Remo Freuler dropped to his knees and roared. Dean Henderson pumped his fists. Jesse Lingard collapsed on top of Morgan Gibbs-White, having done a little jig down the touchline.
And Nottingham Forest fans belted out ‘Just Can’t Get Enough’, staying long after the final whistle had blown on a famous victory to soak it all up. What a day, what an atmosphere and what a result.
These are the kind of moments and the kind of games the City Ground was made for. The kind of occasion Reds fans waited 23 long years for.
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But it has to be more than that, too. It has to be a starting point or a turning point, however you want to look at it. A fork in the road for Forest to kick on from. It cannot be a one off.
This was the kind of performance which became the Reds’ trademark under Steve Cooper last season. Full of determination, desire and spirit. A willingness to work hard for each other. Looking like a team.
The previous three games had shown signs of progress. This one, beating Liverpool, was a particularly significant step forward. The challenge now is to build on it.
Collective unit
Amid a dismal run of results, Forest looked exactly like what they were - a group of players barely a few weeks into meeting each other. They had shown glimpses of what they were capable of and there had been some encouraging individual moments, but they lacked cohesion.
Developing relationships and connections was always going to take time. Such an extensive summer overhaul was always going to pose challenges.
Saturday was the first time where they really looked like a collective unit for the full 90 minutes. Securing the three points was a huge team effort; from front to back, starters to substitutes, everyone put a shift in.
For the first time in a number of weeks, picking a man of the match was hard. It could have gone to any number of players.
To a man, the Reds played with intensity and aggression; not to mention positivity, being eager to get on the front foot. They weighed in with tackles and challenges, threw themselves in front of every ball and tore up the pitch whenever they launched a counterattack. The energy and commitment was superb.
Cooper spoke in his pre-match press conference about trying to find the right balance between attack and defence. This was a great example. Forest had a go, and they got their rewards - while also staying solid as a rock at the back.
If you wanted to see what it meant to the whole squad, you needed only to watch the bench in the final minutes as they waited for the referee’s whistle. All - players and staff - were on their feet, burning nervous energy and waiting for the cue to run on to the pitch.
In the dressing room afterwards, the players talked about bottling the feeling. But the goal has to be to experience it again and again.
Winning goal
Having Taiwo Awoniyi back in the XI made a difference. It helped, too, that the hosts tried to play the ball into his feet more than they have done in previous games.
Scoring against his old club will no doubt have meant a lot. And the goal was no doubt appreciated by former Reds striker Lewis Grabban, who was watching from the stands and who took time to speak to his old teammates afterwards.
It was no less than Awoniyi deserved. He had been central to several promising passages of play in the first half and had caused Liverpool problems.
He won the free-kick which led to his winner, too, having been dragged back by Joe Gomez when he was racing forward. Gibbs-White picked out Steve Cook at the far post from the set-piece, the defender whipped the ball across, and after Awoniyi was denied by the post the first time, he made no mistake with the second bite of the cherry. The City Ground erupted.
Forest could have had more. Gibbs-White, Brennan Johnson and Ryan Yates all went on to have chances. Creating opportunities and finding the back of the net has been tough in recent weeks, so the belief the Reds can take from that should go a long way.
Midfield combination
Having got to know his players better, is Cooper now close to settling on his best side? It certainly seems as though he has found a system which works.
There will always be tweaks - to personnel and formations - depending on the opposition, but there are several players now who it is almost impossible to leave out of the starting XI. Ryan Yates chief among them.
He was exceptional on Saturday. He has been a consistent performer since coming back into the team against Aston Villa, and stepped it up another level in the lunchtime kick-off.
But Freuler and Cheikhou Kouyate played crucial roles, too. Indeed, the latter was outstanding, covering every blade of grass and making a couple of lung-busting runs in the second half which were unfortunate not to yield greater returns.
“Liverpool are a top, top team,” Cooper explained afterwards. “The way Jurgen makes them play, I admire it - and I have done, not just planning for this game, I’ve admired it for years.
“But if you can clog up the middle of the pitch a little bit… It is still a risk, because of the delivery they have from wide and the players they’ve got out there. And when Trent (Alexander-Arnold) came on, we went to a back five, to get a match up on him. But in the end, it worked. I can’t remember too many clearcut chances from open play.”
Yates, Freuler and Kouyate made for a good combination in the centre of the pitch. With Orel Mangala and Lewis O’Brien (when he is back from illness) - and not forgetting Jack Colback, when he has recovered from a back problem - in the mix, the manager has strong options there.
Rock solid
A tip of the baseball cap to Dean Henderson. The Manchester United loanee pulled off a stunning save in the 92nd minute to thwart Virgil Van Dijk, and got some congratulatory chest-bumps of approval from his teammates as a result.
He had made a strong stop early on, too, denying Fabio Carvalho. But he didn’t have too much else to do, and that was testament to the work done by those in front of him.
Cook and Scott McKenna were back in the brick-wall mode which was such a regular occurrence in the second half of last season. There was a worry that changing the shape - with Joe Worrall entering the fray from off the bench - might disrupt the momentum, but far from it. Forest continued to look solid.
To reiterate an earlier point, though, that was due to the collective effort. The Reds did everything as a team.
They’ve shown what they can do. They’ve shown what is possible. They’ve set the standard. Now they have to keep hitting it.
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