LIVERPOOL fans will never tire of telling the world how there is nothing quite like a European night at Anfield.
The spine-tingling noise of the Kop, how the best teams on the planet have buckled under the roof-raising roars of a stadium full of baying Scousers.
The puffed out chests, the players growing six inches taller, thundering into tackles like Bravehearts, the crowd sucking the ball into the net.
It has brought the likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund and many others to their knees over the years.
On Wednesday Manchester City will step into the lion’s den, for a Champions League quarter-final which has the whole of Europe, never mind England, licking its lips.
Ask any Scouser of a red hue, and they’ll tell you how another higher-rated side is going to get whipped off at the knees.
How they’ve already put four past City. How they’re the only side to derail Pep Guardiola’s Galacticos in their charge to the title.
Of course if they’re drawing on examples from the past, it’s easy to see why Liverpudlians are so utterly convinced they’re about to claim another prize scalp.
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But the past, to quote LP Hartley – Google him, I’m not explaining here – is another country. It counts for nothing. It wins you nothing. It scores no goals and saves no shots.
And the past doesn’t take into account a Guardiola and City who are desperate on two counts – for revenge and to conquer Europe for the first time.
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It’s amusing to listen Kop fans talk about their two meetings this season. They’ll tell you how the first, a 5-0 Etihad hiding in September, was all down to Sadio Mane’s dismissal.
They won’t mention, though, they were already one down and some of City’s goals that day came after moves Liverpool wouldn’t have stopped with an extra man, not a player less.
They’ll also point out how they tore their opponents to shreds in the January rematch, rattling in three goals in ten unplayable minutes.
Again, however, they won’t point out that City were at least their equal for half the match, or how Liverpool themselves leaked two in five minutes and were hanging on in the end.
There hasn’t been a great deal that has got under the skins of those at the Etihad this season, and the champions elect have arguably played the finest football in Prem history.
So hats off to Liverpool in that respect because they’ve managed it twice – and once after having five thumped past them.
Anfield has, it’s true, been a crucial factor in countless European ties and helped see the Reds over the line.
Yet this time it doesn’t host that deciding second leg, but the set-it-up first, and that could be crucial.
Not as crucial, though, as the fact they are playing a side and a manager determined to wipe the smug smile off 50,000 faces.
If they manage it, of course, it then raises the issue of a third season since Jurgen Klopp arrived and still no nearer a trophy.
But that’s another story entirely…
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