Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid proves football can still be the most important of the least important things

The coronavirus pandemic is dominating headlines but for 90 minutes plus 30 minutes more this Champions League tie provided something of a relief

General view of a Liverpool fan wearing a face mask (Action Images via Reuters)

For 121 minutes on Wednesday night, the words ‘what is happening?’ wasn’t related to the outbreak of Covid-19.

Georginio Wijnaldum scored a crucial Champions League goal, but it proved irrelevant for Liverpool. Atletico Madrid’s defensive monsters were breached twice, but it did not matter.

Diego Simeone and half the Atleti bench scooted off and onto the pitch at the end of regular time, not spotting the flag that ruled out Saul Niguez’s goal, but it made no difference.

They sprinted around the Anfield turf eventually after a Marcos Llorente double negated Roberto Firmino’s strike in the firs-half of the extra period and secured their passage to the quarter-finals.

The champions of Europe were finished off, despite having 34 shots here with 11 on target. The contrast between Jan Oblak and Adrian, filling in for the injured Alisson, couldn’t have been greater during an engrossing match that provided welcome tonic for more significant topics.

This looked like any other continental fixture at Anfield; red-and-white flags floating in the Kop reminding the audience of Liverpool’s storied past with the European Cup.

This sounded like any other continental fixture at Anfield too; thunderous, proud, defiant.

But this wasn’t just like any other continental fixture at Anfield given the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic and questions over how Atletico fans could be allowed to travel to Merseyside for this fixture, yet aren’t allowed to watch their team back home. Matches in the top two divisions in Spain are being played behind closed doors for the the next two weeks at least, which nurseries, schools and universities shut until 23 March.

The country has reported 1,646 cases of the virus, 782 stemming from Madrid with 35 deaths thus far. The escalation in the central capital, where all public events involving more than 1,000 people have also been banned, is obviously concerning and so all the enquiries around this encounter were legitimate.

These are strange times, and yet strangely, football offers a dose of normalcy from shelves emptied of toilet paper, pasta and such, social distancing, as well as the uncertainty around just about everything.

That is not to say that the game should carry on unchecked as it has thus far in the UK, but for the forced postponement of Manchester City’s hosting of Arsenal.

Wednesday’s clash did give extra credence to Pep Guardiola’s sentiment that “if the people can't come, there is no sense.” Atleti’s support were ceaseless in song and scarf swirling here, while those of a home persuasion on the terraces revelled in being the anthem as Liverpool attempted to stage another comeback.

Jurgen Klopp wondered whether fulfilling a schedule without crowds was logical, explaining “the problem with football games is if you are not in the stadiums, then you go watch it closely together in rooms and I'm not sure which is better in this case.”

There is also the matter of fans turning up regardless, as was the case with Valencia’s faithful outside the Mestalla against Atalanta and the PSG ultras with smoke bombs and the sort lining Parc des Princes.

What about public transport too? And shopping centres? Workplaces?

There seems to be endless questions, but it was something of a relief to park that in the background for just over two hours here. Football can still be the most important of the least important things.