A European Olympic stadium.
2-0 up in the 83rd minute against Chelsea, Liverpool defender Andy Robertson dribbled a few steps, reversed direction, slipped, and gave the ball away to Chelsea striker Gonzalo Higuain. The Liverpool fans around Anfield held their breath. Almost exactly five years before, their beloved captain Steven Gerrard slipped in a similar midfield spot. He scrambled a few steps, then watched helplessly as Chelsea striker Demba Ba scooped up the loose ball and raced in on goal to end Liverpool’s title dreams. For years since, Liverpool have been taunted for the slip and the epic collapse that followed it, made all the more ironic by Gerrard’s fiery assertion that Liverpool’s title challenge “doesn’t slip now” a few games before. This time, however, the Chelsea move following Robertson’s slip quickly fizzled out. Liverpool escaped unscathed and claimed three more points in their final Premier League game against top six opposition.
The moment had no real significance in the match, but it meant a lot in the story of this historic Premier League season. Going into the final game of the year, Liverpool finds themselves one point behind defending champions Manchester City. If both teams win today, they will finish with 97 and 98 points respectively, the second and third highest point totals in Premier League history. The race may have essentially been decided by the game played between them in January — Liverpool’s only loss all season — which came down to the slimmest of margins. This title race has been defined by excellence rather than slip-ups, by success rather than failure. “It’s done now,” said Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp after the Chelsea game. “If anyone wants to sing about the slip they can swallow it.”
There are some people who find Manchester City and Liverpool’s winning trend boring. But this Premier League season arrives at a cultural moment in England where success has the potential to bring more joy than the slip-ups of others.
Nine months ago, England fans crowded the streets to celebrate the English national team’s unexpected run to the semi-finals of the World Cup. “Football’s coming home” — a line from the terribly catchy 1996 song “Three Lions” — became the nation’s rallying cry for unwavering belief amidst a sea of doubters. So many English experts, who can be heard in the intro to the song, had often criticized the national team and waited almost eagerly for the next collapse. In this general climate of cynicism, “Football’s Coming Home” started out as an ironic joke. But as the team’s nontraditional, fun first approach continued to succeed under the guidance of manager Gareth Southgate — who carried the legacy of his own slip up at the 1996 European Championships — the belief became real. The spirit of the diverse World Cup squad even came to symbolize unity amidst the divisive politics of Brexit.
The World Cup ended in defeat, but the positive spirit of the summer has carried over into this Premier League season. The domestic title race is the most competitive in history, and English teams are succeeding in European competition, too. The Champions League final will take place between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, who each came back from 3-0 deficits to climb past Barcelona and Ajax in the semi-finals. The Europa League final will feature an all-English matchup between Arsenal and Chelsea. English teams are succeeding at an impressive rate, but more importantly they are destroying their demons of the past. For Liverpool, that meant killing off the “slip” chants. For Tottenham, it meant destroying the word “Spursy”, an insult used to describe Tottenham’s tendency to wilt in important situations. Following their gutsy comeback against Ajax, it will be hard for anyone to call Tottenham “Spursy” now.
Politicians Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May on Wednesday attempted to connect this string of recent successes to Brexit, but their efforts entirely missed the point. “In view of the amazing performance of Liverpool last night, perhaps the prime minister could take some tips from Jurgen Klopp on how to get a good result in Europe,” Corbyn said. May responded that the Liverpool game showed that “actually we can still secure success if everyone comes together.” After watching the scenes following the Liverpool and Spurs victories — Liverpool singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” in front of their fans; stoic Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino breaking down in tears — Corbyn and May’s political quips seem cheap. Football coming home last summer, and now again this year, is about unity and belief rather than argument and division. The rise of English teams, the strength and resolve they have demonstrated in their comebacks, the tears they have shed — these things are about more than politics. If anything, this season has proven that it means more to root for success than to find joy in failure. It has been about vanquishing, at least for a moment, the dark parts deep inside of us that wanted to see Andy Robertson slip.
This season will finish once more in tears at the Champions League final in a few weeks, but first, there is one more day to celebrate ‘football coming home’ at home in the Premier League. On this final day of the Premier League season, Manchester City will play Brighton while Liverpool take on Wolves. To the statistical mind, it is true that there has been little of note in Liverpool and City’s recent runs of dominance. But to the human eye, their craft remains full of wonder. Who can help but marvel at the precision and flare of Manchester City’s incisive forward jaunts? Who can sit limp on the couch while the Liverpool press thunders on? With all the implications of the title race on the line, neither team will forget that this is their last chance to play one more beautiful game in this magnificent Premier League season — one more game, perhaps, before the rivalries and realities of life are renewed. Turn on your television to rejoice alongside them in the triumph and sunshine of spring.
Image Credit: Unsplash/Thomas Serer