I bailed Andy out at Berwick, but if he has to score a penalty in Kiev to win the Champions League, he’ll do it
It’s half- a- dozen years, and as many rungs down the footballing ladder, since Neil Parry rode to the rescue of Champions League finalist, Andy Robertson.
The Liverpool and Scotland star was just a fresh- faced 18- year- old when he has made his debut for Queen’s Park in an IRN-BRU Cup tie with Berwick Rangers at Shielfield Park.
On Saturday, the Glaswegian will play in the biggest game of his life when he lines up for the Reds against Real Madrid in front of 63,000 inside the Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kiev.
Back in 2012, a crowd of just 372 turned up at the wee Borders ground to see what turned out to be an eventful cup tie.
Level at full time and after extratime, it was settled by a penalty shoot- out in which Spiders keeper Parry saved three kicks before gently shooing Robertson off to one side to smash home the winner.
Entertaining it might have been, but not a single one of those in attendance could have suspected they were watching a player who, before the decade was out, would be playing in the biggest club game on the European calendar.
“Andy’s rise up the ranks is the most unbelievable story,” agrees Parry, who now splits his time between playing for Alloa and his day job working as a tax inspector.
“For someone who had been rejected by Celtic for being too small to rebuild their career at Queen’s Park and Dundee United, then really kick on at Hull City and now Liverpool, is remarkable. “It’s real Roy of the Rovers stuff. “It has been a thrill to watch for myself, and everyone who played with Andy in the lower levels, because he just never stops improving.
“He is the perfect role model, and a real inspiration for so many young players out there who might find themselves struggling for whatever reason.
“I say that because he has proved one setback – even a big one – doesn’t have to mean the end of your dreams.
“Back then, though, he was just a nice kid who I wanted to look out for in a situation which would have been nerve-wracking for him.
“When the tie finished 2- 2 after extra-time, we went to penalties.
“I managed to save a couple from their five chosen takers. But we missed a couple, too, which, of course, meant sudden death.
“Again I came up with a save, so it was a case of: ‘Right, who wants to go and win this?’.
“There was a bit of discussion, and Andy could have been next.
“But I remember our manager, Gardner Spiers saying: ‘Come on, let’s see one of you senior lads step up’.
“I think it must have been all the adrenaline that was pumping through me because of the saves I had made.
“Suddenly I said to Andy and the other younger ones: ‘Don’t worry, I have got this.’
“And, thankfully, I did because I managed to smash it in off the bottom of the crossbar to win the tie.”
With expectations high for a tight Champions League Final in Kiev on Saturday night, the possibility that the 2018 winner of Europe’s most-prestigious club competition might come down to penalties can’t be ruled out.
Should it come to pass, Parry has no doubt his one- time team- mate will this time be among the first men to put their hand up to take part in the shoot-out.
“I am still in touch with Andy,” Parry continues.
“He is just one of the nicest, most down-to-earth guys you could hope to meet, and I watch him in action on the TV for Liverpool and Scotland every chance I get. At the same time, he is also one of the most determined.
“My abiding memory of him when we were at Queen’s together is of him always hanging on your every word when you were speaking to him about the game.
“He was the same way with everyone.
“And he rises to every single challenge he is given.
“To go from Queen’s Park, in the fourth tier of Scottish football, to Dundee United, who were in the top- flight at the time, was a huge leap in standard. It really was.
“Once at Tannadice, though, he really blossomed with full- time training. He bulked out and went from having the physique of a boy to that of a man.
“Plus, of course, he began to become the flying machine we now all know him to be.
“Hull City then gave him a chance to show what he could do, and again he really stepped up.
“As his £10m transfer fee suggested, the move to Liverpool was s move up to a whole different level.
“There was a wee bit of a transitional time for him at first, with Alberto Moreno keeping him out of the side.
“It wasn’t in the plan, and I think for a while they even considered putting him out on loan to help his development.
“You get that with big clubs. But it would still have been a bit of a knock when they had paid out such a big fee to bring him in.
“However, as always, Andy just dug in and worked even harder to embrace what his manager, Jurgen Klopp, was looking for from him.
“And now he is a key man for the team, a real star for one of Europe’s top club sides.
“Penalties are a challenge of one’s character, and if it comes to down to a shoot- out, I am sure Andy will embrace the responsibility.
“To be fair, I am not sure I would wish that on him. Even in a Scottish Challenge Cup tie, it is a pretty nerve-wracking experience!
“So how tough would it be to take a penalty in a Champions League Final, knowing if you miss it might never be forgotten?
“You’d have to multiply that pressure by quite a few times, I think.
Andyis the perfect role model, and a real inspiration for so many young players out there
“But I am sure, knowing Andy, he would go for it – and I’d back him to score.
“Whatever happens, I just hope he ends up on the winning side. Certainly I will be cheering him on.”
You have to go all the way back to 1997 for the last Scot to play in a Champions League Final, when Paul Lambert helped Borussia Dortmund pull off a major shock by beating the fancied Juventus.
Darren Fletcher has been there since with Manchester United, but was an unused substitute.
Saturday will see Robertson and Liverpool start as only slight underdogs against the holders, and Parry is optimistic his wish will come true.
“You watch Liverpool and they have this tremendous goal threat going forward, one which no one really seems able to get to grips with,” he says.
“The front- line of Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane is irresistible.
“Then, on top of that, you have Andy and Trent Alexander Arnold flying down the flanks every opportunity they get. “It is an exciting way to play. “If you love watching football, then you are probably going to enjoy watching them when they are on song.
“They have already taken care of Manchester City – the comfortable winners of the Premier League – in the quarter-finals, so why wouldn’t you fancy your chances against Real Madrid?
“But then, of course, Real do have Cristiano Ronaldo in their team, and he will take a bit of stopping.
“So you are talking about two of the biggest clubs in the world, two of the clubs with the proudest European heritage and some of the best players in the world going head-to-head for the biggest prize in the game.
“Whichever way you look at it, this is going to be an occasion for everyone to savour.
“The fact we have a Scot involved makes it all the sweeter.
“The fact that Scot happens to be my old team-mate is the icing on the cake.”