A Liverbird upon my chest
We are men, of Shankly’s best
A team that plays the Liverpool way!
And wins the Championship in May!
I remember when my mom gave me FIFA 2007 for my PSP. I played that game so much that I could almost imitate Clive Tyldesley’s voice perfectly. I just remember playing with mainly two specific teams. Barcelona so I could play with Ronaldinho & Liverpool so I could play with Steven Gerrard.
As I got older I fell away from the beautiful game, American football & basketball had my attention all the way until I was about 13. The World Cup in Brazil really brought me all the way back in. It brought me back to the point where I wanted my mom to buy me the World Cup version of FIFA instead of the actual FIFA 14 game.
When I opened my Christmas gift that year and I saw FIFA 14, I knew I had to go and instantly play. And when I first started the game up, all those memories of playing FIFA 07 on the PSP came flooding back. And from that moment on I knew what team I was picking to support. I just didn’t know that at the time, that decision would impact me for the rest of my life.
An icon says goodbye
I can’t speak for all Liverpool fans, but I can tell you exactly what I was thinking when I saw the news that Klopp was leaving.
“F***!!!!”
If you’re not a Liverpool fan, you just wouldn’t be able to fully comprehend what this man means to not only the club, but the city of Liverpool. To come in to a Liverpool side that were struggling to even reach European spots to winning the lot, Jurgen Klopp changed the trajectory of the club forever.
It was a bittersweet ending to his tenure as the Reds were in a position to fight for the title, but ultimately succumbed to several major injuries to key players.
After winning literally everything for the club, Klopp’s main point on why he was leaving is that he was “running out of energy”. While Liverpudlians were crushed by the news, a bald man in Rotterdam was getting ready to try and follow the footsteps of a legend. Little did they know, a year later, they would be celebrating their 20th league trophy.
The Arne Slot era begins
After only making one signing during the summer window (Winger Federico Chiesa from Juventus for £12.5m), the expectations for Arne Slot and Liverpool weren’t really known.
Gary Neville had Liverpool finishing 5th in his season predictions and even club legend Jamie Carragher had the Reds finishing in 3rd for a second consecutive year.
Arne Slot & Co. responding by winning seven of their first eight league matches, including a signature 3-0 victory at Old Trafford against Manchester United.
As a matter of fact, after losing to Nottingham Forrest on September 14th at Anfield, Liverpool did not lose another league match until April 6th against Fulham at Craven Cottage.
As I look back on this incredible campaign there are a few moments that, in my opinion, were instrumental in Liverpool obtaining #20. Let’s take a look back…
YSN’s most important moments of the 24/25 season
1. Mo Salah’s second home
After back-to-back 2-0 victories against Ipswich Town & Brentford to start the season, all eyes were on Liverpool’s trip to Manchester to take on Erik ten Hag & Manchester United.
The Red Devils had won their first game of the season with an 87th minute winner from new signing from Joshua Zirkzee, but they had lost their second game of the season to Brighton at the Amex Stadium due to a 95th minute winner from Joao Pedro.
The game got off to an intense start as Trent Alexander-Arnold rocketed the ball into the back of Andre Onana’s net, only for a VAR check to rule out the goal. However, the Reds didn’t stop there, as Casemiro’s pass was intercepted by Ryan Gravenberch which led to the Egyptian King playing a perfect cross to Luis Diaz for the open header.
Salah and Diaz connected once more seven minutes later,after yet another Casemiro mistake, where the Colombian was able to bump him off of the ball with ease.
In the second half the game remained in Liverpool’s control as United’s young star Kobbie Mainoo was shouldered off the ball in his own half by Alexis Mac Allister, leading to a beautiful Mo Salah goal that officially clinched the three point for Slot’s men.
This game, in my opinion, really first showcased how special this Liverpool team could be. To score 2+ goals and keep a clean sheet in their first three matches was very promising. And it sure proved to not be a fluke, as the Reds wouldn’t allow any goals in three of their next five fixtures.
2. A week of healing for fans everywhere
The Reds were on a heater before the November international break, as they had just beaten a tricky Aston Villa team 2-0 at Anfield.
Just over two weeks later, Liverpool would uncharacteristically would go down 2-1 to bottom of the table Southampton after an early goal from Dominik Szoboszlai. Mo Salah then responded with two goals in 18 minutes to secure the three points.
