Until this moment, the end-of-season recurrence in Liverpool had come with an added jeopardy over the past decade. The pageant of the team bus crawling down Anfield Road ahead of their final home game, emerging gradually from the red mist, arrived alongside the war cry of thousands, scaling the trees and scaffolding to the side. The smell of pure sulphur, flares forming the richest of scarlet red air, came with an added whiff of worry. Fans congregating in the city drank lager and Guinness, stimulated perhaps more in hope than expectation.
Yet on this spring Sunday in 2025? Something new.
