10 years is a long time in football. 10 years ago, Pep had just won the treble in his first season. Alex Ferguson was managing Man Utd and they used to be good. Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso were part of the Inter team that won the European Cup that year. Jose was coaching Inter, Pellegrini was managing Real. 10 years ago I was a bright eyed high school student, with few worries, but the biggest of them was Liverpool FC, the club I loved. 10 years later I am a corporate professional with many worries, but Liverpool ain't one of them.
It was in the summer of 2010 that I realised that Liverpool would not be at the pinnacle of Europe for long. Rafa had left, we had finished 7th the season before. The club was in a mess financially. Alonso and Arbeloa had left. Mascherano had handed in a transfer request. He wanted to leave for Barcelona, and play for Guardiola, not Roy Hodgson. It seemed like if you wanted to win, Liverpool was not the place to be. Then came the lowest of lows, when in January, Torres left Liverpool for Chelsea. It seemed that Liverpool would languish in mediocrity for some time.Hodgson was soon relieved and in came King Kenny, who revitalized the squad. We won a trophy, albeit a League Cup and reached an FA Cup final. Inconsistencies in the league proved fatal though, as even Kenny was sacked at the end of 2012 season. Even in the short span of 18 months, he gave us lots of memories and a lasting gift in Luis Suarez.
The 2013-14 season was all about the genius of Luis Suarez. 32 goals in the league, in a season when he was banned for 10 games. He took us to the cusp of glory only for that fatal April afternoon, when it all slipped away. The 3-2 win against Man City gave me an almost blind belief of victory, only for the heartbreak against Chelsea two weeks later. Suarez left in the summer. He left for Barcelona (them again).
Brendan Rodgers left and in came the magician Klopp. Everything about him was special, right from Day 1. The first season was decent, the Dortmund comeback being the highlight. I remember having to study for a test, only to give up on it and watch the match. Liverpool ended up going through and I ended up with a C. There were heartbreaks too. Two finals losses. The second one in Europa League hurt, because it seemed that we were destined to win, after that epic comeback. A summer of heavy recruitment ensued, in came the likes of Mane and Wijnaldum. The following season was one of restoring normal service. Back to the Champions League.
2017-18 is one of the fondest seasons in my memory. Liverpool signed Salah for 35 million, which seemed a lot for someone who failed at Chelsea. Then Neymar blew up the transfer window. With every passing game, Salah seemed like a bargain, a steal. City were running away with the league, unbeaten by New Year. In came January and Coutinho left us for, guess who, Barcelona. We bought another over-priced defender from Southampton to partner Lovren for 75 million, or so I thought. Man City came to Anfield, unbeaten and looking invincible. Our front three destroyed them. Our defence caved in the end, but we held on for a 4-3 win. We then destroyed them in the UCL quarter finals. As we reached the final, it again seemed to me that we would win it for sure. Liverpool fell at the final hurdle again, thanks to some poor goalkeeping from Karius and some insane wrestling from Ramos. It hurt to lose like that.
The summer was one that gave me hope again. We got in Fabinho, Alisson, Keita and Big Shaq. It seemed like we finally had a team. The season began with the front three sluggish. Liverpool were sturdy and had to grind out results early. By September, we were in a 3-way tie at the top. We outplayed Spurs at Wembley and deservedly won 2-1. Firmino had a freak eye injury. We welcomed PSG in the UCL match day 1. Liverpool's absence from the Champions League had seen a generation of players pass by and never play at Anfield, the likes of Neymar and Messi. This was special. Two great players, in Mbappe and Neymar, completely outplayed for 45 minutes, as Liverpool raced to a 2 goal lead before half-time. PSG got a lucky break as the ball fell to Munier who absolutely buried his shot. 2-1 halftime. Liverpool dominated the second half. Salah gave the ball away in Liverpool half letting Mbappe equalize for PSG late in the second half. Klopp brought on Bobby and the one eyed pirate broke PSG hearts with a classy finish in injury time. What a game!