So after that shaky performance, Liverpool would have arguably their hardest week in years as they were set to host Real Madrid in the Champions League and then Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City only four days after.
One things for sure, two things for certain, Anfield was ELECTRIC for both matches. From the kickoff against Madrid (a team who Liverpool hadn’t beaten since March 2009) you could tell that the players were up for it.
In the 31st minute Kylian Mbappe sprinted past Alexis Mac Allister down the left wing for what looked like a sure goal scoring opportunity. All of a sudden, Conor Bradley (who was starting for the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold) came in with a crunching slide tackle which ignited the Anfield crowd to a different level.
Alexis Mac Allister would finish a great team move in the 51st minute to grab the lead, but seven minutes later was the biggest moment of the game. During a Real Madrid attack, Andy Roberston lunged into a tackle on Lucas Vazquez in the box, giving Los Blancos a much needed penalty.
Kylian Mbappe stepped up to take the penalty against Caoimhin Kelleher and it was… SAVED. And at that moment I knew the game wouldn’t leave our grasp.
The Reds never lost control of the game after that, as Cody Gakpo scored the winner to grab the three points. The only negative of the game was that right before the final whistle an over-eager Endrick crunched into Ibrahima Konate’s leg, which forced him to leave the pitch hobbling and miss the next few games.
And the next game was super important to further distance the gap between themselves and the reigning champions.
And just like the game against Madrid, the Anfield crowd were behind the boys from the start, which paid off with an early goal by Cody Gakpo from a beautiful Mo Salah assist.
Liverpool never really let City get a sniff of the goal, as a Mo Salah penalty in the 78th minute would seal the deal for yet another 2-0 victory.
Those two matches healed a lot of previous pain for Liverpool fans. Losing two Champions League finals to Real Madrid and losing the league by one point (twice!) to Manchester City brought us fans so much pain. But the fact that we won both games, and kept two clean sheets, it just was a small sign of what was to come.
3. La Resilencia
After such a great start to the year, everyone was wondering when the team would start to get in a slump. It’s only natural for a team, through a 38 game season, to face some challenges. This is the Premier League, you can’t be perfect throughout a whole season.
The start of 2025 was not too kind to the Reds. After leading twice at home against rival Manchester United, a late Amad Diallo goal forced the lads to share the points. Three days later, Liverpool would go and lose the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-finals in London against Ange Postecoglu’s Tottenham.
And then a week later, after conceding an early Chris Wood goal, Slot’s men would only be able to grab a point against Nottingham Forrest at The City Ground.
The next game was an away day at Brentford, which is always a tough one to take. Up to that point in 2025 Liverpool had only won one game, which was at home against Accrington Stanley in the FA Cup.
If I’m not mistaken, I think Arsenal were only six points behind the Reds before this match, so it was super important that they would go and get a result versus the Bees.
And after about 85 minutes, it looked like that result was not likely, as no matter what Liverpool did the ball did not seem to want to go in. They had over 30 shots and yet the game was still stuck at 0-0.
The fans in the away stand were starting to panic, thinking about yet another title starting to fall out of their grasp.
Arne Slot had thrown everything at the game, even bringing on the rarely used Federico Chiesa in the 87th minute hoping to bring a spark.
Just as the PA announcer in the stadium started to read out the amount of stoppage time in the game, Trent Alexander-Arnold had the ball on the right wing going towards the near post. After the defender managed to block his first cross attempt, Trent somehow got the ball back and fired a cross into the six yard box…
Two words for you.
La Resilencia.
Genuinely, to me, this is what saved our title challenge. If we don’t get three points in this game, we would’ve not won a single league game in the first month of 2025, allowing Arsenal to gain massive ground on us.
We had our momentum back, we had the hope back & it was all because of the heroics of one crazy Uruguayan.
Gracias La Pantera.
4. The double over the blue team in Manchester
Liverpool were looking to do the league double over Manchester City for the time since the 2015/16 season.
I always said to my friends, if Liverpool were to beat City at the Etihad, then I would start seriously believing in this squad challenging for a Premier League title.
In all those years where we were so close to the title, the Etihad was a ground that we could never get a result at. Whether it was a crazy Kevin De Bruyne deflected goal or Dejan Lovren getting turned by Sergio Aguero, we just couldn’t get three points at the Etihad.
