No matter how many years pass, Liverpool fans will always love to recall their famous 4-0 remontada against Barcelona back in 2019.
The night will always remain one of the greatest of the Jurgen Klopp era, as the Reds overturned an incredible deficit in the Champions League semi-final.
Everyone knows the story. With Barca having already crowned themselves as La Liga champions, they headed to Anfield with a 3-0 lead from Camp Nou in their back-pocket.
With former Liverpool players Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho in the team – as well as a certain Lionel Messi – it seemed a done deal that the Catalans would be heading to the final.
But despite missing both Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah, Liverpool roared back to complete mission impossible.
While the Reds’ version of events has been poured over time and again, we haven’t heard all that much from the Barcelona perspective. Interestingly, more than five years on, Jordi Alba has lifted the lid on what it was like to be on the receiving end of one of the greatest nights in Liverpool history.
Jordi Alba explains Liverpool tears
Of course this was an incredibly tough night for anyone associated with Barcelona. But it’s fair to say that Alba had an especially difficult time on Merseyside.
The left-back was at fault for the game’s opening goal, nodding the ball straight into the path of Sadio Mane in just the sixth minute. Divock Origi’s subsequent finish gave Anfield the platform to whip itself into a frenzy.
From there, footage at half-time spotted Alba sobbing in the dressing room as the Barca players looked shell-shocked. Looking back on why he couldn’t console himself, the former Spain international has now explained exactly why he was crying.
“It’s because I wasn’t feeling well,” he told the Offsiders podcast via Marca. “There was a phase in the first half when I didn’t feel well. I read that I was crying… It was because I felt bad.”
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“The result was unfortunate, my game wasn’t good, but these things happen,” Alba continued. “I always say that you have to try to give everything, sometimes things don’t work out.
“That was a terrifying night, for me it was worse than the 2-8 [against Bayern Munich in 2020]. I had a very bad time because the tie was on track, even there we had many chances, but it turned out like that. For me it was the hardest night.”
“I was bad, I’m not going to lie to you, but these are games that you don’t expect, that shock you. Apart from that, the first goal was a back pass that I gave with all the intention in the world but it didn’t work out well. These things have happened to me many times and they haven’t ended in a goal and nothing happened.
“The bad thing is that it happened to me that day. I never like to point the finger at one or two players, it’s everyone’s business, but that night I wasn’t good, I have no qualms about admitting it. It’s a bad night.”
Where is Jordi Alba playing now?
Clearly, Alba was not the only Barcelona player who had a bad time of it at Anfield. But having also failed to stop Trent Alexander-Arnold from setting up the second goal of that, he was worse than most.
Nevertheless, the now 35-year-old picked himself up and played on at Barca for four more seasons.
Ending with over 400 appearances for the Blaugrana and with an incredible list of titles to his name, Alba remains a legend of the club.
Having left in 2023, the defender followed former teammates Messi, Sergio Busquets and Suarez to Inter Miami, where he still plays today.
But no matter what he does in what is left of his career, it sounds like that night at Anfield will always stick in the craw for Jordi.
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