Naz Majeed

13 April 2014. Anfield. Liverpool are on a run of 14 wins and 2 draws in their last 16 Premier League games, after losing twice in three days before the turn of the year to league rivals Manchester City, and then Chelsea. 

2014 has been a stunning calendar year for Liverpool so far, with Luis Suarez, Raheem Sterling, and Daniel Sturridge wreaking havoc on opposing defences all over the country. Already eliminated from the FA Cup and League Cup and not in any continental competition, Liverpool and their manager Brendan Rodgers went into Matchday 34 top of the table, destiny in their hands.

I remember watching the game at the office at beIN SPORTS. A warm Sunday afternoon, the Premier League title race was a gripping one, especially as so many members of staff here are rather impartial Liverpool supporters.

Each week they would grow more and more animated, fists clenched, eyes wide, lips slightly agape as they watched, rapt, their Reds slicing through every side put forth. A thumping 5-0 win at White Hart Lane Luis Suarez annihilating Norwich City. Demolishing Arsenal. Steven Gerrard turning back the clock. Raheem Sterling planting the seeds for becoming a Merseyside legend.

Then came City, five games left.

City themselves had already been eliminated from the Champions League by Barcelona, though it would be a full year before the tie would see a repeat made famous by an onlooking Pep Guardiola’s reaction to Lionel Messi nutmegging James Milner.

Led by Manuel Pellegrini, City came to Anfield after 5 wins in 7, including a resounding 3-0 win at Old Trafford in the Manchester Derby, though Sergio Aguero would only be fit enough for the bench. The scene was set, then, for what amounted to a title showdown.

It took just six minutes for Sterling to score after good work from Luis Suarez allowed the young English winger to ghost past Vincent Kompany - himself struggling with a knee injury - and then beat Kompany once more to slot into an empty net. At 1-0, the title was oh so close.

They could indeed reach out and touch it.

20 minutes later they could almost taste the trophy, Martin Skrtel rising highest to head home from a Steven Gerrard corner. City would fight back to 2-2 thanks to David Silva and a Glen Johnson own goal (these were the days before anyone had heard about Trent Alexander-Arnold) and suddenly the tension was palpable.

One of the most ardent of Liverpool supporters that day no longer works for us, but I remember his reaction vividly as City’s equalizer looped into the net, silencing Anfield.

Or rather, his lack of reaction, the man’s face a blank gaze, jaw hanging open, his eyes filled with disbelief, despair, and disappointment. Demoralized would be too subtle a description for this particular fan, who looked like someone had found the source of all his hopes and joys and dreams and crushed it, while making him watch.

For that was what it was for him, and for other fans of the Reds, going from Champions elect to the brink of disaster in the time our cafeteria needed to make a cup of coffee.

Liverpool was still in a decent position at 2-2, of course, being top of the league (and still to play their other challengers Chelsea in 14 days). But their defence had been suspect at best throughout the season, and every Liverpool supporter in the office that day went from ecstatic to anxious in a matter of moments, head in hands, pacing, muttering like madmen. 

Enter Phillipe Coutinho.

After what can only be described as indescribable defending by Kompany, the ball would fall for the Brazilian in the City box with 12 minutes to play, and without taking a touch he would make it 3-2, and once again the title was Liverpool’s surely.

At the final whistle, Anfield exploded. As did the fans at the office at beIN SPORTS, their pent-up apprehension released like a river breaking free from a dam. Whooping and punching the air, drinks and food and papers went flying everywhere, so firmly did the Liverpool supporters believe they had secured the title.

They would go on or at least hang on, surely, with the run of fixtures they had left, already five points clear. Their own Captain Fantastic, Steven Gerrard would issue a rallying cry that they would not let it slip. Chelsea was to come, yes, but aside from that, they had Norwich (Suarez’ favourite victims), Newcastle (mired in mediocrity) and Crystal Palace, who were below Newcastle.

Simple. Smooth. Straightforward. 

“We’re going to win the league,” was the chant from the stands, and the fans in the office here. There was no chance of them slipping up. Was there?