You know it’s a proper European night at Anfield when every word of every song hits you with enough force to part your hair.

When your glasses start steaming up amidst a cauldron of noise. When you come away feeling like you’ve run 90 minutes with them.

A week ago, it was Galatasaray feeling like this. Last night, it was Anfield at its best. And for one of the few times this season, it was Liverpool at their best. And God, how we needed that.

After the dreary display against Spurs on Sunday, ‘fans’ on Twitter had feared the worst going into this. 

I’ll admit, I wasn’t the most optimistic myself. But last night shows what happens when you leave your grievances at the turnstile and get behind the team.

From one of those days to one of those nights

When Szoboszlai scores from the corner kick, the second feels inevitable.

Mo goes through on goal but fluffs his lines – why didn’t he round the keeper?! – Wirtz goes close too.

And then we get the penalty, and everything is going to be alright.

Mo may have lost a little bit of his magic, but you can usually rely on him in moments like this.

His record from penalties has declined in recent years, but you still expect the net to bulge. In the end, the opposite happens. You can see what he’s trying to do. But there’s a time and a place, and it’s not now.

You go into halftime thinking it’s going to be another one of those days. The ones were the Reds keep knocking at the door, but it just won’t happen for them.

Luckily, we’re shooting against the Kop in the second half. And its uncanny knack for sucking the ball into the net saves us again.

The fantastic second-half performance is a joy and a relief at the same time – especially for Mo.

Before his trademark goal and assist, the headlines were centred on his fading powers. The man who has saved Liverpool so many times over the years finally costs the Reds dear.

But then, as he always does, the Egyptian King shuts you up. Long live the silence.

Anfield suffocates Galatasaray

The Turkish side had no fans in the stadium, and that felt significant. The second leg was a testament to what can happen when you walk alone.

Unlike the first leg, Galatasaray had no orange wall behind them, and they were a different beast altogether. They wilted under the pressure of Anfield – they weren’t the first, and they won’t be the last.

From the moment the first boos rang out for the Champions League anthem, you knew they had no chance.

For the first 60 minutes, Anfield kicked every ball, whistled every player, and contested every decision.

And for the first time this season, the team actually responded.

We had them fighting for every ball just outside their penalty area. We had them forcing Galatasaray into mistakes. We had their players wanting to lie down after five minutes. But most importantly, we had them playing the f*cking ball forwards.

The atmosphere has taken a lot of criticism this season, and rightly so. Sure, it can be hard to motivate the players when the style of the football fails to capture the imagination. 

But so much is said about how Anfield can unnerve visiting sides that we have forgotten how that power can also be harnessed to bully our own team into playing how we want.

The line was drawn at singing Arne Slot, but it’s a start.

Bring on yer Internazionale

If last night taught us anything, it’s that teams may be able to cope with the intensity of this Liverpool side, but dealing with the intensity of 60,000 fans inside Anfield is another matter entirely.

PSG next. If we can get a result in Paris, anything can happen. 

A fan never scored a goal, of course. But that result was a reminder of why you should never stop trying.