The Final was a disaster. Liverpool’s star forward, Egyptian
Mohamed Salah, came off midway through the first half after dislocating his shoulder.
Then, Liverpool’s goalkeeper, Loris Karius, let in two horrific goals. One
where he literally handed the ball to a Real Madrid player, who then only had
to do the bare minimum of sticking his leg out and the ball rolled into
Liverpool’s net. The other was what appeared to be a routine shot stop for
Karius that ended up going right through his hands.
The final score was 3-1 in favor of Real Madrid. Liverpool’s
season had ended in shambles and many fans and players were left feeling
embarrassed in front of the entire world.
Flash forward to the present and Liverpool are the current
Champions of Europe and finished in second place in the Premier League with 97
points. Manchester City finished in first again with 98 points.
Liverpool have finally finished the season with silverware
and rightly so. How that was achieved is something that can be admired and
appreciated by not just Liverpool fans but by anyone. Liverpool’s manager, Jürgen
Klopp, said in an interview during the preseason of the 2018/19 season with a
Liverpool affiliated fan channel, “Offense wins you games but defense wins you
championships.” It is a cliché in sports but it is true and Jürgen Klopp proved
it true again this past season. He went out and purchased a new goalkeeper,
Brazilian star, Alisson, over the summer last year for 66.8 million pounds, the
transfer window before that he had spent 75 million pounds on a new center
back, Dutchman, Virgil Van Dijk.
The rest of the squad was filled out with goal scoring
machines up front and hard-working midfielders in the center of the pitch. The
squad had a couple of new faces in the starting line-up but plenty of players
that have been featured in the team for the last few seasons were still there
as well.
The beginning of the season started out well, with a win in
their opening game and winning every single game for two months until they
faced Manchester City which ended in a 0-0 draw. Liverpool went on to win every
game again from that point on until January, 3, 2019. Where they once again
faced Manchester City and this time lost 1-0 away from home. This loss would be
Liverpool’s first and only loss of the season in the Premier League. They went
toe-to-toe with Manchester City all season. One day Liverpool would be in first
place, then City would win and go back in first, and so on and so forth for
months. Both teams at some points of the season could only sit and watch and
hope the other would lose a game and drop valuable points. But it never
happened. Incredibly, both Liverpool and Manchester City failed to lose any
games in the final half of the season. They were neck and neck all the way to
the final day where they both won their last games convincingly. Yet, that loss
back in January to City came back to haunt Liverpool. One point separated the
two teams and City were on top to end the season.
There was more to look at for Liverpool when it came to
their stunning Premier League campaign. That defense Jürgen Klopp was talking
about came in handy. They kept the most clean sheets (no goals scored against)
in the league with 21. The star defenseman, Van Dijk also had no player in the
league or in the Champions League dribble past him at any point during the season.
The defense also contributed on the other end of the pitch. The wing backs,
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson both had 12 assists, a record for a defenseman. Liverpool’s forwards dominated the attack across the league, two of
the front three for Liverpool, Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah both had 22 of the
89 goals scored during the Premier League season.
While the Premier League was coming to an end, the Champions
was going. Europe’s most elite competition, that takes place over the course of
nine months, was one for the history books as Liverpool had just completed an
incredible comeback at home against one of the best clubs in history, F.C.
Barcelona.
The knockout rounds of the tournament are played over the
course of two games or legs as they are referred to. One game is played at home
and one is played away, since there are no seeded teams. The first leg was in
Barcelona and their stadium is known as the “Cathedral of Football.” In a massive
100,000 seated stadium in the heart of the city, players can find it to be a difficult place to
play in. The club also produces some of the best players on the planet
including arguably the best of all time, Lionel Messi. He and his Barcelona
side completely dominated the first game and deservedly won 3-0. Most of the
time, teams would say that their run in the tournament would be over.
There was still one more game to play though at home for
Liverpool. Now it was at Anfield. A much smaller stadium for sure but it is a
rowdier one. The fans are within touching distance of players and the noise is
deafening. Liverpool could not let Barcelona score and they needed 3 goals to
send it to extra time or 4 goals to outright win it. Impossible. It is most
certainly improbable as experts gave Liverpool a 3% of advancing to the final.
Not to mention that Liverpool’s two star forwards were out injured and would
miss the game entirely.
The game started loud as the sold-out crowd was behind
Liverpool from the start and would be there from the first whistle to the last.
Then, just 7 minutes in, a goal was scored. Not by Lionel Messi but from Divock
Origi, a Belgian striker for Liverpool filling in for one of the injured
forwards. The score would stay 1-0 at half time and so far, it was job well done
by Liverpool. Then, a substitution was made by Jürgen Klopp at the start of the
second half, as Dutch midfielder, Georginio Wijnaldum, came onto the field.
Only 7 minutes later, he scored. Then, two minutes after that, he scored again.
It was 3-0. The score was tied on aggregate and there were still about 30 minutes left to
play.
Lionel Messi and his side tried their hardest to breakdown
the Liverpool defense but failed each time. Saves left and right from Alisson
and incredible defensive last-ditch efforts from the backline seemingly happened
every time Barcelona had the ball.
Then, a moment that is engrained into all Liverpool fans
mind by now happened. It was the 78th minute and with only 12 minutes
left to play the ball had gone out for a Liverpool corner kick. Everyone
stopped and turned their backs to get organized and ready for the ensuing play.
Even the fans and broadcasters stopped paying attention for a brief moment. It
happens every corner. Everyone, except one person stopped paying attention,
Trent Alexander-Arnold. The 20-year-old had walked over to take the corner and
saw that no one was paying attention. What he did see was an unmarked Divock
Origi, who’s back was turned to him at the time. The kid took the risk though and
quickly pinged the ball in while no was looking. Origi looked over his shoulder
at the right moment and saw the ball coming in. He stuck his foot out and
nestled it into the top part of the net. 4-3. Liverpool could see finals on the
horizon. They held on to dear life as Barcelona threw everything they had at
Liverpool’s goal but they never scored.
The game is now being called the Miracle of Anfield.
Liverpool would go onto win the Champions League Final 2-0 over fellow English
team, Tottenham Hotspur. Finally, a trophy to reward a record-breaking season.
It was a well-deserved one that not many would argue against.
The 2018/19 season will be remembered for ages by Liverpool
fans and will most certainly go down in history. With Jürgen Klopp and all
major squad players for Liverpool returning for next season, the future looks
nothing but promising for Liverpool and will most likely produce more life-long
memories for all involved with the club. There is quite possibly no better time
to be a fan or a player at the club. If you haven’t started watching this team,
then now is a great time to start because this is only the beginning of what
appears to be a beautiful few years up ahead.
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