2 hours ago
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Liverpool's team news had just been confirmed when suddenly sirens began to sound inside Anfield.
Was this a drill or something more serious? In a summer of devastating news at Liverpool, it's easy to jump to conclusions. Thankfully, it proved to be a false alarm, but staff initially weren't sure as a voice boomed over the public address system telling everyone to exit the ground.
Journalists and staff located in the Main Staff shuffled out and congregated outside, while supporters situated just over an hour before kick-off were forced to do the same. Staff soon were demonstrating a slightly greater sense of urgency, presumably, without being sure what was actually going on.
Thankfully, this was a sunny - although very blustery - afternoon on Merseyside, so waiting around outside didn't prove to be be a huge problem. Had it been a mid-winter day this could have been a different story.
In the meantime, team news began to filer through ahead of the second game. Arne Slot confirmed Virgil van Dijk was ill and Conor Bradley has suffered a minor knock. None of the reporters in the ground were able to type the news on their laptops, so social media updates had to do.
Then news came through via Liverpool FC Help on X: this was merely a technical error.
"Shortly before 15:50pm there was a false alarm in the Anfield Main Stand, leading to supporters in that area of the stadium to be temporarily evacuated," the club explained in a post.
"Fans are now being let back into the Main Stand and there is no expected delay to KO. Thank you for everyone's co-operation."
It didn't immediately lead to those milling about outside be readmitted entrance. In fact, it was another 30 minutes until security staff were allowed to let fans enter once again.
Outside the media entrance, an exception was made for club staff, who with a flash of a pass were crossing the threshold.
In the end, it wasn't until 15 minutes before kick-off that doors fully opened.
Understandably, that many people entering a ground isn't a quick process and at certain areas of the ground it took a an age.
In the press box, one reporter missed the first goal by the time he took his seat.
Most importantly, it was an episode that passed without any major incident. Within minutes fans were signing the name of the late Diogo Jota, which put the minor inconvenience into perspective.
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