Pep Guardiola, after what has been considered his worst season as City manager, was determined to not let the Reds get three points closer to the title.
The key to a victory against City has always been an early lead. The 2017/18 UCL campaign saw the Reds get a 3-0 victory in the first leg against City and the 2022 FA Cup semifinal also brought a 3-0 Liverpool lead which ended up being a 3-2 victory.
Mo Salah, on course for a historic season, struck first on a well-worked set piece in the 14th minute to grab the early lead that they were so desperate for. And only 23 minutes later, Salah swiftly played a ball to Szoboszlai in the box, who finished calmly with a left foot strike past Ederson to seemingly put the game away at 2-0.
After the game ended I got up from my couch, fell down to the ground, and thanked God. We had finally done the league double over City. I could finally start to believe.
5. The skipper steps up
After a 3-1 victory against Southampton on March 8th, Liverpool would then go on to lose their next two games in the span of eight days. They lost the second leg of the Round of 16 matchup at Anfield against PSG on penalties & then put in a horrible performance against Newcastle in the Carabao Cup Final.
17 days later, after the final international break of the season, Liverpool would face their crosstown rivals Everton under the Anfield lights.
Fans were desperate for a result, after having to sit with the defeat at Wembley for 17 days. Liverpool dominated possession and looked strong at the back, but they couldn’t seem to put any shots on goal.
Luckily for Arne Slot & Co., Diogo Jota dribbled through the Everton defense and slotted the eventual game-winner past Jordan Pickford in the 57th minute.
Four days later, the Reds lost a crazy game against Fulham at Craven Cottage for only their second loss of the season. Morale was down yet again, and a game against West Ham at the weekend could be the supplier for that much needed boost.
And it started out so well as Mo Salah turned teenage left-back Oliver Scarles with ease and then played a perfect pass with the outside of his foot to Luis Diaz for an easy tap-in.
Liverpool would hit the bar a few times throughout the game, but as soon as the 60th minute hit it seemed like West Ham were the ones playing with way more confidence.
And unfortunately for the lads in red, an awful mistake by Virgil van Dijk caused an Andy Robertson own goal in the 86th minute for the Hammers to equalize. Robertson was fuming at the skipper, immediately turning around and yelling at him for the mistake. Little did he know that only three minutes later the greatest Dutch player to ever play for our club would make up for his mistake.
After Lucas Paqueta tried to dive and get a foul for West Ham, Alexis Mac Allister stole the ball and was able to win a corner. The Argentinian went to the corner spot to swing the cross in, and just like always, our skipper was able to tower over everyone and head the ball past Alphonse Areola for the winning goal.
It put us back 13 points clear at the top of the table and with one hand on the Premier League trophy. Two days later, he put pen to paper on a new two-year contract with the club. Just a week after Mo Salah did the exact same.
An absolute leader of men, a club legend and the best defender in Premier League history. Virgil van Dijk.
6. The Scouser in our team
I truly don’t know what to believe, but all I know is that Trent Alexander-Arnold is one of the greatest players to ever put on a Liverpool kit.
No matter what he does in the summer, that is an indisputable fact. And when it seemed like the ball just wouldn’t go in the back of the net, Trent Alexander-Arnold took one swing with his left foot and once again sent the away end at King Power Stadium into pure bedlam.
I do think that he will be joining Real Madrid this summer, but I just don’t have it in my heart to hate on this guy right here. What a player.
I’ll be heartbroken, but I’ll always remember moments like this.
2x Premier League Winner
1x Champions League Winner
1x FA Cup Winner
2x Carabao Cup Winner
Most Assists in PL history by a defender
The Scouser in our team.
The only thing in the world that I love almost as much as my mother, brother & father is this club right here. I was blessed to be able to go to Anfield this year to watch us beat Villa in November.
I was actually supposed to be at the game against Spurs today. I had my flight booked and everything, but unfortunately I was in a car accident at the end of March, so I had to use the money to buy a new car instead.
I am a bit sad that I missed out on seeing history, but regardless the happiness in my heart watching us win #20 makes it okay.
I will follow this club everywhere until I take my last breath and I will pass on the love to my kids as well.
This is Liverpool. It just means more.
Until next time, this is YSN, signing out.
