"What a Screamer" - A Fan's View of Liverpool vs Manchester City

Stellar Salah

The date is Friday 16th March. It's draw day. Who would everyone be facing? The biggest competition in club football was beginning to hot up.

Liverpool had to go to Portugal first, a tough away draw against an in-form Porto. Strikes from Salah, Firmino and a superb hat trick for Sadio Mane (right) saw that the Reds walk their way through to the Champions League Quarter Final.

It was a similar story for the champions elect, Manchester City. A tough draw away in Basel, but they walked a 4-0 win with Ilkay Gundogan amongst the scorers. This ensured again for them to cruise through in the home leg.

No one saw the two English sides being drawn against each other. It was the last draw that I expected anyway, but sure enough, former Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid midfielder Xabi Alonso drew them out together, with Anfield hosting the first leg of a mouth-watering tie, possibly the highlight of the piece.

Wednesday 4th April. For the first time since 2009, Liverpool were in the Champions League Quarter Final. Last time Liverpool tasted defeat, a 3-1 loss to Chelsea, but this time felt different. "Allez, Allez, Allez" was ringing through the minds of Scousers alike as optimism and nervousness combined to potion what was the biggest game in the club's recent history.

The sky was a dirty grey but everyone imagined a taint of red as we approached the stadium. Liverpool was a wasteland of empty glass bottles, litter and intimidation. The City players not only had the rabid and inappropriate Liverpool fans to deal with, but a welcome from their former player's face on a sign on the incoming motorway, as the sign read 'Welcome to Liverpool', with an image of James Milner celebrating his penalty in the 1-1 draw last season.

The ground was packed 20 minutes before kick-off, renditions of "Scouser Tommy", "When the Reds go marching in", and "Allez, Allez, Allez" were prominent as the teams exited the tunnels on to the hallowed turf.

The team news was of shock for the side in Blue. Pantomime villain Raheem Sterling, yet to perform well against his former club since his £49m move in 2015, was left on the bench by Spanish mastermind Pep Guardiola, and replaced by Ilkay Gundogan, suggesting that City would perhaps try to pack the midfield and make it difficult for the men in Red to attack. It eventually proved to be a wrong decision.

City began the game strongly and as we all expected, being the champions elect and possibly the best team in Europe this season. Kevin de Bruyne and Leroy Sane looked to be causing trouble, but Liverpool escaped unscathed without Loris Karius being troubled.

It was a Manchester City attack, with the ball retrieved by Leroy Sane, but the pass was misplaced and the attack was on. Mane, to Milner, who pinged a stunning pass down the right wing to Mohamed Salah, Liverpool's danger man. There was a hint of offside, but no flag was uplifted. The ball was fed through to Roberto Firmino, parried by Ederson, but retrieved by Firmino. He squared to Salah and it was 1-0.

"Mo Salah, Mo Salah, Mo Salah, Running down the wing! Salah-lah-lah-lah-lah-lah, The Egyptian king!" - to the tune of 'Sit Down' by James.

The eruption of Vesuvius was comparable to the noise that burst out of Anfield when the Egyptian king fired past Ederson and Kompany at the Kop end. The nonchalance and ice-cool finish ensured Salah's 38th of the season.

Minutes later though Liverpool faced a scare which struck the fear of God into the fans. A break was on for Manchester City. Sane picked up the ball on the half way line, sprinting through with only Virgil Van Dijk as cover, with Lovren coming in behind. He had two very viable options in Jesus and de Bruyne, but decided to go it alone. On the television it didn't even seem close. But live, it was the width of a hair wide of Loris Karius's post. What would've happened in this match if the shot had curved into the bottom corner?

Liverpool wouldn't have to wait long for their second however. After a few 50-50 battles, my man of the match James Milner won the ball off Ilkay Gundogan, and it fell to that apparent 'waste of money' Alex Oxlade Chamberlain. 

- Darren Fletcher - BT SPORT commentator

After scoring a similar strike in the 4-3 win in January, Chamberlain's excellent form continued against Manchester City to provide one of the strikes of the season. It's one of the sights I'll never forget as a football fan, watching from the Anfield Road as the ball rose and rose into the side-netting, halfway up the goal, and Oxlade-Chamberlain wheeling away in ecstasy. It was 2-0, and we'd only played 20 minutes.

The mood was more than ecstasy, it was like a dream. Pinching ourselves, the stadium continued to sing their hearts out. The only thing lacking was a song for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. I'm asking, whoever writes and publishes the songs, make one for him? I know double barrelled names are difficult, but I think his effort deserves one.

Could this game get any better? 11 minutes later, words could not describe the reaction, the celebration, the remaining nervousness amongst the crowd, which all just took an everlasting ascension. Salah, running through took a pop-shot at goal, but was valiantly blocked by Vincent Kompany. It rebounded to Salah, who jinked inside and chipped in a delightful cross on to the head of a euphoric Sadio Mane.

