My Anfield Experience

In life, we all have a personal checklist of the "Top 10 things to do before you're gone". Tonight, I add another tick to my list. I have FINALLY graced Anfield, Home of the mighty Reds. Even better, I've got Kop End tickets :)

13:30 I step onto the Liverpool Lime St platform, it took me 4 hours to get here by train. I can't believe I'm finally here in Liverpool! Daniel (Lee), Daniel (Tan)'s friend from Cambridge, a fellow Liverpudlian is due to join me.

14:00 Famished, I walk in the first restaurant I could find...a chinese buffet for 5.85 pounds! Talk about a good first meal in Merseyside. I had 5 servings + 2 bowls of soup + ice cream :)

15:15 Daniel arrives & we take a 10 min walk to the Liverpool International Inn. Its a cosy, no frills, eight-in-a-room, quiet dormatory. Counter staff was really helpful, showing us the bus no.17 & bus stop to get to Anfield.

16:00 We find the Liverpool official shop in the city centre. A Liverpool jersey costs 40 pounds! 60 pounds if you wanna get one with Torres/Gerrard/Kuyt etc. Daniel gets his scarf for 7 pounds.

16:30 I make my way to the stadium 3.5 hours before kick off! A tad anxious that my ticket never made it through the post =s My worries were unfounded though, a few photos & a short wait later I got my tickets at the counter.

17:30 The gates open in an hour, we walk around checking out the nearby hotdog stands & Liverpool themed cafes. A few dudes try to sell their match tickets outside the gates, blatant black marketing in broad daylight!

18:30 The gates finally open. I find my seat in the legendary Kop End. Time stands still for a moment as I breathe in the surroundings. From my seat, I can almost touch the left corner flag.

19:15 Its getting really cold, 45 mins to go & the seat's not getting any warmer. I pop down to the waiting area to get a cuppa hot choc. The screens are showing the highlights from the 2001 Uefa Cup final that Pool beat Alaves 5-4

19:45 The lads start warming up. Reina is closest to me as Valero the goalkeeping coach takes a few shots at goal. Gerrard, Skrtel, Kuyt & Aquilani warm up in my area :)

20:00 The fans resound the anthem, You'll Never Walk Alone. The hairs stand at the back of your neck!

20:05 Kick off! Gerrard takes the first shot at goal after only 23 seconds!
(I shan't do a minute by minute commentary, for match highlights refer to http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/)

Reflections on the Kop:
Simply surreal, while the rest of the stadium sits, the Kop stands throughout the 90mins. Braving the blistering cold, singing with gusto song after song after song, cheering the players on with "C'mon you mighty Reds!", singing Ja-vier Mas-che-rano when he makes a good tackle, chanting Da-ni Pa-che-co when he comes on, booing the opposition player for playacting on the ground for too long, acknowledging Rafa when his subs make the game changing impact. Amazing stuff. Any football fan in the world has to come here to experience what being a real fan means. The 12th man really makes a difference. From the 70th minute on, you could sense the cheering intensity getting louder & eventually hitting a climax when Ngog nodded the ball home in the 81st minute. As the Kop leads Anfield in a reprise of YNWA at the 90th minute, its a truly proud moment to be cherished.

The atmosphere can only get better. I'm expecting much much more come the bigger games as the stadium wasn't as packed - Unirea's not exactly the most frightening of oppositions. The current Pool team still quite below par anyway. Bring on Fernando Torres when he's fit again, I'll be there.

Aptly, Ryan was the man-of-the-match tonight. Babel i mean :)