SINGAPORE – 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 its 58th birthday on Aug 9 but there was a celebration of football on Wednesday as Bayern Munich beat Liverpool 4-3 in a pre-season friendly at the National Stadium.
While the majority of the 49,983 crowd that had come for Liverpool went home without seeing a Reds win, there was more than enough to make for an unforgettable night.
The goodies for the attendees inside the Kallang venue arrived in a bag full of goals as the teams shared seven strikes 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 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.”
