Anfield was full a good hour before kick-off, a constant chorus of ‘Oh When The Reds’ reverberating around the ground. In those days, prior to the expansions of the Main Stand and Anfield Road Stand, the capacity for European ties was slightly more than 42,500.

Thousands more had packed the pubs in L4 and back in the city centre to watch the match.

“Even when we were warming up 40 minutes before the game, the crowd was as loud as it’s been for a long time,” recalled Reds defender Jamie Carragher afterwards. “Normally you can hear [stadium announcer] George Sephton playing his records, but he was drowned out by the singing. We knew then it was going to be a special night and it gave us a hell of a boost.”

Sephton himself, the ‘Voice of Anfield’, let us into a little secret two decades on: “I can’t remember the exact playlist from that night. But I do know I made it the loudest ever because I had control of the volume! The result was that the crowd were competing with the PA and the noise was incredible.”

Steve Hothersall will vouch for that. He was commentating for Radio City at the time and says his most vivid memory is “the noise from the Kop, so far ahead of kick-off. I turned to John Aldridge, who was co-commentating, and said, ‘This is different level’. We couldn’t hear ourselves properly in our headphones.

“The conversation all week had been about Liverpool on the verge of this unbelievable achievement, and me and Aldo were in our commentary position in the old Main Stand press box extra-early. It was obvious that it was going to be a night beyond all proportions.”

Liverpool lost the toss and were obliged to kick towards the Kop in the first half. Bad omen? Far from it. Within four minutes they were ahead.

Riise cut inside from the left flank and found Gerrard. The captain’s fabulous first-time flick with the outside of his boot put Milan Baros through and the striker was clattered by Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech.

As the crowd bayed for a penalty, the ball bounced loose and Luis Garcia nipped in to nudge it – via a slight deflection from John Terry – towards the open goal, where it was desperately hooked away by defender William Gallas.

Had it fully crossed the line? The introduction of VAR in the Champions League was still years away. Straight away, however, referee Michel made the call. A fortnight later he explained why.

“[My assistant] Roman beeped me to signal the [original] foul by Cech, but I didn’t know that until later,” he said. “It was the noise from the crowd that stopped me hearing it – I’ve never in my life been involved in such an atmosphere. I didn’t need the signal from Roman, though. I had already seen the foul and played advantage.

“There was no doubt in Roman’s mind about the goal and he was in the best position to see. I chose him to be part of our team and I trust him. He is a heart surgeon and mistaken decisions are not allowed in his job. There was no need to confer. He signalled the goal and sprinted back to the halfway line.”