They were sitting on walls, standing on roofs, fists in the air, faces spelling out exactly what this all means. They were as far as the eye could see, and louder than imaginable, clothed by red smoke and committed to their cause.
The game had started long before the first whistle, there on the stretch of Anfield Road from The Arkles pub to the Players’ Entrance. You knew it then: this was going to be a special occasion, one of those to revisit often and roll around in.
Liverpool live for big European nights, and so, they go big for it. It is heritage, it is inherent. For all the talk of aura not being a factor against the Manchester City juggernaut, Pep Guardiola may as well have traded notes with Louis van Gaal and Thomas Tuchel in the aftermath of their 3-0 defeat.
The former, while Manchester United manager, admitted his team “could not cope with the pressure” generated by a “fantastic atmosphere” at Anfield during a 2-0 loss in the Europa League Round of 16, while the latter stated Borussia Dortmund’s 4-3 defeat here in the quarter-finals of the same competition in 2016 “was not logical” and a situation where “everybody, except our supporters, believed it was meant to be.”
It was at this very ground on January 14 that Guardiola lamented City’s inability to be commanding in commotion during their solitary top-flight reverse in the campaign.
“We were involved in the environment of Anfield, for many reasons,” he said. “You have to try to be stable and there are good lessons to be learned, especially for the knockout stages of the Champions League.”
The visitors did not heed their previous schooling and the home terraces thundered with even more passion, while Liverpool ramped up their status as City’s disruptors-in-chief.
The first 45 minutes explained the angst layered on Txiki Begiristain’s face when the draw for this stage was made. The Premier League champions-in-waiting would have been happier with anyone but the Reds, who are so familiar with their blueprint and so formidable at using it against them.
City arrived at Anfield with the intention of nullifying any thoughts of a quick Liverpool start and unsuccessfully tried to use slow possession to stifle their opponents and quieten the crowd.
They also had designs on isolating Trent Alexander-Arnold against Leroy Sane, but the young Scouser was more than equal to the challenge with his team-mates awake to and awaiting that danger to thwart it.
He was as excellent as Andy Robertson on the opposite flank as well as Virgil van Dijk and Dejan Lovren between them. Pick a Liverpool player, any one, and applaud: there were gigantic individual performances stitched by a clear collective objective.
On 12 minutes, Jurgen Klopp’s men matched defensive resilience with a rapid break. James Milner fed a long, low pass into the right channel with Mohamed Salah skinning Aymeric Laporte to reach the ball first and feed Roberto Firmino.
The Brazil international displayed fine feet and then reacted quickest to his blocked shot to supply the Egyptian, who was never going to miss.
Anfield exploded at that point, and so too did Liverpool; they were more efficient in possession and more aggressive out of it.
Every touch and every tackle from the Merseysiders was greeted as though it was another addition on the scoreboard, and with the atmosphere intensified, City began to disintegrate.
Liverpool were primed to take advantage and a superb Milner challenge directed possession towards Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The midfielder took a touch, drove the ball forward once and struck a certified beauty in from around 25 yards.
Still, the scarf-swirling, ‘Allez Allez Allez’ party wasn’t over. Another attack was sparked with a tackle, this time Firmino looting City in midfield before Salah swung in a cross to the far post, where Sadio Mane headed beyond Ederson.
It was three goals for Liverpool from four shots on target, while City ended the encounter without testing Loris Karius once. They were frustrated, but moreover, they seemed fearful and fresh out of ideas.
At the start of the second stanza, the core question was whether Klopp’s charges could contain rather than further crack the visiting rearguard.
Having lost Salah to injury, which blunted their powers on the counter-attack, the Reds answered in the affirmative: stifling their counterparts on repeat. City, as expected, colonised the ball but could not coax an opening.
It was a complete European performance from the home team: a mix of mastery, menace and managing to extract every advantage while not giving an inch.
Liverpool issued an apology ahead of kick off condemning a minority of supporters that disgracefully damaged City’s team bus, but it was Guardiola’s side who were sorry under the lights.