A Daniel Sturridge screamer against his old team Chelsea, won us a share of points at Stamford Bridge. City came to Anfield and Mahrez rocketed his penalty to preserve our unbeaten record. By December, Liverpool and City were neck to neck. A late Origi goal, with an assist from Jordon Pickford, gave Liverpool the win in the Merseyside Derby. A late double strike from substitute Shaqiri sunk United and gave Jose the sack. City lost three games in December as Liverpool topped the league on Christmas. We thrashed Arsenal 5-1, with a Firmino hat-trick. Meanwhile the Champions League was a bewilderment of sorts. After the PSG win, we lost to Napoli, Red Star Belgrade and PSG away, with a win against Red Star at home. It left us with a must win game against Napoli. All seemed well as Salah scored one before we missed a host of chances, with Mane particularly guilty. We were holding on for 1-0. Late in injury time Lovren did a Lovren and missed a header, leaving Arkadiusz Milik one on one with Alisson. It seemed like it was all over, but somehow Alisson saved it. Liverpool held on and we went through to the knockouts.
January began with a match against City at Etihad. Liverpool had a 7 point lead and a win would have been fantastic. The game depicted the fine margins between victory and defeat. Mane almost scored for Liverpool in the first half. John Stones cleared the ball 11 millimeters before it crossed the line. Late in the second half, with scores tied 1-1, Sane hit one to Alisson's far post only for it to ricochet off the post and into the net. City shut shop after that and won a close game 2-1.
Liverpool had a poor start to the year. We lost to Wolves and got out of the FA cup. We drew consecutive matches against Leicester and West Ham. Rafa led his Newcastle to victory against City. We were still in lead with 3 points. February brought the Champions League round of 16 matches against Bayern. 0-0 at Anfield was followed by a wonderful 3-1 win at Allianz Arena, with Mane scoring a brace. We dropped points against United and Everton and were trailing City by a point. There were still 10 games to go, so it seemed like a close finish.
By April, we were in the semi-finals of UCL and in a tight race with City for the league. City had some tough games against United and Spurs, while we had won against Spurs with a magical own goal in the 90th minute. We still had a home game against Chelsea. By the end of April though, the league chances seemed bleak. Both teams had won everything, and it seemed like it will be City who will win it. City won 1-0 at Burnley and with two games to go, it seemed like the title was theirs to lose.
May brought the UCL semi-final against Barcelona. They had bought some of our best players over the years, so it seemed apt to finally be able to defeat them. We started the first game brightly, without Firmino, in Camp Nou, before Saurez scored one to put them 1-0 up. We thoroughly dominated the second half before two quick goals from Messi put the game to rest. Dembele missed a sitter right at the end, but it seemed like Barcelona had won the tie at 3-0. The penultimate game of the league saw us visit Newcastle. We were 1-0 up and then 2-1 later in the game, before they made it 2-2. This seemed like the match where we would lose the title. On top of that, Salah was stretchered off with a head collision to cap off a truly catastrophic week. Big game man Divock Origi scored a late winner to steal the 3 points for us. Monday night fixture saw City win their game 1-0 against Leicester with a long range screamer from Kompany of all people.
The second leg of the semi-final was one heck of a game. Origi and Shaqiri started in the absence of Firmino and Salah. Origi scored one after 7 minutes. Alisson made some really good saves to keep it at 1-0 at half-time. It still looked tough for us to score 2 more and not concede. Wijnaldum came on for injured Robertson at half-time and scored two goals in 2 minutes to level the tie after 58 minutes. I could not believe what I was watching. Quick thinking from TAA at a corner left Origi with a golden chance to score. And he did score emphatically to put Liverpool 4-0 up. Barcelona were shell-shocked. We held on for a famous night. A final beckoned. It had seemed impossible 90 minutes ago, but we did. The sight of the entire team and support staff singing YNWA with the Kop was one to behold.
We won our last game in the league but so did City. They won the league with 98 points, we finished second with 97. It was disappointing for sure, but a bigger test awaited now. Spurs waited for us in the finals.
The final was an uneventful affair compared to our season. A second minute Salah penalty and a late Origi goal sealed European trophy number 6 for us. And in that moment, when Jordan Henderson lifted our sixth trophy, a decade of heartbreaks was all forgotten.
