The Arsenal-Liverpool game from the other day was exciting. More exciting than Chipotle’s secret menu even (yes it’s a thing — supposedly there’s something called a Burritodilla). It had goals, crunching tackles, endless drama, and that classic England atmosphere of perpetual rain. But even better than the show on the field was Jurgen Klopp’s celebration off it.
Arsenal had taken a 3-2 lead and were comfortably dealing with everything Liverpool was throwing — or kicking — at them. Nacho Monreal was sublime at left back against young Jordon Ibe. Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny were a dominant anchoring force at the center of defense. And the midfield was working tirelessly in front of them.
It had come to the point in the game where Liverpool were left with one option: lump long balls into the box. Which is typically not super successful. But it worked.
Christian Benteke got on the end of a long ball and redirected it toward the penalty spot into the stride of a streaking Joe Allen (the guy literally came out of nowhere looking like he’d just spent considerable amounts of time with Andrea Pirlo’s personal stylist), who volleyed it passed a diving Petr Cech. Heart break for Arsenal, warm and fuzzy feelings for Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp.
It was as if he’d just won the Powerball. Never mind the guy in Chino Hills, he was blind with joy. The jump. The fist pump. The subsequent fist pumps. The pounding of the chest. That’s raw emotion in its purest form — the kind you only see in two very specific life situations:
1. Your team has just tied the Premier League leaders in the dying minutes of the game thanks to a pair of fantastic substitutions.
2. You just discovered Chipotle had something called the Burritodilla.
Either way, it just might have been the perfect celebration. Or at the very least a proper reenactment of Mel Gibson’s role in the movie Braveheart.
