Had a good debate with a few lads from work not so long ago about us reds standing in Europe (as in where do you currently place us in the mixture of club football in Europe).
A lot of them automatically place us in the elite standing. Just because of the amount of European Cups we have. European royalty - you can't argue with that.
But in terms of football and how good we currently are at it, where do we stand?
I think we could probably get a one off result against a Champions League regular but really struggle to achieve a run of successful results in any European competition at this present moment in time.
I think Thursday's game was a good indicator of how far we have fallen. And I think that rot started in the latter stages of the Benitez era.
Where do you stand on Europe?
Great debate, one I've had a couple times over the last few years with some mates.
Our standing is certainly one that only demands respect based on our historical record in Europe, as certainly right now we're nothing in the pecking order. Unfortunately in this day and age (i.e. social media, instant highlights etc) we've had nothing much of an impact whatsoever. Legend in this modern age is built largely on how much of a social impact a moment has across media platforms, and Liverpool have had minimal success in this time. Kids haven't been inundated with vine/gif/video of Liverpool moment after Liverpool moment in Europe like they have the Messi moments, the Bayern moments, etc etc. Thought we were headed that way after 13/14 but then we lost Suarez and then BR lost his mojo (surely just a coincidence.......).
Imagine if Istanbul had happened now, with everyone going nuts about games that are half as epic as that night on Twitter and the like. And beyond that, just the sheer number of people the sport reaches now is so much more than even ten years ago. The Champions League is huge in international audiences now. Having gone to college in the US, a lot of the mates I had there that got into footy in that time started via Champions League (two Liverpool fans thanks to me as well
). As far as the US is concerned, footy is 100% more popular in the masses than it was ten years ago. If Liverpool had that run from 04/05-08/09 of consistent top Champions League team now, we would be etched into minds world wide like people see Barca, Bayern etc. But the mire we have been in the last five years has really hurt us, as the new generation of fans that just watch footy through social media and don't seek historical context know us only as a team that "was apparently good once so someone who is old tells me"
A long winded way of saying we don't have an significant standing in my mind as far as getting talked about currently. However, our records speak for themselves. They're not going anywhere. Once we get back to that level, people will know. That standing won't take long to jump up because we have the platform. Had an Arsenal fan try to raz me once with the whole "we make Champions League every year" sh*t and I just simply said "Well we only needed a couple years to win it" and shut him right up. Though obviously I'd like to be in it every year AND win it, we still have those records that simply can't be argued. We'll get back there.
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