Anfield last night staged football at its quixotic, compelling best.
The watching pair of Tom Hicks and George Gillett, swept up in the emotion of another epic Anfield occasion, really need look only at the sweat-stained figure of Jamie Carragher to find the reason why England's third-best team could defeat the champions of Europe. Guts and glory are Carragher's mottos.
Liverpool's captain, Steven Gerrard, enthused afterwards of the side's "spirit, grit and determination'' and such qualities particularly suffused Carragher, the rock on which so many Catalan attacks foundered. Carragher kept throwing himself in front of Barcelona shots, kept nicking the ball off the lacklustre Ronaldinho, kept leaping high to repel any aerial threats. Liverpool reached Friday's quarter-final draw because Carragher would settle for nothing else.
From first minute to last, Liverpool's defensive kingpin cajoled his colleagues, demanding endless concentration and defiance. Interviewed afterwards, Carragher could hardly talk, having expended all his energy in the cause of the club he so cherishes. "We all dream of a team of Carraghers,'' sang the Kop. No wonder.
As a schoolboy, Carragher owned a Barcelona kit, and last night he stripped them of their air of invincibility. Eidur Gudjohnsen did break through, running on to Xavi's 75th-minute pass and rounding Jose Reina to score, but it was too little, too late.
Someone will have to explain to Hicks and Gillett how the away-goals rule works, how strikes from Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise at the Nou Camp have given Liverpool's season such resonance. Someone will also have to explain to Hicks and Gillett how Peter Crouch could miss from eight yards.
Yet the new guardians of this famous club will never need to explain why they invested so much. It was these sort of epic evenings that had encouraged Hicks and Gillett to part with £450 million, these sort of noise levels that conjured up memories of the fabled visits of Inter Milan, Saint-Etienne, Roma, Olympiakos and Chelsea. "The fans helped us get through,'' observed Gerrard.
The Kop, at their colourful, cacophonous best, celebrated the past and cast a confident eye on the future, displaying one banner that looked towards the Athens final: "In Ancient Greece, we'll win it six times.'' The Kop also laid on a maths lesson with one sign reading: "Einstein and Pythagoras know that 18 titles and five European Cups equals the greatest.'' The numbers game had also been occupying the mind of Frank Rijkaard, who began with a controversial 3-4-3 formation anchored by Rafael Marquez and with the influential Deco in the hole behind Ronaldinho. Committed to attack, Barcelona also left themselves exposed defensively.
Riise could have netted a hat-trick in the opening stages of a match that started quickly and never slowed. Two strikes went racing wide, but the middle thunderbolt almost snapped the frame of the goal at the Anfield Road end. The Catalan message to Beatleville behind the net declared "All You Need Is Barca'' but with Riise hitting the bar, the tune was more "Norwegian Wood''.
The Catalans began to settle and only Carragher's positional excellence thwarted the lively Deco. Inspired by their No 23's indomitability, Liverpool poured forward, willed on by the fans, as the spellbound pair of Hicks and Gillett looked, listened and marvelled. American sport simply does not produce passion plays like this.
The noise was unrelenting. So was the excitement. Riise was terrific, all dynamism down the left. Xabi Alonso, all smooth touch and teak-tough work ethic, relished the chance to perform against the club of his father. Lionel Messi's happy feet made life a misery for Alvaro Arbeloa. Just before the half-hour, Liverpool flooded forward menacingly again. First Craig Bellamy came calling, only for Victor Valdes to save. Then Dirk Kuyt sought to poach a follow-up but Valdes again reacted athletically, pushing the ball away.
Still the danger persisted, Riise heading goalwards. Oleguer rescued Barcelona with a clearance from under the bar.
Barcelona's goal was coming under sustained threat, and when Valdes hurriedly hoofed the ball clear, Momo Sissoko sent it back with added interest -- first time from 45 yards. Once again, the crossbar saved Barcelona. Sadly a booking for Sissoko rules him out of the first leg of the quarters.
Fighting to keep hold of the European Cup, raging against the fading of their season's light, Rijkaard's side went through the gears again, driving towards the Kop, this time Ronaldinho shooting over to a thousand derisive cries of "Who are you?''
Ronaldinho sparked into life again after the break, darting around Arbeloa and unleashing a shot that crashed into Reina's left-hand upright. Rijkaard rang the changes, sending on Gudjohnsen for Lilian Thuram, attacker for defender, as Barcelona went for broke. The move worked. Gudjohnsen seizing on Jermaine Pennant's slip and Arbeloa's momentary inability to play offside.
Gudjohnsen's calm finish set up a frantic finale, yet Liverpool really should have soothed the racing pulses; Crouch, though, blasted Pennant's expert cross into the Kop. The final whistle sent relief coursing through Liverpool's fans and despair through Rijkaard and company. The inquest will be lengthy and painful in Catalonia. The party continues in Liverpool - and Stateside.