Liverpool Football Club is not just a club, it is also a family. The first time that I saw the famous Kop singing You’ll Never Walk Alone, I instantly became embedded within its family that stretches all across the world. My heart then and there belonged to the Liverpool Football Club.
My weeks depend on the mighty clinching a win and unforgettable moments have come from watching them play. The word Istanbul (Constantinople) evokes memories of triumph for any Liverpool supporter, as images of Steven Gerrard lifting the Champions League trophy instantly come to mind.
“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death,” the great Liverpool manger Bill Shankly mused.
“I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that”.
This quote best articulates what a football match involving Liverpool means to me and many other Liverpool supporters.
Therefore, when the Liverpool and Melbourne Victory friendly was announced I, along with thousands of devoted Liverpool fans, made sure we would be at the MCG.
Taking along my brother, another soldier of the red army, we donned our red uniform and took our seats alongside 95,000 fans.
You could barely see a blue shirt around the ‘G’, despite it being a home game for Victory.
The moment was sealed for me when You’ll Never Walk Alone belted through the stadium. Pride didn’t begin to explain my emotions.
As the match began, it was only a matter of time before Steven Gerrard managed to secure the first goal. You don’t get named captain of a Premier League club for nothing.
The second goal, while confusing both the teams and the stands, made for a stunning close. After chants of “We want Suarez” echoed around the ‘G’, the star made it to the pitch and set up the last goal of the evening, bouncing off recent Spanish sign, Iago Aspas.
By far, the best lasting memory of this historic match will not be what happened on the field, but the atmosphere within the stands.