The summer of 2017 saw the arrival of one of the most important signings in the clubs recent history. Mo Salah was on Michael Edwards radar for years before he finally got his man. Salah chose Chelsea over Liverpool in the January window of 2014 but he only stayed in London for 12 months, another player, like De Bruyne who Mourinho couldn't get the best out of. A couple of loan moves in Italy followed before Roma agreed a permanent deal. He had two good seasons in the Italian capital and then Liverpool came knocking. I doubt many fans, Edwards or Jurgen Klopp predicted what happened next. Salah scored on his league debut, the first game of the season a 3-3 draw with Stoke and the goals just kept going in. What I liked about him was even though he missed chances, it didn't phase him and he missed a few. He had 15 league goals by Christmas and another 6 in Europe. I was due to go to the final Champions League game against Spartak Moscow but I was struck down with stomach pains that October and ended up in hospital for 2 months following double bowel surgery. I kept asking the doctors if I would be fit to go to the game in December and at the start they were saying we'll see but as things failed to improve they were telling me to forget about it. Liverpool won the game 7 (seven) nil with Coutinho scoring a hat trick in his final European appearance for the club. The brilliant Brazilian had asked to join Barcelona in the summer but Liverpool refused to sell. In fairness to him, he knuckled down until Christmas then declared he wanted to be sold or he wouldn't play. Liverpool got up to £140m for him which is obviously not to be sneezed at but also highlighted how absurd the money in football had become. We were a long way from Gianluigi Lentini's record transfer of £13m from Torino to Milan in the early 90's. Coutinho's transfer wasn't even a world record, Neymar cost PSG almost £200m from Barcelona. There was one similarity between Lentini and Coutinho, neither transfer worked out. Another summer transfer that didn't occur only for it to happen in the January window was Virgil Van Dijk joining Liverpool from Southampton. While everyone was waiting for the deal to be done, the south coast side decided they'd had enough of selling their best players to Liverpool or they were holding out for more money. Klopp was accused of tapping the player up and Liverpool backed off but continued to ship too many goals. While all the talk of Coutinho's exit continued over Christmas, Van Dijk posted a picture of himself holding a Liverpool shirt beside his tree. He made his debut against Everton in the FA Cup and scored the winner. City were running away with the league. They were still unbeaten when they arrived at Anfield in mid January but the record would end there and then. Former Arsenal man, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain opened the scoring from distance then the best front 3 in Europe - Firmino, Mane and Salah put us 4-1 up. City brought it back to 4-3 as Liverpools stamina issues threatened to hurt them again but the reds managed to hold on. After that great result, we hoped we could kick on in the league but in true Liverpool style we went out and lost one nil to Swansea in the next game. United beat us 2-1 in March as Trent Alexander-Arnold was exposed twice by 2 goal hero Marcus Rashford. Trent had exploded onto the scene with his great deliveries from the right coupled with another summer signing Andy Robertson creating havoc from the left setting up Liverpools front three to continue scoring lots of goals. City won the league with 100 points, we were fourth, 25 points behind. Consecutive top 4 finishes and breathtaking football assured us that Klopp was making progress. Could we get that first trophy? Henderson spoke of a feeling within the club that if they could get the first one, the floodgates would open.
