Memories, Bobby of the Kop greats
which was directed back to the Liverpool player – which is bizarre because what was he doing on the pitch if he didn’t want to intervene in that critical situation?
Klopp was visibly perplexed. We could see the whites of his eyes as he looked at a monitor just a few yards away at the back of the stand – and they turned a murderous shade of darkness.
Was this payback for the questioning of officials – Brooks included – which earned the manager his touchline ban and a £75,000 fine, or just coincidence? Most certainly a bad coincidence, but come on, what sort of appointment was this by the Premier League and PGMOL to give a game where Klopp has a touchline ban to one of the officials involved in the reason for his punishment?
It is as if they are trying to make a snide point – and that doesn’t smack of firmness, it smacks of pettiness.
As it was, with Manchester United winning, it probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway.
But it was a sour note on which to bring down the curtain on four of Liverpool’s impressive clergy in this great church.
Firmino rightly got the attention, but James Milner deserves special praise, too – and got it when the Kop chanted his name.
He has played 331 games for Liverpool and has been one of the biggest influences in the dressing room during Klopp’s reign. He set the tone for everything that has been achieved in the past seven years.
Firmino is on 361 appearances, making him 40th on the all-time list for the Reds. He will go down in history as one of the greats and Milner will join him.
At the end, most of a 55,000 crowd stayed to pay their tribute to this golden pair and to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita. It is the end of an era at Anfield – and the passion on display in this beautiful finale will be tough to replace.