The game started with the Kop en fete. The flags flew. The one that shows all the European Cup and Champions League winning managers. The one that commemorates Diogo Jota and his brother, the one that proclaims 'Eee Aye Addio, We're the Champs'.
There was a tribute to Joey Jones, too, one of the club heroes who brought the club its first European Cup in 1977 and who died recently. 'Joey ate the frogs' legs,' the famous old banner said, 'made the Swiss roll, now he's munching Gladbach.'
And most enthusiastically of all, the Liverpool fans taunted the Evertonians who had packed into their section in the Anfield Road End.