WHAT the fuck do you write about this game? The manager at the end?
My god.
My lord.
My word.
Allez.
Class act here — what a 35 they had. What a set of footballers and team. What a force. What a smother, what a plan, what an angle. Everywhere was sky blue on that pitch. What a set of footballers, what a selection, what a set of bollocks. He played his lads, Pep Guardiola. Their manager. Loved his lads. Backed his boys.
Fair play to him.
They aren’t The Reds though. On and off the pitch. They aren’t The Reds. That ground before kick off was a disgrace. Give me something, lads. Offer me something. Dare us. Make us be able to say fair play to you.
We hung on, you know. For dear life. We grafted and worked and were smarter than we were good. That was some half of football. It was a reminder of what it takes to manage this. Win the European Cup? Get to the final? Graft, boys. Hang on, lads. Want work in a bikini? You better work, bitch.
Those lads. James Milner is the very best of us. I’ve met him, you know. Looked him in the eye. I can tell you this — I would follow him into the very jaws of hell. And tonight, 10 teammates did. He wasn’t to be denied. The manager at the end hanging off his neck like a teenage boy around his love. The manager at the end.
Before then. We’d survived. We got to 35. We got to 40. We got to 45. We got in. And then we came out and we began to play and we got our reward. He dinked him. He dinked him like Kenny Dalglish and I didn’t see it see it hit the net and then all it was was limbs and everything on top of me, of all of everything exploding on top of me, Europe being conquered, no one going to stop. It was there. It was everything.
The second. The most glorious knockout blow. I told everyone. I told your best mate and your boyfriend, I told your mother and I wrote to your father, Liverpool had 90 minutes to score twice and win the tie. Roberto Firmino was the calmest man in the ground when he slid it in.
The manager at the end.
Then it was a matter of time. Reader, I counted all the fives. I called each of them home. Celebrated them. They were our fives. Liverpudlian fives. Each and every one a treasure. Paul Senior screaming next to me “win the tie, win the fucking tie, Liverpool.” Milner doing the same.
I’ve met him, you know, Paul Senior. Looked him in the eye. Would follow him into the very jaws of hell.
They come over on the final whistle, are kept away from us by daft stewarding. They hang off each other. We hang off each other. The manager hangs off Milner, Degsy Lovren needs to be walked around — but then who doesn’t? — and then gave us all they had because that is the thing, and it is the best thing many of them have done in their whole lives, and that’s sound you know because we borne witness to it, and loved it, and adored it. They are young men, all younger than me, and they gave us the best day of their lives because it was their job, their vocation, their calling and their passion. They gave it all.
The manager at the end. He wants to be with us but he has to be with them and there are far worse lads to be with. Us for one thing.
We walked out. They kept us in and we walked out, and let me tell you it was joy unconfined. Let me tell you, in my Liverpool FC Philadelphia scarf, in Manchester, I have rarely felt closer to the city of Liverpool, rarely felt the brotherly love of Liverpool like this. God has given us these days of leisure. Rarely known the likes. Rarely been as keenly in love.
Let’s not be shy. That’s what the enterprise is. It’s an act of love. Of devotion. Of generosity. And if they don’t know that in sky blue, that’s not our fault. It is theirs. Wherever you are in the world, be in love. Because they are, the footballers are. They are smitten. With looking at an end in raptures, with each other, with an adventure.
It is our adventure.
It is a joy to be alive.
See you in a couple of weeks.
Much love as per. As always. The Reds.
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“What a night!” 😍
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— The Anfield Wrap (@TheAnfieldWrap) 10 April 2018
Smiling all night, this made me smile wider, which I didn’t think was possible. Thank you
Thanks Neil. Well done, as always. Magnificent team.
Poetry in devotion
Brilliant Neil!
Love all of it!! Love this Liverpool team. Love the show they put on. Love all the match build up and post match jubilation. I’m in love and I don’t care who knows it!
Allez Allez Allez!
Don’t tell me lad he can go to work in a bikini because he will.
Please get a photo of it Neil
Neil, your writing is sublime. More European wins please Reds, precipitate more of this from Atko…
We’ve conquered all of Europe,
We’re never gonna stop…
What a night. Topped off by Coming to bed where I found Mrs Andy in a black nightie. She said “football or me?” I said “Allez Allez Allez”. Boom
Cracker mate! Still laughing.
Allez, allez.
The fact that she waited until after the game shows that she knew the answer.
There you have it… scientific proof Liverpool is better than sex.
Sounded like great backing from the fans who were there last night. Loud and clear (on the radio) in the FIRST half, never mind the second. You played your part – should be proud of yourselves.
Neil. There’s a lot of things you could have said about last night but as per I think you’ve got it absolutely spot on. Top marks. Ps. Sorry about gate crashing your tv interview outside the ground haha.
