mm. Can you believe it? Just 11 mm, that was the distance from it being a goal and not. City went on to establish control in the game and took the lead just before half time through a sublime Kun Aguero finish.

Liverpool came out fighting from the break but were not able to open up the City defense until the 71^st min when Robertson’s chip found Roberto Firmino at the back post to nod it into the empty net. City kept pushing for the win and was rewarded when Jordan Henderson’s loose pass was capitulated and Sane scored with a fierce shot across Alisson to find the bottom corner. City held on to win the game, a game they simply had to win to keep the title pursuit on. Thereafter Liverpool started to self-inflict wounds dropping points continuously with draws against Leicester, Everton and West Ham. City took control of the title again in late February and never seemed like dropping points from then on. With both teams pushing each other every Game Week it went down to the wire.

BACK TO THE CL

Amidst all this the Champions League resumed again in February. The REDS were drawn to face Bayern Munich in the round of 16. Liverpool had never lost a two-legged tie in Europe with Jurgen Klopp at the helm, last time they went to the final of the Europa league losing to Sevilla. But they were without Virgil Van Dijk for the first leg because of the yellow card he received in the game against Napoli. Liverpool were also injury stricken with Dejan Lovren out injured as well. They ended up playing with Fabinho at defence since he had previously played centre-back for Brazil national side. With Robert Lewandowski and James Rodriguez breathing down their neck, Liverpool held firm to earn a hard-battled draw, most importantly managing not to concede at home.

Liverpool went to the Allianz arena on the back of three away defeats in the group stage. Everyone thought Liverpool would succumb to the atmosphere as they did previously as well. But Jurgen was quick to take pressure off his players saying

“We have our own targets, our own aims, we want to be strong, we want to show that.”

Liverpool started off on the front foot putting pressure on the Bayern defense, and they were rewarded on the 26^th minute when Virgil Van Dijk’s long pass took out the entire Bayern midfield to find Sadio Mane on the edge of the box. He took control of the ball sublimely finding Manuel Neuer just in front of him, whom he rounded with utmost ease before chipping it past both the Bayern CBs to score one of the most outrageous goals in the Champions League this season.

 The Allianz arena went silent. Bayern needed a response and were quick to fight back earning a goal through Joel Matip who put the ball into his own net with Lewandowski lurking behind him to put it away if he missed. Liverpool had to start from the beginning again after the break. They won a corner and Van Dijk rose the highest to put it away past Neuer. Liverpool led again and now Bayer had to score two in 20 mins to progress but there was no way back for the Bundesliga Champions. Mane scored again with his head three minutes from time sending the Liverpool fans into a frenzy. Jurgen didn’t hold his celebration back probably memories of his time at Dortmund did provoke it.

The feeling of conquering the German Champions was a lot to take in for this team especially after the effort they put in. But they knew only half the work was done. Jurgen was quick to praise his team, saying

We set the bar for LFC, for this wonderful club, that we really are back on an international landscape of top football,” said Klopp. “We all think that is where the club belongs and I am really happy about the result.  “I knew we had a chance and the boys made it happen and that is brilliant, absolutely brilliant.”

While they kept dropping points in the Premier League, they got a very favourable draw in the quarter finals. They were drawn to face FC Porto, the champions from Portugal who had never lost a home game until this tie. The first game was at Anfield for the Reds. Liverpool were always on the front foot in the match and took an early lead through Keita who had his shot deflected of a defender into the goal taking out Casillas. The Reds were facing Porto second year in a row. So, they knew the threats that the Champions of Portugal possessed and quickly nullified that. It was not long before they added the second when Roberto Firmino calmly slotted it past Casillas to double the lead. They saw out the game only giving 35% o the possession to the Portuguese Champions. But Klopp knew the game wasn’t done since Porto were very good at home throughout the season. 

It was a cold, blustery night over at the Estadio do Dragao. Porto started on the front foot making an adventurous start troubling the Liverpool defence time and again. Jesus Corona curled a powerful shot just over the cross bar in the opening minute. Liverpool soaked up the pressure in the opening quarter of the game, waiting for their turn to pounce on. The time came when it was 26^th minute when Mane latched onto the cross from Mo Salah putting it into the net. It was ruled out for offside by the linesman only for the VAR check to overturn the decision in the Reds favour.

After soaking up pressure for so long it was one chance that they needed and put the home side to the sword. Porto were stunned, facing the task of having to score four goals to qualify.  They weren’t able to score even though they had 15 shots before the interval. Salah doubled the score soon after the interval collecting a beautiful cross from Trent Alexander Arnold. The goals kept coming for the away team with Firmino and Van Dijk scoring to round of the scoring after Militao gave them a hope in the 68^th minute.  It was all smiles after the final whistle having come to the semis two years in a row. But this time they were not a force to be dismissed. This time they were proper contenders for the title.

The draw for the semis and finals was different this time around. The draw for the semi-final was made when the round of 8 draw was made. This ensured that the Reds faced the Spanish Champions Barcelona in the first leg at the Camp Nou.

THE BARCELONA TIE

The build-up to the match was enormous since Messi had promised the Camp Nou crowd that he would deliver the Champions league this season. It was labours day; Klopp took his men to the Spanish giants who were all primed and ready for the game. The first half was very close between each other, but former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez opened the scoring darting in between the two CBs to slide the ball past Alisson. Liverpool dominated most of the game but spurned every opportunity notably by Mane who shot just over in the first half and Mo Salah at the end who directed his shot into the side netting. Messi was kept quiet until a shot from Suarez rebounded off the cross bar straight to Messi who chested it down and scored into the empty net. He didn’t stop there and burst into celebration with the Catalan crowd when his sizzling free kick crashed into the top corner beyond the reach of Alisson to put the tie out of Liverpool but Ousmane Dembele had a wonderful opportunity to settle the tie but he shot straight at Alisson in extra time after a brilliant counter by Messi.

