"One had the feeling this was the moment he had been working towards since the day he set foot on Merseyside."
Thursday 16 April 2020 16:27, UK
Liverpool's stunning 4-0 Champions League demolition of Barcelona dominated the front and back pages of British newspapers, with some calling it the "Miracle of Anfield".
"An Anfield miracle transcribed from the pages of pure fantasy," read the headline of the match report in The Independent, while The Guardian led with "out of this world".
Guardian
There were some suggestions that Liverpool had topped the 'Miracle of Istanbul', when the club similarly overturned a three-goal deficit to beat AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final to win their fifth European title.
European fixtures at Anfield have always had a special atmosphere and some suggested the noise generated by a packed house combined with Jurgen Klopp's aggressive side had unsettled the Spanish champions.
"This is Liverpool's gift: to rip up what you thought you knew about football and footballers, to take you - mentally and physically - to a place you don't know and never wanted to go," Jonathan Liew wrote in The Independent.
The Sun
There was plenty of praise for the spirit and self belief that Klopp has fostered in his team, the German even forgiven for using an expletive when praising his players after the match.
"Jurgen Klopp makes Liverpool believe they can do the impossible," wrote Matt Dickinson in The Times. "No one minded when Jurgen Klopp dropped the f-bomb live on television.
"After this, he could have stripped off and run around Anfield with his pants down and it would all have seemed part of his manic Germanic charm. With that grin and this football, he can get away with anything."
Daily Mail
There was plenty of praise as well for Trent Alexander-Arnold's quick-thinking from a corner that caught the Barcelona defence napping and set up the decisive fourth goal for stand-in striker Divock Origi.
"With 79 minutes gone, the most celebrated team of the modern age had been reduced to bunch of mooching, stumbling yellow-shirted spectators," Barney Ronay wrote in The Guardian.
"A Champions League season that had seemed to be zeroing in on another coronation for Lionel Messi had been wrenched, gleefully, the other way. It will instead be Liverpool in Madrid on the first day of June for another shot at the ultimate."
After Klopp and his players had stood, some in tears, in front of The Kop to celebrate the win with a rendition of the club anthem 'You'll Never Walk Alone', it was left to The Daily Mail's Martin Samuel to point out that the job was not yet done.
Daily Express
"One had the feeling this was the moment he had been working towards since the day he set foot on Merseyside," he wrote.
"This spirit. This togetherness. This performance. This passion, this emotion: it was all here, every last drop of what he wanted to achieve. And yet, there is still such a long way to go."
Barcelona, meanwhile, have been getting a hammering in the Spanish press, with Marca and Mundo Deportivo comparing it to other big European disappointments, which the night at Anfield may even surpass.
Marca wrote: "Barcelona's defeat against Liverpool will be remembered like the other European disappointments of Seville, Athens and Rome, but surely this one will hurt even more.
"This was a historic failure, from top to bottom. Liverpool were much better, but Barcelona were poor and blame will be shared around.
"Of course, Ernesto Valverde will be scrutinised for his inability to find a solution. Lionel Messi too will be judged for not scoring the kinds of goals at Anfield that he has been doing throughout the season. It was a historic failure and it won't be easy for Barcelona to forget."
Mundo Deportivo also called the performance "a wreck worse than the one in Rome" and said "Anfield swallowed Barcelona".
The newspaper continued to say: "The Catalans evaporated in the worst European night. Nobody lived up to it. [Philippe] Coutinho was transparent, missing, inconsequential.
"The club will never forget the defeat of Anfield - much harder, distressing and painful than Rome. Because of the magnitude of the disaster, because of an improper image of a champion but also because of the accumulation of errors, some grotesque, both individual and collective."
The Champions League final, the 27th in its current format and 64th of Europe's elite-club competition, will take place on June 1, 2019.
Kick-off is at 8pm (BST), 9pm (CEST).
Follow Ajax vs Tottenham in our dedicated live blog on the Sky Sports app and SkySports.com on Wednesday evening
The last act of The Run In will be shown live on Sky Sports on a defining final day of the Premier League season.
Manchester City's trip to Brighton is live on Sky Sports Main Event from 2.30pm, while Liverpool vs Wolves at Anfield is live on Sky Sports Premier League from 2pm on Sunday, May 12. Kick-off for both games is at 3pm.