Ian Salmon in October, we will finish second and get to the semi final of Champions League.
I just could not see it after the business we had done, well Ian thank fuck you know what you are talking about cause clearly I don’t!
Made up with the boys in red, the jaw dropping support, the Anfield Wrap , great to be alive!
Thanks lads
Bournemouth next.
anyone moaning about lovren, karius, trent, why did we sign Ox, why didn;t we sign a CB in summer etc etc, now. never again under this manager. get behind these lads, they deserve respect. this manager. for me, never going to moan about seeing James Milner in a midfield starting berth which was my pet moan before xmas. what a heart that lad has. tell myself to shut the fuck up. i know fuck all. just shout like fuck at the match. that’s your job. while we all pretend to be the world’s best manager these young lads over 2 seasons have been out there plying their trade, under more pressure then most of us can imagine every minute, getting on with the job, handling the pressure of 25 years, developing a as team. Good times, what an end to the season coming up!! whatever happens between now any end May this is the beginning.
Kiev? Fucks sake. UEFA thinking of the supporters as usual but first a semi final.
I keep thinking back to the podcast in January when Klopp announced that Karius was going to be his number one keeper going forward. Melissa Reddy was on, patiently explaining that the management felt they’d seen enough of Mignolet to know what level he was going to stay at but Karius was still enough of an unknown quantity to merit another chance (or rather a long series of chances). Someone (probably Mike Nevin – it sounds like his sort of thing) kept talking over her, kept insisting that Karius was obviously useless, kept talking down both the keepers but saying that as Mignolet was marginally better then he had to keep his place, kept demanding that the decision be reversed and that we buy a new keeper that window or else all was doomed. You can tell when a journalist is actually in the loop because Reddy just kept calmly batting back his arguments and insisting that it was a worthwhile exercise as the other guy got more and more furious to the point where I was worried he was going to advocate the death penalty for our next keeper who conceded a goal. I had (and still have) doubts about Karius but when the manager makes a big decision like that, we need to back him and listen to the wise voices that explain why he’s chosen to do what he’s done.
I hope our club has a word about the stewards there. Who do they think they are denying the team the chance to thank the away support?. Keep your sour grapes you twats, we’re brushing up on our Italian
My ex-wife’s brother is head of security at the Ethiad – yep, I am not going anywhere near that one.
“They come over on the final whistle, are kept away from us by daft stewarding. ”
Thx for pointing that out – was raging about that and never seen this before anywhere in Europe.
Absolutely surreal. A third win in a row against a side with a genuine claim on being Europe’s best. 5-1 on aggregate. Drink that in. Five to the one.
We’ve got something unique going here. You couldn’t get a manager more in-tune with us. He gets the football, the culture and the politics. He was made for this football club.
What a set of performances last night. Mo made time stand still and Firmino shut the tie down with his ice-cold composure. Football is made for moments like Salah’s celebration and the scenes that followed Bobby’s winner.
We are Liverpool Football Club and we lie down for nobody.
Well put mate. Wonder what Quitinho is thinking this morning.
We Are Liverpool.
I was at the Bernabue for Rodgers’ white flag surrender. I was proud of the lads that night and despaired for our manager. Klopp is what we lacked to make us great again and he is doing so with a systematic attack on the deficiencies we espoused before he came in. Add Naby and a couple more and we will be back. Booked my room in Madrid already.
Liverpool in Europe is what Mourinho calls “Heritage”….
What Neil Atkinson adds to a Liverpool victory is what great tits add to sex.
They just make everything better!
Thank you Neil you absolute legend! Loving your work!
brilliant Neil,our lads are evolving into an irresistible force…oh and the lads on the pitch :) !! VVD has rightly been talked about as a great signing but what about the full backs….immense!!!! At Anfield i was Impressed by our shape at the back and was even more impressed last night! Waddle has just written a piece saying we can win it because our defence is solid now and yet it hasn’t compromised our attack!! Lets go lads, lets not stop here, lets win this….never been more proud to be a red!!! Monster munch on me for Ben if we win it!!
This is why I’m a Liverpool fan, for nights where drinking wine in plastic glasses is fully allowed haha
Great stuff lads, the passion will never die!
Had to keep a promise to my lad not to watch the second half without him. Had to wait an entire day. Imagine leaving it hanging at halftime for a full day! Besides performing Matrix-esque backflips to avoid learning the outcome, I was in a state of unrelenting torment. Would it be yet another Crystanbul? Or could we at last slay that pernicious demon of the Liverpool psyche?
In the end it was me and my lad repeatedly giving each other a look, smiling broadly, and joyously combusting into “Allez” over and over. If that’s not what footie is about, than I just don’t want to know.