Champions League: Liverpool's 'mentality monsters' upstage the odds to produce Anfield's finest European night
Jose Mourinho summed it up, really, while on punditry duty after the manic Champions League semifinal.
"This 'Remontada' has one name - Jurgen [Klopp}.
It really does. This was a comeback for the ages. This was Anfield for the ages. Even those fans - you'd have thought they had seen everything, that they had nothing left to rub their eyes in disbelief at. You'd have thought wrong.
Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool ensured just another night in that enviable catalogue that Anfield boasts of. It's about Liverpool FC, and its love story with the European Cup, the Champions League, whatever you want to call it. On the biggest stage of European club football, somehow, anyhow, Anfield gets it.
There won't be too many people in doubt of the power of Anfield, by now, you'd have thought. But once again, you'd have thought wrong. Before every European tie at Anfield, there is a juicy quote from someone associated with the opposition, about how the Anfield factor is negligible.
Anfield takes it personally. It is not negligible. If it were, all and sundry wouldn't be asked the question about Anfield. Klopp loves Anfield, and last night, he encapsulated his love for Liverpool's 'temple', with the simplest of replies.
He was asked if Liverpool would have been able to achieve this comeback of all comebacks in front of an empty stadium. The response was as emphatic as it was simple.
"NO. CHANCE."
To attribute all of Liverpool's humbling of Barcelona to the Anfield factor, though, would be doing a disservice to Jurgen Klopp and his bunch of "f***ing mentality giants".
Klopp's rallying cry was simple. It may not be possible, but because it was this Liverpool, his Liverpool, there was a chance. A scant chance. But, a chance.
Klopp has done this before. At Liverpool, at Borussia Dortmund. He's done this before. But he's never done it at the grandeur and magnitude of Tuesday night.
His front three was shattered. Roberto Firmino had aggravated a groin problem during his Nou Camp cameo last week. Mohamed Salah took a hefty chunk of Martin Dubravka's hip to his head on Saturday at Newcastle, and UEFA's concussion protocol meant he was sidelined.
But, the bespectacled German believed. He believed in the readiness of Xherdan Shaqiri and Divock Origi. The Swiss has barely featured for the Reds since January, while Origi has been on the fringes all season.
But, why wouldn't Klopp trust them? They had just combined three days ago, to give Liverpool a priceless winner in their chase of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League.
They would try to win. If they couldn't, they would go out in a beautiful way, Klopp insisted. But, from the first whistle, Liverpool feet were on accelerators, and they were headed straight for Barcelona's throats.
There's been a lot said about this team's ability to play football. When they get on that full-throttle, heavy-metal stuff, there are few sides in the world that can live with them, as many a side across Europe can testify by now.
But in Klopp's three-and-a-half year reign thus far, this side stands out for its mentality, the sheer will to go on, its persistence, its ability to never accept the writing on the wall.
There was writing on the wall at the end of the 90 minutes at the Camp Nou. Liverpool were staring down the barrel, and they knew that anything short of perfection at Anfield would see their Champions League run come to a halt.
Liverpool not only scribbled the writing off that wall, Liverpool absolutely motored past that wall. They started early, Sadio Mane up to his tricks in setting up Shaqiri, who mishit his shot, as he mishit many passes on the night.
Mane, in the absence of the other two musketeers, who he so easily gets on with, was untouchable. He dribbled majestically, he pressed like a monster and he crunched into tackles. He wanted this! Liverpool did, of course, but this was Mane's chance to grab this game by the scruff of the neck. He ended up with not a goal or an assist, but a contribution every bit as important as all the goals he's scored this season.
Divock Origi. Where do we start with him? He who scores only big goals, eh? He who turns up when all else fails for Klopp? Well, after last night, we'll just call him he who was a Barcelona-slayer. Everton know that feeling, Newcastle know that feeling, now Messi and Barcelona know that feeling.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, what is the boy doing? What level is he at already? What can he not achieve by the time he's done playing football? He's 20, just a reminder, not the beyond-his-years maturity he reflected on Tuesday night.
Fabinho, how was he still making those tackles, after being booked as early as the 11th minute? He made 12 recoveries of possession. His midfield buddy, Gini Wijnaldum?! He was "angry at the manager for putting him on the bench". He channeled that anger into whacking one under Marc-Andre ter Stegen, and stretching every sinew of his neck, to place that Shaqiri cross in the corner.
James Milner's tears, Jordan Henderson's Allez Allez Allez-singing joy, Ben Woodburn's sheer disbelief at what he had just seen, it was a culmination of something, the likes of which Anfield had never seen before.
When the players got together in front of the Kop and echoed You'll Never Walk Alone with them, it was the most beautiful culmination on a night when Liverpool was together.
The players on the pitch, the staff on the touchline, the 54-odd thousand in the stands. They were all together. They inspired each other.
Jurgen's Reds are on their way to Madrid for another final, and in getting there, they showed us their best facet - and no, it wasn't Gegenpressing.
Never give up, stay tenacious, fight like monsters. Stay true to what you believe in. Football will give back. Football gave back to Liverpool last night.
They stayed true to their ideals. Their opponents didn't. Maybe, that's why Barcelona are going to Barcelona.
Liverpool are going to Madrid. There's one more big fight to fight for Klopp's mentality monsters.