03 June 2019, Liverpool (AFP)
Liverpool’s celebrations shifted to their home city on Sunday as tens of thousands of fans greeted the team who beat Tottenham to win the Champions League final in Madrid the night before.
Supporters turned Liverpool into a sea of red as the open-top bus carrying coach Jurgen Klopp and his victorious players edged through the city.
“You see in their eyes how much it means. It’s unbelievable and it’s so intense. Today, wow! It’s crazy,” Klopp told LFC TV.
“I cannot really describe it because I cried a little bit as well because it’s so overwhelming what the people are doing.
“When you have a direct eye contact and you see how much it means to them that’s touching to be honest. It’s brilliant.”
“I’m ecstatic and hungover at the same time — the best type of hangover,” said Peter Broad, 37, a social housing worker and Liverpool native who was lining the route.
Liverpool became champions of Europe for a sixth time when Mohamed Salah’s second-minute penalty and Divock Origi’s late strike secured a 2-0 win in the sweltering Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid.
It was a first trophy of any sort in seven years for the club and banished the memories of last year’s bitter defeat to Real Madrid in the final in Kiev.
Tens of thousands of people greeted the Liverpool team in the port city
The win also represented a personal triumph for Klopp, who finally snapped his run of six straight losses in cup finals.
“We were all pretty much crying on the pitch, because it was so emotional, it was so big, it means so much to us,” Klopp said.
Celebrations ran late into Saturday night in the Spanish capital and in Liverpool, as ecstatic supporters danced drunkenly in the streets and the club anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” rang out.
By lunchtime fans began streaming back onto the streets for the parade.
