Allez, Allez, Allez songs engulf the streets of Liverpool city
The 30-year wait is over. Liverpool is champion of England again.
Liverpool clinched its first league title since 1990 on Thursday, ending an agonising title drought without the players even having to take the field.
Instead, the Premier League crown was secured when Chelsea beat second-place Manchester City 2-1, a result that means City can no longer catch Liverpool with seven games remaining.
For the city of Liverpool, this has been a party three decades in the making, and even the restrictions caused by the coronavirus failed to prevent fans from gathering to celebrate outside Anfield.
Only a few dozen supporters were outside the stadium as the final whistle blew at Stamford Bridge. But hundreds more quickly arrived, setting off flares and fireworks, waving flags and singing "Allez, Allez, Allez" on the steps of the stadium.
"It is such a big moment, I am completely overwhelmed," said Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, who was almost in tears as he spoke to broadcaster Sky Sports via video link.
"I never would have thought it would feel like this. I had no idea." After a dominant campaign that was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, Liverpool became England's earliest-ever champion, and the latest. No team since the inception of the country's league system in 1888 has clinched the title with seven games remaining. And no team has been crowned Premier League champion in June.
The title itself had hardly been in doubt since December, with Klopp's team quickly building a massive lead with a rampant attacking style of play that has earned 28 wins in 31 games so far.
"The world has watched the fierce determination of this club on the field for every single match," said John Henry, Liverpool's Americanbased owner, "the preparation, the resolve and the talent of those who put together perhaps the greatest league performance ever in any country's history."
For a while, though, it seemed the coronavirus could still prevent Liverpool from ending its drought.
The club was 25 points clear when the league was abruptly halted in March as the country was forced into lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19.
"Null and void" became the dreaded term in the red half of Liverpool amid fears the season could be cancelled completely as the coronavirus death toll soared and clubs struggled to agree on a strategy to restart the league during the country's gravest emergency since World War II.