Liverpool v Atletico Madrid -The Covid game

The last game before lockdown

What started off as an outbreak restricted to China and the far east had now already hit European and British shores by the time Liverpool got ready to play Atletico Madrid for the return leg on the 11th March 2020.

The news of the impending pandemic had been building it up as though it was a blockbuster film which may have led to people to believe that it was exaggerated.  After all, the last time there had been a pandemic that engulfed Europe was the black plague back in the 17^th Century.

Nobody envisaged that the country would enter lockdown and that life as we knew it would drastically change.  Nor did anyone really know how deadly Covid-19 is, and even for those who have come through it, still suffer the after affects. 

There had been the coaches taking passengers from China to Arrow Park hospital over in the Wirral to be quarantined to much fanfare, or according to some, the ‘four coaches of the Apocalypse.’ 

However, as Italy started to suffer an outbreak and other parts of Europe, nobody was preventing people from travelling, quarantining visitors or simply keeping a trace, especially during the school half-term holidays.  It was as though nothing was happening and despite being an Island was ill-prepared.  That though is another story with regards to the Government’s handling of the pandemic. 

Back then the concerns was whether Liverpool would win the league in time before the inevitable happened and the season was suspended due to the pandemic.  Despite all this, nobody really understood the severity of the situation.  Sure, people were frightened because it was the unknown but there was still the naïve hope that it would miraculously go away.

The match

Lockdown and restrictions were being imposed right across Europe when Atletico Madrid were due to travel to Anfield for the second leg after winning 1-0 in the first leg. 

The debate was whether UEFA would suspend the competition and whether the UK government would let the game play with spectators’ present.  Not only were Liverpool fans allowed into Anfield, but also Atletico fans even though teams in La Liga were now being played behind closed doors, and COVID cases was rising across Madrid and Spain.

Normally, there is an atmosphere of excitement and with Klopp’s Liverpool there was always the confidence of overcoming a 1-0 deficit at Anfield.  After all, Barcelona was given a 3-0 start last season.

This game though carried a weird feeling.  Not the same one as the Champions league semi-final against Chelsea in 2005 where you just knew history was going to be made and Liverpool would reach their sixth European cup final.  Nor was it the feeling that it just wasn’t going to be our day that I felt on the morning of the 1988 FA Cup Final against Wimbledon.

It was a tense, worried feel that engulfed the city that day.  Articles such as the Daily Mirror journalist David Maddock was vocally opposed against the match taking place.  He described it as a ticking time bomb.  So too did Professor John Ashton the North West public health advisor.

Many including me, expected the game to be called off or played behind closed doors from the following Monday after Liverpool had beaten Bournemouth 2-1 at Anfield on Saturday. 

The only advice from the government was to wash your hands regularly whilst ‘singing happy birthday.’ Despite staring into the abyss Boris Johnson seemed to do his usual trick when something tough came along and that was to bluff it hoping something would come along.

In the meantime, people were bizarrely buying and hoarding toilet rolls as if it gold. Supermarkets were being stripped of tinned food and pasta. One Tesco customer was outraged to find that she only had four tins of chickpeas and not eight as ordered for the Home shopping. Maybe she was intent on making the ultimate hummus.

Tuesday came and went with no indication that crowds wouldn’t be allowed in for the Wednesday night game.  By then Atletico Madrid fans were already in the city with more flying into Liverpool that day.  Still, there was the half expectancy that common sense might prevail.

I went the game after work.  Strangely, this season it was just me going the European home games this season.  Of course, there were still people I knew going the game, even a steward who I know. 

Due to a late kick-off I was one of the last ones to leave work as I went to get something to eat and drink from the chippy in Bold street.  Normally I went to one of the chippy’s by the ground but someone had recommended Johnny English and I went there to check it out.

Nothing had changed.  There was still the hustle and bustle of people walking around town, buskers, pubs packed and people going home from work.  Anybody would think it was a normal night as people talked about the match but there was still that Jaw shark like feeling that the Great white shark was stealthily moving in.

Maybe if it had not been a Liverpool game and I had tickets to go the cinema, theatre or a gig then I might have just swerved it.  I don’t know why I still went despite the sixth sense banging away like John Bonham on drums.  Maybe I was still in denial that it wasn’t as bad and that surely spectators would be stopped if their safety was at risk.

I got the train from Liverpool Central for Sandhills to get the footy bus up to Anfield. My thought at the time was just to avoid Atletico Madrid fans (mad I know) and maybe just maybe, I would get through unscathed.

There were already some Atleti fans on the train as they got on the bus, draped in their scarfs, and flags. On the bus I saw someone from work Andy who had a quick drink at the Lion. We chatted about the match with Andy joking with an Atleti fan who tried to put a flag up on the top window.

German and Spanish fans who I have met in previous ties have been the friendliest. Just there to have a drink and support their team. Not like the Russians, Italians, or even Swiss fans Basle who are not the friendliest of fans.

We got off the bus by Stanley park and right on cue as we walked up towards the King Harry pub and up to the fabled ground of Anfield when we walked slap bang into the Atleti fans who were being marched up to the ground by the Police.

Nothing heavy went on. In fact, it was just Atletico Madrid fans singing ‘Allez, allez, allez,’ loudly whilst the programme seller shouted ‘Get yer matchday programme!’ As usual I got my Liverpool programme as the Atleti fans marched towards the Anfield road.

