Jurgen Klopp’s signing as new Liverpool manager has certainly given the club’s fans a reason to smile.
Thursday’s night’s 1-0 Europa League win against Rubin Kazan was Liverpool’s third successive win under Klopp and adding to last Saturday’s 3-1 dismantling of Chelsea, the new boss of Anfield remains unbeaten after his first six games in charge.
As Liverpool fans grow increasingly excited about their prospects this season, CNN Sport’s Don Riddell remembers an emotional moment in the club’s history.
Where? It was the 2005 Champions League final between Liverpool and AC Milan in Istanbul, which will always be remembered as one of the greatest comebacks of all time.
Liverpool were the surprise finalists that year — they didn’t even finish in the English Premier League’s top four that season and they were up against one of Europe’s best teams. Thinking about the final still makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.
What? The photo was taken around an hour and a half before the game. I was drawn to it because of the flares — they are kind of dangerous, but they make for great photographs.
Liverpool fans always bring an amazing atmosphere. They’re incredibly vocal fans. The club had dominated both in England in Europe in the 1970s and 80s, but they’d been off the boil for a very long time. For the fans it was a really big deal that they were back playing in the biggest game in European football. Once you get to a final, anything can happen.
How? Very quickly the whole evening just fell apart for Liverpool. Milan dominated, I don’t even think Liverpool had a shot on target. At halftime they were 3-0 down. It was the most incredible anti-climax.
During halftime, the Liverpool fans in their tens of thousands just sang and sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone.” They adopted the song from a musical in the Sixties and it quickly became the club’s anthem.
It seemed so futile but it did something, because Liverpool came out in the second half and scored three goals in six minutes. They completely took the wind out of the sails of Milan, who from what I gather, were almost celebrating. They didn’t know what had hit them.
Ultimately the game went into penalties, which Liverpool won. It was completely unthinkable that a team could play so badly in the first half and come out and recover in the second.
Why? I did a live shot on CNN World Sport afterwards and the anchor threw me the cliche: “I suppose that was a game of two halves.” I responded, “I think that was the most incredible game of football you’ll ever see.” The next day I ran into an old colleague at the airport, who said, “That was one of those ‘I was there’ moments.” It hit me how lucky we were.
I also had a very good friend called Mary, an older lady who I used to live next door to. She and I used to watch games together round her house. At that time, she was suffering from cancer.
The last time I saw her was the day Liverpool played the semifinal against Chelsea. When Liverpool did their comeback it was almost spiritual — it was almost as if there was a higher power at work.
I remember thinking about Mary, because she’d died by that point, hoping she got to see all of this. I’m sure she did, because it was amazing. I always think of her when I think of that game.
Apparently a few supporters had left at halftime. I felt sorry for them — they had missed the most amazing comeback of all time. I asked another fan if he did too. He said, “No way, what kind of fans are they? You never give up on your team.”
#MyBeautifulGame: This game sums it up because anything can happen. There are some sports where the favorites usually win. But in football, the underdog always has a chance. It’s a sport where you can be entertained, surprised and moved.
It’s practically a language — you can get into a taxi in any part of the world and football is the common denominator. It just connects people.
Have you taken a great shot of the beautiful game? Tag your photos of the game, the fans, the atmosphere on Twitter or Instagram using #MyBeautifulGame. We’ll feature our favorites on CNN.com