Our first Champions League campaign in 3 years saw us top our group then beat Porto 5 nil away in the round of 16 to set up a quarter final with Man City. The bus welcomes were back and even bigger than before, starting before the King Harry and going all the way to the stadium. Some over zealous idiots threw bottles at the City bus on the way which, again, didn't paint Liverpool fans in a good light. The few trying to ruin it for the many. We blitzed them 3 nil at Anfield and despite conceding an early goal in the second leg, we hung on and ended up winning that too. Roma got a similar hiding in the semi final first leg. We were 5 nil up but let them back into it with 2 goals that gave them some hope for the second leg. Mane and Wijnaldum scored either side of a Milner own goal to keep us in the driving seat but again we struggled in the last 10 minutes and conceded two more to win 7-6 on aggregate. We were in another European final against another Spanish team going for three in a row. Liverpool had a great record against Madrid having beaten them in the European Cup final in 1981 and over two legs in 2009. This was different. Zinedine Zidane had won back to back Champions Leagues and was now going for an unprecedented hat trick. Madrid had also won it in 2014 with many of the same players. Liverpool were up against the best team in Europe but we were the most in form team on the continent. Still we would need things to go our way. And they didn't. Salah had scored 44 goals before the final. He was the first Liverpool player to score 40 goals since Ian Rush in the 80's. When you think of the strikers we've had since then - Fowler, Owen, Torres and Suarez this was some achievement for a player who largely played from the right. Salah's incredible season made him a marked man and Madrid defender Sergio Ramos gladly accepted the opportunity to put a bit on the forward as he made his way from right to left with the ball early in the game. Ramos got his arms under Salahs' and when the Egyptian was pushed over, he landed awkwardly, dislocating his arm. I don't think Ramos planned to do this but he's a dirty bastard and would definitely have been looking to introduce himself to Liverpools star player as soon as possible. It worked out brilliantly for Madrid as Salah couldn't continue. The game will be remembered for two howlers from keeper Loris Karius but should be remembered for Gareth Bales wonderful overhead scissors kick to make it 2-1. Benzema had put Madrid one nil up when he challenged Karius as he tried to bowl the ball out to a defender. Benzema was far too close for the German to be trying to get the ball out like this. The French forward stuck a leg out and blocked the ball into the net. Sadio Mane equalised soon after before Bale scored the dinger. Mane hit the post before Karius spilled Bales long range effort into the goal and that was all she wrote. The talk afterwards was that Karius had been concussed when he was challenged at a corner by Ramos and there was some merit in that because the first goal in particular was very erratic. The second one you could see the keeper conceding as he looked capable of making a mistake like that given what I'd seen from him in the season. The talk also was of Klopps record in finals. That was 6 straight he'd now lost and his skipper, Jordan Henderson had completed the full set of runners up medals in his Liverpool career but they make them tough in Sunderland and the Black Forest. This team was only getting started.
Our first Champions League campaign in 3 years saw us top our group then beat Porto 5 nil away in the round of 16 to set up a quarter final with Man City. The bus welcomes were back and even bigger than before, starting before the King Harry and going all the way to the stadium. Some over zealous idiots threw bottles at the City bus on the way which, again, didn't paint Liverpool fans in a good light. The few trying to ruin it for the many. We blitzed them 3 nil at Anfield and despite conceding an early goal in the second leg, we hung on and ended up winning that too. Roma got a similar hiding in the semi final first leg. We were 5 nil up but let them back into it with 2 goals that gave them some hope for the second leg. Mane and Wijnaldum scored either side of a Milner own goal to keep us in the driving seat but again we struggled in the last 10 minutes and conceded two more to win 7-6 on aggregate. We were in another European final against another Spanish team going for three in a row. Liverpool had a great record against Madrid having beaten them in the European Cup final in 1981 and over two legs in 2009. This was different. Zinedine Zidane had won back to back Champions Leagues and was now going for an unprecedented hat trick. Madrid had also won it in 2014 with many of the same players. Liverpool were up against the best team in Europe but we were the most in form team on the continent. Still we would need things to go our way. And they didn't. Salah had scored 44 goals before the final. He was the first Liverpool player to score 40 goals since Ian Rush in the 80's. When you think of the strikers we've had since then - Fowler, Owen, Torres and Suarez this was some achievement for a player who largely played from the right. Salah's incredible season made him a marked man and Madrid defender Sergio Ramos gladly accepted the opportunity to put a bit on the forward as he made his way from right to left with the ball early in the game. Ramos got his arms under Salahs' and when the Egyptian was pushed over, he landed awkwardly, dislocating his arm. I don't think Ramos planned to do this but he's a dirty bastard and would definitely have been looking to introduce himself to Liverpools star player as soon as possible. It worked out brilliantly for Madrid as Salah couldn't continue. The game will be remembered for two howlers from keeper Loris Karius but should be remembered for Gareth Bales wonderful overhead scissors kick to make it 2-1. Benzema had put Madrid one nil up when he challenged Karius as he tried to bowl the ball out to a defender. Benzema was far too close for the German to be trying to get the ball out like this. The French forward stuck a leg out and blocked the ball into the net. Sadio Mane equalised soon after before Bale scored the dinger. Mane hit the post before Karius spilled Bales long range effort into the goal and that was all she wrote. The talk afterwards was that Karius had been concussed when he was challenged at a corner by Ramos and there was some merit in that because the first goal in particular was very erratic. The second one you could see the keeper conceding as he looked capable of making a mistake like that given what I'd seen from him in the season. The talk also was of Klopps record in finals. That was 6 straight he'd now lost and his skipper, Jordan Henderson had completed the full set of runners up medals in his Liverpool career but they make them tough in Sunderland and the Black Forest. This team was only getting started.
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