Speaking publicly for the first time about the threat, Houllier said: “I didn’t mention it to anybody because I didn’t want anyone to worry about it. It doesn’t affect my love for the city and my affection for the team and for the fans. Two thousand travelled here tonight and they showed their support. It doesn’t affect my passion for the job.
“Only a few people knew about it, but of course I needed to tell the police because of the content. It hurts because my family would read that. My response was to keep it to myself, but it’s not going to affect my commitment to the job. A manager has to be beyond that.
“What keeps you strong in the job is the relationship you have with the people you work with and the people you work for, and that includes the supporters. If I have to say thank you, it is to the players and to the supporters who have travelled so far and in such cold.”
Just to remind Liverpool that they could not feel at home, they ran out to warm up to the theme tune from Z Cars. Apparently, this was not a wind-up on Levski’s behalf; Everton’s pre-match anthem is ordinarily played before the Levski home matches.
Buoyed by a national holiday, the Bulgarians were in vociferous mood from an hour before kick-off. The home crowd was silenced, though, by two goals in the opening 11 minutes. Liverpool could only have dreamt of such a start. Gerrard and Owen, the home-grown players who symbolise the unity that is promising to provide a platform for Liverpool’s rise away from this season’s mediocrity, scored the goals that almost made this match a formality.
If it was Liverpool’s dream start, the first goal was a nightmare for Ilian Stoianov. The central defender was under pressure from Bruno Cheyrou and Gerrard but still, his back-pass was horribly underhit. Gerrard pounced and, although he was driven wide as he rounded Dimitar Ivankov, the captain produced an exemplary finish to score from the most acute angle.
Within four minutes Liverpool were 4-0 ahead on aggregate. Dietmar Hamann’s pass exposed the gaping gaps in Levski’s defence and Owen, curving his run in from the left wing, curled in a trademark right-footed finish high into the net — not bad for a striker supposedly off his game. “I said he would score,” Houllier said. “Not only was he the star player, he was also a key player.”
As Liverpool walked the ball about in midfield with a nonchalance aimed at letting everyone in the stadium know their place in the grand scheme of things, they could have gone three ahead. Danny Murphy sent Harry Kewell clear down the left but, after the winger cut in, his shot was saved by Ivankov.
Levski did not have a shot until the 26th minute, but a crazy first half of five goals picked up steam as Georgi Ivanov pulled a goal back a minute later. The ball went through Steve Finnan’s legs as the right back failed to clear and Levski’s leading scorer lashed his shot low into the far corner.
Possession started to be lost too cheaply. Levski’s equaliser came five minutes before the interval, when Sasa Simonovic dribbled past two defenders before swerving a marvellous shot into the top corner of Chris Kirkland’s goal from the edge of the penalty area.
Yet this wonderful half of surprises still had a further twist. Kewell, sent in by one of those typical first-time passes delivered by Gerrard from deep, won the corner that his captain sent to the far post for Hamann to rise and head in. And it was from another of Gerrard’s corners that Liverpool re-established their two-goal buffer for a third time in this tie. This time, midway through the second half, it was Sami Hyypia who rose to head home.
In patches, Liverpool played some admirable counter- attacking football, Murphy feeding Kewell before Owen back-heeled the ball for Gerrard to drag a shot wide. On another occasion, Gerrard played a breathtaking lobbed pass on to Kewell’s foot before the Australian dipped his volley over, while Owen was unfortunate not to score from close range.
This match, however, was about more than the result. It reaffirmed the unity of purpose within the Liverpool ranks and, safely delivered into the last 16 of the Uefa Cup, maintained their chance of salvaging a trophy from this troubled winter.