AS I write I’m simply shaking my head in disbelief as this is something out-of-the-football-world.
The football world shook as a rip-roaring tsunami wave left millions of fans speechless after Liverpool’s historic turnaround against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final.
The overwhelming marathon of adjectives that followed were simply mind-blowing, even with the royal jubilation from football-fanatic Prince William celebrating the 4-0 win at Anfield (for a 4-3 two-leg aggregate) as “incredible”, Through the Kensingston Palace Twitter account, he tweeted: “Well done, Liverpool, an incredible result, what a comeback!”
Prince William is currently the President of the Football Association in England, which regulates the sport in the “Home of Football”, and known to be a massive Aston Villa fan.
In my four decades of covering international football, I’d swear that few punters would have put a dollar on Liverpool after they were smashed 3-0 in the first-leg at the Camp Nou. Honestly, in the closing stage of last week’s first-leg match in Spain, it could’ve been four or five as Lionel Messi’s celebrity team just whacked the daylights.
Even the famous Jose Mourinho’s pre-match prediction that he “wouldn’t put one single coin on Liverpool winning” came back to haunt him!
BARCELONA DUMPED OUT
Ironically, millions of fans, even in the Artic to the Antartic, were in disbelieving tears. I confess I was left speechless, too, as the Reds (Liverpool’s nickname) overturned the deficit to dump Barcelona out of the competition in what has been described as the greatest comeback in Champions League history.
The braces from Divock Origi and Georginio Wijnaldum sealed a second successive Champions League final. Now Liverpool wait for Wednesday’s second semi-final where my favourite club Tottenham Hotspur takes on Ajax Amsterdam, trying to overcome a first-leg 1-0 home defeat.
In my opinion, surely going on how Jurgen Klopp’s men went on a four-goal riot, there’s immense hope for a second successive upset to pave the way for an all-English final on June 1 at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid, with a capacity of 68,000, it is home to three-time UEFA Europa League winners Atletico Madrid.
Even the Liverpool boss couldn’t contain himself after their stunning comeback against Barcelona – insisting his players are “f***ing giants”. With jubilant tears in his eyes, Klopp said: “These boys are f***ing giants,. Fine me for swearing if you want. These boys are giants. Creating this kind of emotional atmosphere together is so special. It’s all about the players”
I’d describe it as an unbelievable mix of potential and unbelievable heart, something I’ve never seen it before in over 40 years of sports journalism. Now I believe in the football impossible and now I know Anfield (home ground for Liverpool) can make miracles.
After losing emphatically by 3-0 in the first-leg, I sympathised and thought for Liverpool, the return match, is not about how to stop them. It is about how they can create and incredible situation to come close to Messi’s awesome team,
LEGENDARY MAGIC
But on Tuesday night, Anfield showed its legendary magic that it’s simply a most beautiful, if not unbelievable, place to play.
The final 4-0 goal was simply out of this world. The result of something truly special from 20-year-old Trent Alexander-Arnold, who pretended to walk away from a corner to let a team-mate take it, before turning around quickly and whipping in a low cross that found an unmarked Origi, who finished brilliantly.
Barcelona defenders were like statues, failing to react to what Jurgen Klopp called a “genius moment from one of the cleverest, cheekiest, most brilliant bits of football”. He said: “We all know you need luck in this situation or a genius moment like Trent Alexander-Arnold. I saw the ball in the net and didn’t know who had taken the corner, it was too quick for me. Oh my God, simply genius!”
Singapore’s award-winning former national coach Jita Singh, who won the SNOC ‘Coach of the Year 1980’, says: “Even people not in love with Liverpool have to admit it is a magnificent club, incredible stadium and one of the best atmospheres. So when we say impossible is nothing, we mean it but the Reds showed, even without the injured Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Naby Keita, that they can create the biggest ever football tsunami to beat arguably the best team in the world.”
Even Mourinho was left red-faced and later reflected: ‘I didn’t expect this. I did say impossible is nothing. If it is possible, Anfield is one of the places to make the impossible possible. But I have to say, this comeback has one name, Jurgen (Klopp). I think this was not about tactics or philosophy but heart and soul and empathy that he almost single-handedly created with this group of players.’
For the Egyptian hero Salah, shockingly ruled out because of a concussion, he had the last laugh, too, as he won a T-shirt with the phrase “NEVER GIVE UP” to spur his team-mates to defy the odds to demolish Barcelona.
To me, the most poignant scenes at Anfield after the final whistle was the emotional embrace Klopp gave England international James Milner. Klopp said: “I saw James Milner crying on the pitch. It means so much to all of us. It’s the best phase of football. There are more important things in the world. But creating this emotional atmosphere together is so special. It’s all about the players.”
This is what it means. This is passion. This is pride. This is tsunami-football in one of the most emotional comebacks from the dead in a David versus Goliath football contest to triumph.
‘TROPHY FLOP’?
I congratulate the Reds. Liverpool have had famous European nights in the past with many entering the stadium, majority with pessimistic mood, hoping for a repeat of Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Olympiacos in 2004 or the thrilling 4-3 win over Borussia Dortmund in 2016.
By reaching a second successive Champions League final, Klopp’s side will have the chance to go one better than 2018 when they were beaten in Kiev by Real Madrid.
Mind you, some even call Klopp somewhat of a “trophy flop” as he has yet to win a major Cup during his time in England. But now he has gifted Liverpool something more precious: An enormous God-send well of optimism, a divine sense again of who they truly are.
In my books, Klopp, through sheer force of personality and a Utopian, impossible-is-nothing tactical vision, has created a vibrant force, one that dwarfs the sum of their parts.
I feel that it’s like the gift of the great football preacher to instil belief, to persuade his disciples that his message amounts to so much more than fantasy; with sufficient conviction, armed with absolute faith, the dream can – will – become life-affirming reality.
Hail Klopp! The bearded, bespectacled messiah has changed the celebrity status and literally painted Anfield truly red. This is now a club that has relocated their essence; Yes, Manchester City will most likely extend their pursuit of league glory into a 30th year on Sunday, but Liverpool have their identity back…in the Europe arena, where they genuinely belong.
From Singapore to Senegal, Peru to Pakistan, Brazil to Brunei, Liverpool fans can hold their heads high on a lyrical Tuesday night, where one wonder ran as deep as the timeless Mersey, that seemed like a precious global gift.
I end by saluting that putting a performance like that, it was so important. It shows what’s possible in football, and even in life when we are faced with overwhelming challenges, sometimes even in life-and-death situations.
But believe in the iconic T-shirt Mo Salah wore with the phrase “NEVER GIVE UP”. Simply because every human being, you and me, can genuinely defy the odds if we put our hearts and souls to beating the biggest of odds.
“You Never Walk Alone” says the famous Anfield iconic club title.
But I’d rate Tuesday night as an absolute wonder of the football world, as unbelievable as the Great Pyramids of Gaza (ask Mo Salah!), as colossal as the Colossus of Rhodes with an impossible dream-vision as Babylon’s Hanging Gardens. – By SURESH NAIR
- Suresh Nair is a Singapore-based sports journalist, who supports London-based Tottenham Hotspur, but rates Liverpool’s comeback as more than football, close to a religious experience, a spiritual, divine night of destiny.
