Cars and taxis were at the ready on Wednesday night. Each time Arsenal’s defence creaked, each time Crystal Palace bristled with mischief, one half of an expectant city found itself poised like a sprinter in the Olympic 100m final.
The destination they were waiting to zoom to was Anfield and, unlike five years ago, there would have been no discomfort for the masses to head to Liverpool’s home. They have been waiting to throw a party and truly embrace the feeling of what it means to be champions.
It’s easy to forget how out of the ordinary the world was the last time Liverpool won the title. As the Coronavirus pandemic raged through the country in the spring of 2020, there were calls for a season in which Jurgen Klopp’s side had won 27 of their first 29 matches to be made null-and-void.
Others demanded the campaign have a footnote attached to it when the season belatedly restarted, that Liverpool should be known as the asterisk champions. Klopp, with time on his hands, had become a earnest reader in his spare time and this barb left him bordering on volcanic.
‘I had to google “asterisk” – I only knew the word from a comic!’ he said. ‘This is the most difficult season to become champions. 100 per cent. It’s an interrupted season, like has never happened before. Whoever will be champions, it will be historical because it is a year we will never forget.’
He was right about that but it hasn’t been forgotten because the atmosphere around the situation was surreal. On one hand, there was an outpouring of joy – Klopp went viral when a video of him dancing at Formby Golf Club, where Liverpool had based themselves, was posted to social media.
Liverpool were unable to celebrate their 2019-2020 Premier League title win with fans due to the coronavirus pandemic
Some called for it to be an asterisk season – Jurgen Klopp had to google what that meant
Fans wrongly gathered outside their Anfield home to celebrate – there will be no restrictions this time around
Dejan Lovren, meanwhile, went a little step further. Unbeknown to his team-mates on the night Manchester City lost 2-1 at Chelsea, the Croatian left the base, wrapped himself up in a hat, sunglasses and protective mask and walked beside blissfully unaware revellers outside Anfield.
Lovren was overcome with emotion and wanted to get an appreciation of what supporters were feeling. He shouldn’t have done it – he admitted so after leaving the club – but, with strict social distancing guidelines in place, nor should the thousands of others who were that night.
There was happiness but, equally, awkwardness. What should you do if you seen someone you knew? You couldn’t hug them, you couldn’t shake hands or exchange high five. Every natural instinct was supressed and those supporters of rival clubs vented their fury.
The nadir was the following evening when the Pier Head, the centre of the city’s iconic waterfront, was left in a disgraceful state by revellers, some of whom thought it funny to fire red flares at the Liver Buildings, were Everton’s offices are housed. It wasn’t funny, not by long stretch.
This moment had been 30 years in the making but it was the equivalent of winning a Ferrari and lifting the bonnet to find a 1000cc Fiat engine. The sporting achievement was outstanding – that was one of the all-time great Liverpool sides – but even the players knew something wasn’t right.
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‘I had guilt creeping in,’ Jordan Henderson, the captain, wrote in his autobiography. ‘I wanted the fans to be there and I felt cheated for them but I felt cheated myself, too. The experience of winning this prize that the club had been chasing for so long wasn’t going to be the same without them.
‘I had to keep reminding myself how lucky we were just to be playing at all. You’ve got people dying, people stuck in the house for months on end and I’m disappointed because the fans aren’t there and the atmosphere isn’t better? Come on. You feel bad for thinking that.
‘But Liverpool fans are obsessed with football and they had waited 30 years to win a league title and for them not to be able to be there to share it with the players was hard. It was hard for the players and the fans because it meant so much.’
Perhaps this frames why Sunday – assuming they get the point they need from an unpredictable Tottenham side – will be so different. This time, with the stadium full to the brim and dripping with the colour, it will finally feel real.
