Liverpool stadium announcer George Sephton has revealed how he reacted to the 'best' atmosphere he ever witnessed at Anfield versus Chelsea in 2005, as well as the greatest night in the stadium's history versus Barcelona in 2019.
The world-famous 'Voice of Anfield' has been witness to a plethora of fabled moments on the hallowed turf at the Reds' home ground since 1971. After being installed in his role on the mic during the Bill Shankly era, his voice has rang around the terraces in L4 for 53 years.
To date, he has witnessed six European Cup-winning teams, alongside 12 league title-victors grace the field in the club's red colors. Now, the legendary figure has looked back over the most glorious evenings he has enjoyed watching his beloved team from his unique vantage point in the Kenny Dalglish Stand.
Having been in position for everything from the wins over St. Etienne in 1977 right through to Barcelona in 2019, Sephton has declared the Champions League semi-final victory over Chelsea in 2005 as the greatest atmosphere he has experienced. With Liverpool having last appeared in a European Cup final 20 years previously, they secured their passage to face AC Milan in the showpiece with a 1-0 win over the Blues.
The game is well-recalled, not least due to the controversial eventual winner from Luis Garcia - with the legitimacy of that 'Ghost Goal' strike still subject to debate nearly 20 years later. Of his own role in proceedings on the night, Sephton exclusively told Liverpool.com : "I was very pleased with myself that night.
"People say that the noise was horrendous but I deliberately turned everything up, had the tubthumping music on loud so basically the Kop had to sing louder to compete. The way it went, we very nearly went out and went all the way to the final. I thought we'd never get back to one of them."
Remembering the ending to the game amid the tense wait for the final whistle, he said: "We had six minutes added on at the end- that wasn't usual then. In this video clip, you can see Rafa [Benitez] turning around saying 'what did he just say, six minutes?'. Ten yards down, there was Jose Mourinho and you can see him waving them on - Chelsea threw everything bar the kitchen sink at it.
"At the end I banged on 'You'll Never Walk Alone' and you can hear me giving a speech saying 'I've been coming here 3000 years and it's the best atmosphere ever'. I was gone, I was just so chuffed."
Meanwhile, Sephton is left in no doubt that the victory over Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final in 2019 ranks as the greatest night in Anfield's history. With the Reds trailing by three goals on aggregate from the first leg at Camp Nou, Jurgen Klopp's side had a mountain to climb to turn the tide in the tie but completed a stunning comeback with a 4-0 home win.
Looking back at that night, he said: "You couldn't have written a script for it. If you were a screenwriter and you sent that script in, people would say 'you're insane'. We were 3-0 down to the best team on the planet, our two star players were both crocked and there was just no way [back].
"I don't think anyone in the Liverpool end thought we were going to get through. I swear people just turned up to tell their grandchildren that they'd seen [Lionel] Messi ," he continued. "But that corner, if I close my eyes I can still see Trent Alexander-Arnold with the ballboy. I didn't say anything and was waiting for the referee to say 'take it again'.
"But it slowly dawned on me that he had scored. I'm not exactly sure how long from then it was until the final whistle but it felt like about ten days. It was incredible, the stress."
Of the atmosphere, as the party continued long into the night after the final whistle, Sephton recalled his role in playing the club's anthem 'You'll Never Walk Alone' before the crowd joined in for a rendition of John Lennon's 'Imagine'. He said: "I put on 'You'll Never Walk Alone' at the end and that was when the players lined up in the middle.
"That finished and I was thinking 'nobody's going home' and I had ran out of music. I turned round to a little emergency pile of CDs and the first thing I picked up was 'Imagine' by John Lennon. I put it on and the whole place took it up, it was crazy. For days after that I was getting emails from people all over the world."
As for the last time he got emotional at Anfield, the stadium announcer admitted that it is nearly two decades since he truly felt overawed in that respect. Recalling Liverpool's crucial win over Olympiacos en route to the 2005 Champions League triumph, he said: "It's very hard but I very, very rarely get emotional - it's so stressful nowadays keeping your eye on things going on.
"I'm probably more concerned about going through the rigmarole of what I'm supposed to do. The last time I got really emotional was in 2004-05 against Olympiacos. We were nearly out of the Champions League and Steven Gerrard scored that blinder. I went hysterical- and I don't do hysterical!"
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