Man City greeted the sides in last nights Champions League game with plastic flags and singing Hey Jude. Liverpool had won before the game had even started.
What is football really about? Yes it is about glory – winning and success. But most of all it is about the fans. The shared experience of a community of people who live and breathe a football team. Winning just makes that experience better. There are somethings that are more important than even results.
Last week at Anfield was a showcase of what makes football – and in particular, Liverpool Football Club – very special. The crowd, the songs , the scarves, the flags, the pyro!
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Who knew if Liverpool were going to progress to the Semi-Finals of the Champions League or get embarrassed by the Premier League champions elect? No-one knew. But everyone sang and danced and drank like they believed it. Win or lose the Reds were going to enjoy it.
I have some sympathy for Manchester City fans. They too are from a working class Northern city. They also have seen money come into the game and change their community club irreparably. Many of those their last night were at Maine Road in Division Two not so long ago. They are real fans.
But their club sold them out last night. Plastic flags? That’s some Chelsea nonsense. Did you see them? White and blue bin bags on sticks. Soon to be taking up space in a landfill or dumped in the ocean.
Whose idea was it to play Hey Jude? The city of Liverpool is world-famous for two things: Liverpool Football Club and The Beatles. Can you imagine playing an Oasis song or a Smiths track just before kicking off against either one of our Manchester rivals in a Champions League quarter frickin’ final?
Do those small things affect the players? Who knows. They certainly affect the fans. The traveling Kop was in full voice last night. Singing their own songs – “Allez, Allez, Allez” – and waving their own flags.
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Liverpool won that game before it even started. At least in every way that truly matters.