The ever-more familiar chorus reverberated from the away end at The Etihad after the final whistle: Allez, Allez, Allez. It was a victory cry – Liverpool had pulled off a remarkable feat, not only winning the tie against Manchester City but triumphing in both legs. The song sings of historic successes, from Paris down to Turkey; progression to the semi-final of this year’s competition allows fans to begin to believe in earnest that Kyiv can be added to that list.
Source: liverpoolfc.com
It was the kind of game that lays bare the raw emotion of football. The first half was a true ordeal – the early goal was essentially a playing-out of the worst nightmares of the fans, and the persistent barrage that followed induced horrific amounts of stress. It was almost unwatchable, and yet no pair of Liverpool eyes could be torn away from the action. It was a minor miracle that half-time was reached with the score only 1-0. The defence must take some credit – admittedly they should never have dropped so deep, but City effectively forced them to do so, and having retreated they defended like heroes. Lovren, much-maligned in his career at the club, was prepared to throw his body on the line time and time again. His desperate leap, just flicking the ball with the slightest of touches, may well have been responsible for diverting Bernardo Silva’s shot onto the woodwork. Van Dijk rallied magnificently after being at fault for the opener, marshalling the back line and clearing multiple aerial balls to safety. Robertson rode his luck against Sterling, and was fortunate not to concede a penalty, but ultimately managed to keep him fairly contained. Alexander-Arnold seemed to be walking a tightrope after a concerningly early yellow card up against Sane, but proceeded to put in yet another unbelievably mature display to keep the German largely under wraps. It is only fair to say that Sane should have added City’s second – the ball fell to him after a Karius punch ricocheted off Milner, and the linesman’s flag should not have gone up. However, nobody wins a major trophy without getting a slice of fortune along the way. This was Liverpool’s, but they knew they would have to regroup for the second half if they were to make the most of this gift.
Another half in the same vein as the first would simply not have been sustainable. This is no criticism of Liverpool’s back line, but when a collection of the world’s best attacking talent crash upon a defence in wave after wave it cannot be expected to hold out indefinitely. The players knew this, and Klopp undoubtedly reinforced the point at half time. It had an effect: the visitors emerged with more purpose, bravely stepping up where in the first half they would not have done so. This did leave slightly more space for City, which was occasionally alarming, but the net effect was definitely positive. Key to this was the relentless Roberto Firmino. He had been one of the stand-outs in the first half, seemingly the only player capable of showing the technique and composure to beat the City press before releasing a runner to temporarily relieve pressure; in the second period he was aided by his teammates showing more eagerness to step up with him, and the team reaped the rewards. The Brazilian produced a trademark charge back to within his own half to retrieve the ball from an advancing Kevin De Bruyne – it was the ensuing move that sent Liverpool fans everywhere into raptures.
The ball made its way to Gini Wijnaldum, who had begun to see a little more of it in the second half. He coolly drifted away from his man, and found Oxlade-Chamberlain. He drove forwards, before producing a lovely outside-of-the-boot pass to pick out Mohamed Salah. Salah fed Mane, who ran into a rapidly-closing gap between Laporte and Fernandinho. Between the pair of them, and the subsequent lunge from Ederson, there was surely a foul on the winger: roars of outrage undoubtedly emanated from the households of all Liverpool fans. These turned to guttural screams of delight, or perhaps more accurately of relief, as Salah picked up the loose ball and produced a sublime chip to score. There are no words to do justice to the release of tension felt in that moment – suddenly City needed four more goals, and although it was not over it was clear that more of the same from Liverpool would be enough to see them into the semi-final.
In the end, they added to their aggregate lead. City were rattled, once again showing the intangible benefits of a club with a history of producing the impossible at the vital moments – they had no European experiences from which to draw hope, while Liverpool played like men who knew that they were merely following those who had gone before them by brushing aside all those standing between them and European glory. It was Otamendi who made the crucial error: Liverpool’s press reduced him to his former error-prone self over the two legs, and on this occasion it was Firmino who robbed him. He then calmly ghosted into a scoring position, before curling it beyond Ederson and in for the goal he so richly deserved. At this point, the celebrations could truly begin.
Focus now inevitably turns to the semi-finals. The draw is made on Friday, and in a shock turnaround will feature Roma. They produced an astounding comeback of the kind City could not muster – this shows that they will not make life easy for any potential opponents, but they surely have to be the preferred team to come up against. That said, Liverpool will not be overawed by any opponent: they did a job on one of Europe’s best, triumphing 5-1 on aggregate. Roared on by fans in delirium at the prospect of more European glory, absolutely anything is possible for this great group of players. Allez, Allez, Allez.
James Martin
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