Fans make Liverpool feel at home even as Bayern spoil the Kallang party

It was as though National Day arrived a week early.

Throngs of bodies clad in red, a party-like atmosphere and plenty of song and dance.

Singapore will celebrate National Day in seven days but there was a celebration of football on Wednesday in Kallang as Bayern Munich beat Liverpool 4-3 in a pre-season friendly at the National Stadium.

Ultimately, while the majority of the 49,983 crowd that had come for Liverpool, returned home without seeing the Reds win, there was more than enough during the 90-minutes to make for an unforgettable night.

The goodies for the attendees inside the 55,000-capacity venue arrived in a bag full of goals as the teams shared seven goals between them and plenty of high-quality action.

Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel called it a “proper away game” referencing the support for the Reds inside the Stadium. 

He said : “We expected that (the atmosphere). Malaysia and Singapore have a lot of Liverpool fans and the intensity (of the match) didn’t surprise me.

“It was maybe a bit tougher for us because I think they started (pre-season) earlier and they will start their season earlier and for us it was the last day of a 10- day trip in Asia. So it was important to match the intensity and not to not be too shy and to stand up and accept the fight.”

His Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp, who admitted he hated losing, saw “a lot of good things and some things which I didn’t like” from his players.

But he was all smiles when talking about the fans, adding: “The atmosphere was great. The people created something really special. We felt it from the first second. (We felt) super welcome, that’s intense as well.

“People were waiting everywhere for us. But I will not miss opening a door and seeing everybody cheering. I will be really happy if I can open the door at home and nobody’s cheering.”

Last Sunday, Liverpool had played the first of their two matches here but there was a flat atmosphere as the Reds thumped Leicester City 4-0.

But it proved to be the dress rehearsal for Wednesday’s full parade.

This was only meant to be a friendly but the evening began with AC/DC’s Thunderstruck as the players marched out of the tunnel like gladiators prepared for battle. There was a crowd to put on a show for.

Unlike at the Padang next week, there was no national anthem here but there were still goosebumps-inducing singing as the crowd belted out You’ll Never Walk Alone with gusto just before kick-off.

The electrifying mood in the stands filtered down onto the pitch as Liverpool shifted into high gear from the get go.

A quick one-two from Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo saw the Dutch attacker ghost clear of the Bayern defence and slam home the opening goal in the second minute. 

Even as the football on the pitch mellowed down, the Kallang Roar got fans on their feet.

In the 28th minute, the fans leapt up again just like their new captain Virgil van Dijk, whose header extended Liverpool’s lead.

Serge Gnabry struck back for Bayern just five minutes later when he latched on to South Korean defender Kim Min-jae’s ball over the top and jinked past Joel Matip before beating Alisson Becker.

Gnabry turned provider three minutes before half-time as he teed up former Manchester City winger Leroy Sane to score the equaliser.

In the second half, there were more Liverpool-centric chants even as a corner of Bayern supporters tried to get their voices heard.

Allez, Allez, Allez – they sang in the stands and then Colombian winger Luis Diaz responded with a hit of his own in the 66th minute as he evaded a challenge from Josip Stanisic before unleashing a piledriver into the bottom corner of the net.

But Stanisic made amends in the 80th minute by tucking in the rebound after an initial save from Alisson in the box.

The final goal of the night arrived in stoppage time as Bayern’s youth product Frans Kraetzig produced a spectacular effort worthy of being a winning goal. For once, the Liverpool fans went quiet.

While the goals alone would have been enough to keep the fans entertained, the individual battles on the field proved to be a fascinating subplot.

In the first-half, it was Mohamed Salah’s battle with Bayern’s speed machine Alphonso Davies.

The second period saw Andy Robertson having to contend with the trickery and swiftness of Bayern’s French winger Kingsley Coman before Liverpool’s Scottish left-back was substituted on the hour mark.

This was Liverpool’s penultimate match of their pre-season, which will conclude with a match against Darmstadt 98 in England on Monday before their opening English Premier League match away to Chelsea on Aug 13.

Bayern’s campaign starts with a German Super Cup clash with RB Leipzig on Aug 12.

Wednesday’s encounter also brought an end to the week-long Festival of Football which began last Wednesday with Tottenham Hotspurs’ 5-1 win over local side Lion City Sailors in front of 25,095 fans.

Spurs, Liverpool, Bayern and Leicester have made it a week to remember, whether on or off the field, at public or private meet-and-greet events or open training sessions.

And even as Liverpool, who beat Crystal Palace 2-0 at the National Stadium in July 2022, have now made two consecutive pre-season trips here, Singaporeans can’t seem to get enough of their heroes.

After another year of being serenaded by the local Reds, Liverpool, as they head back to England on Wednesday night, can think of Singapore as a second home, truly.