3-0. Half time. Dreamland. The overall feeling of euphoria was coupled alongside the somewhat guarantee that Manchester City would score an away goal. The next half was about damage limitation. Could we hold on against the best attack in world football?

The answer, somehow, was yes. It was categorically the best I have ever seen Liverpool defend in my entire life. The young Scouser Trent Alexander-Arnold played an absolute blinder against Leroy Sane, who didn't have a sniff in the entire match. Virgil Van Dijk proved he was worth the £75m and more by his leadership and clearances, doing all the defensive basics to such an exceptional level. Dejan Lovren has certainly benefitted from the arrival of Van Dijk, and the same can be said about the in-form goalkeeper Loris Karius. 

It finished 3-0 and the delight of the Liverpool fans was just so prominent. The atmosphere was just sensational and had shades of the 4-3 win over Dortmund in terms of sheer relief. But unlike in that game, this was not over. City had the chance to win the league at the weekend, and carry confidence on to the Tuesday. Liverpool also had a tough away game at Goodison, where they were sure to be fielding a weakened side. 

The Merseyside Derby went much as expected. Starts for Solanke, Ings, Clyne and Klavan all reassured that the main focus was Tuesday. A 0-0 draw eventually was a fair result. Chances for Solanke and Calvert-Lewin were missed and the game petered out in simple preparation.

The Manchester Derby however provided much more controversy and drama. Early goals from Kompany and Gundogan put City in the driving seat, with United looking absolutely woeful and it was not a question of if but how many. But it was only 2-0, and a rejuvenated United came back with a forceful double from Paul Pogba. A whipped cross from Alexis Sanchez was finished by an unlikely hero, Chris Smalling, to make the champions elect seem merely mortal and somewhat fragile.

All was set up for a cold Tuesday night in Manchester. All the preparation, all the goals, all the training, was set up for a night which became the biggest in the clubs recent history. 90 minutes of a game originating with a pigs bladder between two villages. How could this bring so much mental instability to millions of fans from America, Australia, Malaysia, or even Herefordshire?

Kick-off was imminent, and I'm not going to lie, I was shaking. You'd probably ask, why are you shaking Chris? You're 3-0 up, relax! What those won't understand is, this is Liverpool. They put you through illness every time you desperately want them to win. It just seems they always want to put you through it, and my goodness I feared the worst when Gabriel Jesus (left) used some divine intervention to slot Man City ahead after only 2 minutes.

Chances in the first half were extremely common for Manchester City and sparse for Liverpool. Bernardo Silva cracked against the post after Dejan Lovren crucially deflected it, and an unfortunate moment for City as Leroy Sane had a perfectly legitimate goal disallowed for offside. Liverpool's best moment of the half came through Oxlade-Chamberlain once again, as he skipped past Ederson but blazed wide from a tight angle.

But on 55 minutes everything changed. All nerves were calmed, all Scousers were jubilant. 

"Mo Salah can pick up the pieces, and score! It's a goal for Liverpool! It's another goal for Mo Salah! It's an away goal, and Liverpool's grip on the tie is strengthened!"

- Darren Fletcher - BT SPORT commentator

The Egyptian king had not only fired in an incredible 39th goal of the season, but had almost certainly fired City out of the Champions League, and Liverpool to the Semi Finals. Mohamed Salah remained ice cold in front of goal and ice cold in his celebration, the sky was tainted red once again.

It could not be better. Our house felt like it was rocking as much as the away end at the Etihad, as we all ascended into jubilant joy when the goal was slotted in. I kept insisting its not over, although I was kidding myself in self-protection. We were in the Semi-Final, for the first time since 2008, and this feeling is hard to describe.

This was extended once again as Bobby the brilliant Brazilian outmuscled Kyle Walker and profited from the England international's mistake. the score was 2-1. We led Manchester City at the Etihad! The team that was down to be invincible just three months earlier. I think I've used every single superlative possible for one blog, in possibly the longest edition, but you cannot describe it in words. I think a picture tells a thousand though! 

So a 5-1 aggregate win against possibly the best team in the world? Not bad,eh! Not only has it risen the expectations that I have of my team, but the expectation that the world has of them. We have proven in this tie that we can defend against the very best team, with our supposedly shaky defence. By no means am I saying we should be definitely winning this tournament or every one to come, but I am saying that we have the ability to go toe-to-toe with any of the global big boys. Being honest, I'm probably an ultracrepidarian in terms of my football knowledge in comparison to some, but this is my opinion.

So, who do we want in the Semi-Final? Roma already spectacularly booked their place in the last four with an incredible comeback win against Barcelona. And it's looking very much like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid will be the other two semi finalists. Being honest, I really don't care. We've got to the semi-finals, as will those three, so we all deserve to be there. It is a level playing field and anything can happen. Could we repeat 1981, beating Bayern in the Semis, then Real in the final? It would be romantic, but I really couldn't care less. Whoever we play, we will give them a game, and no-one will want us.

I'm very glad you read this far! It is a long haul I appreciate it, but this took a long time and effort to fully complete. Everything will be back to normal on Sunday!