How I discovered the Anfield magic
AN ARTICLE BY MATTY
Having only discovered football about seven years ago, let’s just say my tenure as a Liverpool
fan has started and grown with one man: Jurgen Klopp. However, as I learned more and more
about the beautiful game, I knew that Lionel Messi was unstoppable when he was on his
game, and the 3-0 at the Camp Nou was one of those nights. Liverpool didn’t even play that
bad, Messi just happened to put on a master class. At that point, I said to myself that we were
likely out, but I had this gut feeling that we could come back from it. It only heightened after
Coutinho and Suarez decided to pump their own tires and say it was easy to beat us. Although
we wouldn’t have Salah or Firmino, I figured “Why not us? Why not these players?”
It is very rare that you’ll see me watch a game live. I can’t stand the commercials and can
delete recordings if I know the result is a bad one. Describing the circumstances to my mother,
I said before kickoff “Imagine if they actually do come back and win it”. It was weird, I almost
felt confident in a collapse of the mighty Barcelona, the first team that I ever knew about thanks
to my cousin’s Messi obsession. So much talent there, between Messi, Suarez, Pique and ter
Stegen, Alba and Busquets, Rakitic and Lil Phil. Yet watching the fans in the stands screaming
their lungs out, watching the steely gaze of Klopp as he looked out onto the pitch, it just felt
like something special was about to happen.
Kickoff came and Barcelona looked awful, they were out of place everywhere and conceded to
Origi within six minutes of the match starting. However, under Valverde’s pragmatism I knew
Barcelona would quickly look to minimize the damage instead of looking for Messi to provide
some magic. So they sat back and tried hitting us on the counter, with Alisson in particular
putting on a masterful performance, but overall Barcelona were absolutely ripe for the taking.
They were rattled by Big Div’s early strike, which turned what looked like an easy fixture into a
tenuous battle, which Barcelona has never been used to fighting. They were always the top
dogs, never very good at playing from behind or being forced out of their comfort zone. Yet we
took the game right to them, frightened them, and eventually overcame them. There was a new
king of Europe after that night, and Jurgen Klopp sat atop that throne.
At halftime, I couldn’t take my eyes away, we were absolutely battering them and Barcelona
looked grateful to be getting off the pitch. Then came the second half, and I noticed Robbo
wasn’t in, Gini had taken his place. Wijnaldum later said that he was absolutely furious that
Klopp would bench him for such a big game, wanting to use the opportunity of a substitute’s
appearance to prove his manager wrong. 2 goals within the span of 90 seconds, the second
coming from a perfect cross by a scrappy undersized squad player named Xherdan Shaqiri,
and Gini fired us level and absolutely shattered whatever confidence Barcelona had left. They
were absolutely stunned, as was the world, and our boys still felt they had to push onward.
When the corner came and Trent was there, I sat in awe as he crossed it in for a wide-open
Origi: “CORNER TAKEN QUICKLY, ORIGI!” The crowd was absolutely raucous, it was an
incredible scene. Barcelona would try, but they couldn’t muster anything. Liverpool had
advanced, I was stunned that I was right, and I watched every one of our players sing with the
fans after the game was over. I consider it one of the greatest games of football ever played
and furthermore the greatest game I’ve ever watched us play.
So what’s all the fuss about the Anfield Magic then? Well, that match was when I discovered
that Liverpool FC is so much more than a football club. It’s about the fans, the fans whose
reaction spurred our players to give it 150% from the kickoff to the final whistle. It’s about the
drive of our players to believe in themselves, to believe it isn’t over and that they could fight
back. Almost every other team would’ve flown the white flag in our situation and just given up,
and Barcelona expected us to do that. But we fought hard and Jordan Henderson in particular
put in an insane performance, shouting until he was hoarse while giving Messi and Busquets
the fight of their lives in the midfield. Unsung heroes such as Shaq, Gini, and Origi became
legends, even though each of them will likely be leaving us this summer they will never be
forgotten. The magic of Anfield is that there’s no atmosphere that can even compare to it.
There’s something special about where our club plays, the fans roaring and the players
galvanized to give it their all. It’s a place that can never be replaced, an atmosphere that has
been sorely missing from this campaign. When we play Crystal Palace to end the year, expect
one of the best performances of the season from us. Why? Because the Anfield Magic will be
back in full force with the fans allowed back in.
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