Once through the entry there was the new main stand that gleamed brightly. People were taking photos, others stood around chatting, as a huge screen showed previous screens and music blasting. It was just a scene from any other match day.

I went straight in, sent a few texts to my brother about the line up and then went up to watch the warm up.

George Septon was welcoming everyone to Anfield and suddenly everything was focused on the match. Only it wasn’t a normal atmosphere. The one moment that caught that strange mood was Jurgen Klopp angrily (and quite rightly) telling supporters who wanted to shake hands to ‘put your hands away, you fucking idiots,’ which I saw the next day on the highlights.

The two old fellas came to sit next to me on my left. You could tell that they had been going for years. I remember a moment when the fella who sits a couple of rows below us ‘shouted at everyone to get behind the team,’ against Napoli as though he was Mr Liverpool.

You get to know people’s habits when you sit at the same seat for years. Even the ones you don’t speak to. ‘Mr Liverpool,’ always got off a few minutes before the final whistle. Something that I never understand. Anyhow, I wondered if he would get off early and sure enough he did to the cries of the two old fellas shouting ‘there is, Mr get behind your team getting off before full time.’

As with the big European games, the atmosphere was loud and buoyant that Liverpool would do this. I love European games, especially as they take place at night. Somehow the floodlights make the grass seem greener and it seems a more dramatic setting.

Once ‘You’ll never walk alone,’ was sang and the whistle went, everyone was focused on the game. One of the old fellas had something against Simeone and his dirty tricks. Costa was another one who got it from him, but I reckon Diego Costa thrives on being a niggling little shit that winds you up.

Liverpool were imperious that night and really should have won. We expected to get that second when Gini made it all level on aggregate just before half-time. There was no social distance as people jumped around and hugged each other with loud victorious yells. With hindsight it was paradise for a contagious virus.

Robertson almost got us the winner but his header hit the crossbar which meant that as it was 1-1 on aggregate, extra-time and possibly penalties beckoned.

Everyone was focused on the match. The crowd was loud and as usual the Kop and Anfield’s energy surged the team forward. Everyone was yearning for Liverpool to win this game and hopefully make the season even more memorable by winning the league and retaining the European cup.

When Firmino gave Liverpool the lead on aggregate, everyone thought that was it. There was bedlam in the stands as people hugged and danced at witnessing another memorable night at Anfield. No thought about Covid that probably spread like wildfire that night.

Adrian was in goal that night for the injured Alisson and it was his mistake that let in Atletico Madrid when he made a dreadful clearance for Llorente who took advantage to give Atleti the edge. Suddenly they had the away goal.

Llorente struck again, much to the frustration of the old fella and everyone. A silly mistake had cost and when Morata got the third it just stuck the boot in.

Once the final whistle went no one envisaged that this would be the last time that Anfield would witness a full attendance. Most thought playing behind closed doors would be a temporary measure. How wrong were we.

I walked down the long stairs of the main stand and followed the tide of people as I started the twenty minute or so walk to Sandhills. Brushing past people, hearing conversations of went wrong. Some of it shite, some of it what I agreed with.

At Sandhills I text my brother about the match and positioned myself at the platform in order to be the first on the train and snatch a seat.

Twenty years I had been making that journey from Anfield to getting back home. Streets, buildings, that became so familiar that I could probably walk blindfolded to the train station. Now it’s a year, and this is the longest time that I have gone without going the match and I miss more than anything. Even those cold miserable nights when there was nothing to really play for.

I believe there is no doubt that the Liverpool v Atletico Madrid match led to a spike in Coronavirus cases. Atleti fans were freely mingling in bars, with some probably staying in hotels for at least one night.

Over fifty-thousand fans were mixing freely which is why Professor Tim Spector who runs the Covid-19 symptom study at Kings College, believes that there was a surge of Coronavirus cases in Liverpool as well as Cheltenham after the horse racing festival had taken place. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

Once the Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was tested positive then that was it. The season was suspended.

At the time the Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared people to go about their ordinary business despite this ticking bomb waiting to go off. There was suspicion that the government was following the herd immunity theory but once they realised that the hospitals wouldn’t be able to cope with the surge of Covid-19 cases put the country into lockdown.

It says a lot that a football manager Jurgen Klopp acted more of a statesman than Boris Johnson. In his statement to fans he stated ‘First and foremost, all of us have to do whatever we can to protect one another. In society I mean. This should be the case all the time in life, but in this moment I think it matters more than ever. I’ve said before that football always seems the most important of the least important things.’

Then there is Marcus Rashford, the Man Utd centre-forward doing his best to ensure that school children had a decent meal. So much so, that Boris Johnson had to do a U-turn.

Much can be written about the Government’s handling of this pandemic but that would take another article.

For Liverpool, we did go on to win the Premier league when the season resumed, although behind closed doors. It wasn’t the same as it would have been being there, but at least it brought much needed happiness to the red half of the city and the Liverpool family across the world.

For now though, we just have to hope there is a light at the end of the storm with the vaccination. There is still a way to go, but hopefully we will get back to going back to going the match.

I know my brother and my mates who I go the game with, have been safe so far. Although I might not know them but I hope that they are all okay. From the old fellas, ‘Mr Liverpool,’ and the group I used to know when I was sat in the Kop.

As for the Liverpool v Atletico Madrid game and the Cheltenham festival, in years to come, people will think it was crazy and downright dangerous that people were allowed to go into a packed venue in the midst of a deadly pandemic.