Tonight will be an emotional night for LFC and the clubs’ fans, in more ways than one. For one, this could be the night that Liverpool reach the latter stages of a European competition since the heady days of Rafa Benitez’s greatest years. But it will also be the return to the scene of Rafa and his Liverpool team’s greatest triumph: the Ataturk stadium in Turkey.
It may perhaps be fitting that, on the 10 years anniversary of Liverpool’s most famous European win, the team are once again going to run out onto the pitch where they once clawed themselves back from 3-nil down to the best team in Europe at the time and managed to pull off a still baffling penalty victory from the jaws of defeat, following a 3-3 draw after extra time.
Speaking to the club’s official website, Brendan Rodgers said: “It was an historic night for the club and everyone associated with Liverpool respects that,” the manager said of what occurred at the Ataturk a decade ago.
“Of course, it was a little while ago and there won’t be too many of our players that were involved at that time. But certainly it is a really iconic stadium for the club and a big part of that history.”
It’s a big night for Liverpool and Rodgers will be hoping the ground of the club’s greatest recent victory won’t be too much for a lot of his younger players, particularly with the expected partizan atmosphere that Turkish fans usually whip up.
He continued: “We’re looking forward to the atmosphere – it should be really good. And we want to complete the job. The confidence is very high in the team.
“Any changes that we make in the team, the players come in and know the collective job and are performing at a very high level. So we expect the same, to continue with that confidence level. We’ll look to carry that confidence into the game.”
Can the team come through the tie tonight and progress to the next round? Let us know your thoughts below.