Messi said after the game

“Four goals would have been better than three but this is a very good result. We know that the tie isn’t over, Anfield is a very difficult place to go but we’re happy with the super game we played tonight. They clearly wanted to score because an away goal means a lot but they didn’t and we have a great advantage.”

This Liverpool team were distraught, battered on all sides, bruised and what not. The second leg was in one week’s time and they were already on the brink of being knocked out. Jurgen Klopp was pretty impressed with the performance saying “I said that I’m really proud of them, that I really liked the game, that it’s wonderful,” he said of his message in the dressing room. “But we don’t have to think about the next game against Barcelona, now we play Newcastle, that’s where all our focus is. “So, go to the hotel, have a proper sleep, get up in the morning and fly home and prepare for Newcastle, that’s how it is”.

HISTORICAL COMEBACK

The build-up to the second leg was hampered with the news of Firmino and Salah being ruled out of the tie. In spite of this Anfield was bouncing with the voice of the Anfield crowd deafening the ears. Liverpool went with Mane, Shaqiri and Origi up top in the absence of his two front men. The Barcelona team was “THE TEAM” packed with superstars all all around the pitch but football had other ideas. Here is the excerpt of a Liverpool fan in India who tells us what it felt to him and his folks of what happened in the next 120 minutes. “I traveled for 40 mins in order to get to the screening that takes place for Liverpool fans. I reached there about 30 mins before kick-off and started greeting the fellow REDS. Everyone was smoking cigar after cigar trying to digest the fact that no result was possible and that it was going to be a teary-eyed night at the end. We all decided that if we cried then it was going to be together. The game started and we were all tensed until the 8^th minute when Origi put the ball at the back of the net after Ter Stegan saved the initial shot of Henderson. 

We didn’t know what to do since we thought it was a mere consolation, but there was a glimmer of hope now. Every time Messi got the ball it was frightening that he was going to make something happen because everyone in the world knew that if Barcelona scored one goal the game was done. Barcelona became solid after the first goal and kept attacking the Liverpool goal time and again looking to put one and put the game to rest.

After the interval, we saw Gini Wijnaldum come out in place of Robertson that was another nail in the coffin because that was another attacking player gone. But what Wijnaldum did after coming on shall be etched in my memory as long as I’m alive. First, he finished off a move when Trent Alexander Arnold robbed the ball of Jordi Alba and crossed it right into Wijnaldum whose powerful shot went past Ter Stegan into the net. Just two minutes after that Wijnaldum again rose highest of a Xherdan Shaqiri cross to head it in sending us and Anfield in a toss.

We were screaming our hearts out in joy jumping on top of each other. We could see Anfield was bouncing unable to hold its joy back. Just as the dust settled on the two quick goals, Liverpool kept pushing for the winner having all the momentum in the game. It did arrive and the fashion in which it did is literally unforgettable. Liverpool won a corner and Trent Alexander Arnold was about to take it when Van Dijk asked Shaqiri to go over to take it. Just when Trent was about to leave it for Shaqiri he saw that the Barcelona defence was napping with Origi free in the middle of the box.

CORNER TAKEN QUICKLY ORIGIIIIIII still rings in my ear every day since Trent squared in to Origi who guided it so fast above Pique’s head into the net sending the Liverpool faithful into cracking celebrations. It was as though the roof of Anfield was about to fall. The Liverpool crowd were screaming on top of their voices, so did we until the final whistle when everyone started to cry, but those were tears of joy. What a game it was. Purely magical! No words came in my mouth.

My throat was ready to give up due to the screaming. I assume that all Liverpool fans didn’t get much sleep after that match and repeatedly did watch the highlights to let it sink in that their team had actually beat Barcelona and gone to the finals to face Tottenham who also beat Ajax late on to qualify for the finals.

“It’s 10.10pm,” Klopp said. “Most of the children are probably in bed so: these boys are f***ing mentality giants! It’s unbelievable. It’s unbelievable. Fine me. Fine me if you want but I’m not native so I don’t have better words for it. They are mentality giants. It’s just not possible [what they did].

It was after a decade or so that two English teams were in the final. Tottenham were in the final for the first ever time in their history, Liverpool were in familiar territory for the second successive year looking to avenge last year’s defeat. Both the teams put forward their strongest teams. Liverpool started on the front foot and just when the referee blew his whistle for the game to start Liverpool got a penalty. It was so early in the game when Mane attempted to cross the ball when the ball hit Mousa Sisokko’s outstretched hand leaving the referee no option but to point to the spot. Salah made no mistake in converting from the spot to give Liverpool an early lead.  To be honest the game thereafter was a dull affair. Tottenham kept attacking with Alisson making saves left right and centre to keep Liverpool in the lead. The tie was settled when the King of late goals Origi drilled one late on in the 87^th minute past Loris to win the game for Liverpool. As soon as the goal went in Virgil Van Dijk fell to the ground in relief. The Reds conquered Europe after 14 years to win their sixth European Cup. Celebrations were in full flow since it was the last game of the season after narrowly missing out on the Premier League by 1 solitary point.

Jurgen Klopp finally was on the right side of the Cup winning his first European Cup after failing in the past three attempts especially last year. The parade in the City of Merseyside was a pompous one with thousands of people having gathered to welcome the European Champions. This was Liverpool’s time and this was the start of their era.

Finally we have put this blog out, nearly a year after the famous CL triumph. What a season Liverpool had last year with only one loss in the Premier League and ended up winning the Champions League as well. They almost have won the long awaited PL this season for the corona to show up at the wrong time denying the fans the long awaited title. Its only a matter of when not if before the city will be painted RED again.

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