Liverpool were eight days away from lifting the League Cup in front of full stands

Peter Moore, former Liverpool general manager, has revealed that the Reds were close to being able to lift the League Cup in front of full stands.

I got a call from the Premier League

When England locked down the country, rather belatedly, on 23 March 2020, football had already bypassed Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Liverpool hosted Atletico Madrid at Anfield on March 11, the same day Norway went into lockdown. In England, it was business as usual until Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta, Manchester City's Benjamin Mendy, and Chelsea's Callum Hudson-Odoi tested positive for the coronavirus on March 12 and 13. Then the FA decided to suspend football, and ten days later the rest of the country followed suit.

At the time, Liverpool were clearly in first place in the table. They were 25 points clear of Manchester City in second place, and when football finally started again two months later, it did not take many games before Liverpool were crowned league champions for the first time in 30 years.

However, there was a slight damper in the air, when Jordan Henderson was finally able to lift the trophy, the stadium was almost empty.

This Is Anfield interviewed Peter Moore, who said he received a phone call from Premier League chairman Richard Masters shortly before the country went into lockdown. Masters reportedly said he was concerned about the development, and wondered if Liverpool had beaten Crystal Palace and Everton – if they would have claimed the Premier League trophy as early as March.

– He was worried that we wouldn't be able to play for much longer after that, and it wasn't certain that we would get that far all at once, but if we did, it would be great to be able to present the trophy at Anfield. Naturally I said yes.

-We never got there, but that was the plan.

The two matches against Everton and Crystal Palace were supposed to be held on March 16 and 21, but they were held three months later.

I was going to watch the match from the buses outside

The trophy was lifted after the Chelsea match on 23 July, with only a small number of journalists and players' families in attendance. But there was little that was straightforward during Corona times, not even work around this celebration.

– At some point, the plan was for families to sit outside, on buses, and watch the game there and then celebrate together later, Moore says.

– At four o'clock that day, we were granted security clearance which meant that families had to be out of sight, but they could be inside the stadium to watch the match and they could celebrate with the players and support staff afterwards.

-It was a really hard day. At one point I was on my way to Formby to tell Jurgen it wasn't going to happen. But in the end, it was a great evening.

-One of my favorite photos, which I will take with me in the casket, is of me, Kenny and Roshi stealing a glass of champagne for us after Kenny handed the glass over.

Inside the stadium, captain Jordan Henderson was able to receive the trophy from legend Kenny Dalglish and raise it above his head. The country was in lockdown, but fans couldn't stay away, and thousands gathered outside the stadium and celebrated on a summer's night.