Liverpool FC - Walking down the memory lane!

A brief rewind to how it all started ahead of the weekend clash

It all started back in 1998. France 98 was underway. I was excited about watching England against Argentina. During the Euro 96, i heard from Dad that lot of english fans jumped into the English channel following their defeat to Germany. I was supporting Argentina(I have always been their fan). That night England went out in a painful way, something which has become synonymous with them in every major tournament since then. I was ecstatic with Argentina's progress but that was short lived as they lost to Holland subsequently. That night another very important event took place. The emergence of 18 year old prodigy Micheal Owen. I was in awe of his goal against Argentina. Following the World Cup, the football fever died down. Those days, the premier league was nowhere as famous like today. But, France 98 ignited my passion for the game. Luckily for me, that was the time when a lot of my school mates switched from playing cricket to football. I started playing and off the field started following the game. Micheal Owen led me to Liverpool Football club. Thanks to my decent knowledge about countries, i knew where the city was situated. I saw 'Carlsberg' written on their shirt and on the first few occasions, i used to search for Micheal Own whenever their matches was shown. I find it a bit naive to concentrate on individuals rather than a team but growing up in an era when Sachin Tendulkar was another name for Indian cricket team, it was difficult to develop a different mindset. But with each passing game, i started following the club more. I started learning about the other players. The french manager(Gerrard Houllier) with his scarf around his neck attracted my attention. I started understanding that this guy can decide whether to play my idol Micheal Owen or not. He calls the shot.He is the manager.Slowly but surely, Liverpool football club became larger than Owen. When he finally left for Real Madrid, the pain was evident but the understanding that LFC is an institution and it can survive and make many such Micheal Owens acted as a pain killer.

Fast forward to 2011. A lot has happened since those early days. I can possibly write a book expressing all my thoughts about this journey of being a Liverpool fan! Tomorrow Liverpool meet their biggest rivals again. I would not like to mention United too much but keeping aside all our rivalries, it has to be said that they are setting the benchmark of English football at present.

As expected, the build up to this game is always huge. I start searching for articles in UK sport websites a week prior to this fixture. This time it has been no different. Blogs,forums experience a lot of activity leading up to the game. Once can easily feel the excitement around. A lot has changed from those early years. Presence of supporter's group in all leading cities, screening of matches in major pubs, getting to know fellow fans etc all add up to the spice. I like reading a lot of articles by well known sport journalists.The press conferences, the player interviews, expert comments and loads of discussions just magnifies the importance of this game. The day before the game, i keep thinking about it. In the middle of my work, a sudden realization of the match looming large makes me feel excited. Its like one of those moments which you would be desperately looking forward to. On the morning of the matchday, the moment i wake up the thought of watching the match crosses my mind. I tell myself that its a special day. I frequently engage in short and crisp discussion with God, almost negotiating with him for a LFC victory. Finally when the match starts, its all high voltage action from then on. 90 minutes of pure emotion,passion and excitement follows.

The match tomorrow is as important as ever.If we win tomorrow, we will be only 3 points apart from the league leaders and with United meeting Manchester City next week, we can hope to close that gap further. A loss on the other hand would be deflating but as they say, winning is a mentality and when that sets in, there is no room for defeat. Hoping for a 3-1 win tomorrow !! YNWA!