Real Madrid's players were subjected to an early morning fireworks display as Liverpool fans made a bang just before 1am on Tuesday morning.
The Spanish side, who have travelled to Merseyside for their Champions League last 16 clash, were unable to enjoy an uninterrupted sleep prior to their game at Anfield. Footage has shown fireworks being set off near to the Innside Liverpool Hotel, where Los Blancos checked in on Monday.
The fireworks lasted for more than 30 seconds in the docklands area of the city with kick-off less than 24 hours away for the defending European champions. Liverpool supporters have pulled this trick before, subjecting Barcelona to similar when they won 4-0 in their semi-final back in 2019.
Merseyside Police said in a statement: "We can confirm officers attended following reports of fireworks being set off outside a hotel in Liverpool city centre in the early hours of today (Tuesday, February 21).
"It was reported at 12.55am that a group were setting off the fireworks close to the INNSiDE Hotel on Old Hall Street. It is against the law to carry or use fireworks if you are under 18, and illegal for people of any age to let off or throw a firework in a public place."
Carlo Ancelotti's side will face Liverpool for the third successive season, having got the better of them in recent years. Back in May it was the LaLiga champions who broke Merseyside hearts in Paris with Vinicius Jnr bagging a second-half winner to secure a narrow 1-0 victory.
The season prior to that they enjoyed a 3-1 aggregate win over the Reds in the last eight, winning in Spain before playing out a goalless draw at Anfield. Jurgen Klopp, in preparation for their last 16 tie, watched their final loss back for the first time and admits it wasn't an enjoyable experience.
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He said: "In our own story, just recently if you want, we played this final in Paris and I didn't watch it back since then – until this weekend. The thing I realised immediately: now I know why I didn't watch it back. But I had to and it was proper torture because we played a good game and we could have won the game, and that's the decisive word: we could.
"We didn't, they scored the decisive goal and we didn't, that was the reason. You could see in this game how experienced Madrid is, how little they are fussed when the other team has chances.
"They don't lose confidence in one second, they know, 'Our chance will come', they are there for that and they defend with legs, deep defending together. So, this is this team and that's the competition and that's what you can learn from them, definitely."
