As everybody around us continued to bemoan our negativity and lack of ambitious forward play Liverpool were efficiently dealing with the task of keeping Barcelona at bay for a second successive year.
No doubt Arsenal fans and indeed Arsene Wenger himself will be baffled by our ability to go abroad and not get humiliated time after time; these are the same type of people who level the criticisms of Liverpool being an unimaginative, defensive team.
But what will baffle Gerard Houllier and Phil Thompson is the fact that while keeping that clean sheet we didn't manage to net at least once. Keeping Rivaldo, Kluivert and the magnificent Argentinean Saviola out, is a tough enough task in itself, but a Liverpool side who had a real go at the Catalan giants had plenty of chances to win the game themselves - all without Michael Owen and Nicolas Anelka - and can consider themselves unlucky not to come away with the three points that would have made them odds on to qualify for the quarter finals.
Writing a match report after a gap of three days is always a tough task, especially when the days in between have been so eventful, but you'll hear more about them and the rest of our trip to Madrid/Barca in #27 of 'The Liverpool Way' which should be out for the Charlton game in a couple of weeks.
Walking up the endless flights of steps and into the Nou Camp arena was one of the most breathtaking experiences of my life, due to be being somewhat inebriated on our last trip, I'd forgotten how unbelievable the most famous football auditorium in Europe looked from the very top, an image which will stay with me forever.
We found some seats and the singing was well underway around three of the four top corners as once again the shithouses refused to put all Liverpool fans together as their fair weather white hanky waving fans would have been humiliated by a meagre 3,000 Reds' fans.
"Allez Allez, Gerard Houllier" - as it seems to be on so many away European nights - was the song of the night and reverberated around the stadium. Unfortunately some guy on the Ramblas earlier in the day had¤ "Ole Ole Gerard Houllier" printed on the back of his shirt, some would say "poor fella" but for me the word æMuppetī springs to mind.
The Reds enjoyed a great start to the game and somewhat surprised Barcelona and especially Dutch bigmouth Frank De Boer who had provoked us with his totally unnecessary comments before the game. As early as the third minute Steven Gerrard should have opened the scoring as Riise's free kick found him totally unmarked but he mis-hit his shot wide.
5 minutes later a magnificent move found Heskey who - stretching - could only hit his shot straight at Bonano. At this moment it looked positive for Liverpool and it seemed that it was only a matter of time before the lead was ours. It took another great Liverpool chance to give Barca a kick up the arse as Gerrard again headed wide when he really should have scored, another 5 inches to the left and he would have done. Stevie was left holding his head as were the Liverpool fans seemingly 200ft above pitch level.
The ball was beginning to have the time of its life being sweetly knocked around by a shocked Barcelona outfit and the chance of the game soon fell to Luis Enrique, who somehow failed to make sufficient contact with little Saviola's genial cross. An escape for the Reds to say the least.
Next came a massive blow for Liverpool as Didi Hamann is booked. Our most important European player will now miss our most important European game for 17 years since the ill fated final against Juve in 85. I really can't wait until Tuesday night, I have a feeling it's going to be one for the scrapbook.
Half time and the plan is working to a tee, all that is missing was the goal that our imagination and "Style" (Quoted from a Daily Mail headline, no I can't believe it either!) deserved. If we fail to win on Tuesday night and thus exit the competition we will only need to look to the endless scoring chances we have squandered throughout the second group phase. A little more luck and composure in front of goal would have seen us through to the quarter-finals even before this game.
The second half would prove to be a struggle as our passing seemed to disintegrate a little and the midfield were guilty of giving the ball away on numerous occasions. An early injury to Emile Heskey which would hamper the striker until he was eventually taken off on 73 minutes meant Liverpool's attacking thread was largely nullified.
The funniest moment of the night had to be when the Barca fans became annoyed at a refereeing decision which failed to go their way and suddenly 75,000 white hankies were on show and waving frantically, a quality moment and a sign that the men on the pitch in the same colour as those snot-rags were doing all but surrendering.
First half bookings to the midfield trio of Gerrard, Hamann and Murphy meant that Liverpool's bite which had seen them gain the advantage in the opening period was rescinded and with the blatantly referee looking to send someone off, it was a real tightrope for Thommo's men.
Barca were beginning to dominate proceedings and remember that shot from Rivaldo at Anfield in last year's semi-final that Sander pushed over the bar? Well the Brazilian - I was once again able to drool over a Brazilian the following night but that story can wait for another time! - did it again. With minimum back lift the former European player of the year struck a viscious shot from 40 yards which just cleared the bar. The shithouse Barca fans then took it upon themselves to hurl countless missiles at Jerzy, who coolly collected the ball and took his time over the kick without batting an eyelid.
The hankies were out once again as fans' hero Saviola was substituted for Giovane who I understand is certainly not considered a hero among the Catalonians. A decision which came as a relief to Liverpool fans dotted around the stadium as Saviola had come close to scoring as a glorious piece of skill let him in with only Dudek to beat, but he uncharacteristically screwed his shot well wide.
Jari Litmanen was surprisingly withdrawn before a hobbling Heskey in favour of Vladi. And eventually Heskey was replaced by Milan Baros - making his Liverpool debut - but not before a brave Heskey gave his all to run into a goalscoring position only to see his shot saved well by Bonano.
Baros took a little time to find his feet, but also could have scored with nearly the last kick of the game as he circled the edge of the penalty area looking for space to shoot; he looked at one stage to have found that space but chose to delay his shot and earned the Reds a corner.
The corner was the last action of a pulsating 90 minutes and in a sign of just how far we have progressed in the last couple of years, there seemed to be an air of disappointment among the travelling Reds that we couldn't bring home the three points.
With a great team performance like that it's difficult to single out individuals but Sami and Steph repeated last years display and for me it was Steven Gerrard on his return whose performance stood out the most. Especially in the first half, Stevie totally ran the game and it was only as he began to tire and was eventually brought off that Liverpool's hold on the game began to fade.
A 20 minute + chorus of "Allez, Allez" - or "Ole Ole" if you happen to be brain-dead -accompanied the playersˇ warm down and our exit from the Nou Camp, which also included a rather funny rendition of "Happy Birthday Real Madrid"
The news filtering through that Roma-Galatasary had ended in a draw meant that our hopes of qualifying had been given a massive boost. Roll on Tuesday for one of those Anfield occasions that they invented the word "folklore" for.
I couldn't help thinking as I took a final look at the Nou Camp that it wouldn't be long before we returned. It's turning into a real rivalry between us and Barca at the moment and it's obvious they donˇt like us. Kluivert has said lots of nice things about us, but that only seems to be because he is trying to angle himself a move to Anfield, but De Boer has been all but complimentary. I don't hate Barcelona, I don't wish to either, but this rivalry is really starting to get interesting. A trip to Barcelona for a third successive year isn't half an interesting proposition.
TEAM: Jerzy Dudek; Abel Xavier, Stephane Henchoz, Sami Hyypia, Jamie Carragher; Danny Murphy, Steven Gerrard, Didi Hamann, John Arne Riise; Jari Litmanen (Vladimir Smicer), Emile Heskey (Milan Baros):
