Thanks a million!

Last updated at 12:14 27 May 2005

Liverpool's conquering heroes brought the European Cup back for keeps last night in an emotional return to the city.

The main routes into the city were gridlocked as an estimated one million plus fans brought Liverpool to a standstill.

Delirious fans in red shirts frequently brought the team bus to a halt on the route as champagne cascaded down from its open top.

The five-time winners now get to keep this trophy for good, having shattered AC Milan in a penalty shoot-out in Istanbul 24 hours earlier.

The players had partied long into Wednesday night at their Crown Plaza Hotel, and then were heading home on the four-hour flight back to Merseyside.

There they were met by fans who had waited 21 years to see the trophy return to the city, and the party continued long into the night.

'Great pleasure'

Manager Rafael Benitez joined his players at the front of the bus, brandishing the trophy, and said: "Seeing these smiling faces is the greatest pleasure.

"They have been magnificent all season, they have been our 12th man and behaved perfectly in Istanbul.

"I have always said our fans are the best in England. Now I know they are the best in Europe too."

Fans travelled to Turkey for the match and returned without one single arrest, to the relief of the Liverpool authorities.

The loudest cheers were for local players Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard as the cavalcade crawled along Queens Drive towards Anfield carrying the new kings of Europe - the bus adorned by a banner now with five European Cup trophies on it.

Gerrard said: "These fans have inspired us, so it is great to bring the cup back for them. They were fantastic in Turkey, and they really lifted us to victory after that first half when we were 3-0 down."

Guests on the plane trip home were allowed to each hold the trophy and have their photos taken as it was passed down the plane.

Gerrard had slept with the trophy in his bed at the team hotel the night before, and he has barely allowed it out of his sight ever since.

He added: "I said we would bring the cup back for these fans, and now we have done it."

20 year wait

It is two decades since Liverpool has witnessed such scenes, and the five-mile trip from the end of the M62 to St George's Hall in the city centre took more than two hours.

More than 100,000 fans were on the streets after the match the night before in wild celebrations, but it was nothing compared to these amazing scenes.

Fans danced on the top of petrol station roofs, they hung from lampposts and clung precariously to the rooftops of houses on the route.

Liverpool has been a city in footballing denial, a club in slow decline from the days that they once ruled Europe.

But not anymore if these scenes are anything to go by. Their astonishing fans turned out in vast numbers because they believe Rafa Benitez has brought the birth of a new golden era - and a vast banner proclaiming: "Viva Benitez" said everything about how people had taken the Spaniard to their hearts.

The parade was halted constantly by sheer weight of numbers, and there were even some Everton shirts to be seen, with one banner in blue saying: "EFC congratulates LFC for their triumph".

Chairman David Moores said after the Turkish triumph: "Where else could you see fans like this? There must have been 40,000 in the stadium."

Well, by the time he had returned to Merseyside, a whole lot more were in the streets of Liverpool as delighted and grateful fans stood in almost disbelief welcoming their heroes home.

And by the time the team bus reached Anfield, they were halted again by many thousands of fans, the coach inching its way through the masses aided by dozens of police horses and eventually stopping in front of the Kop.

The scenes continued as the parade slowly crawled down to the city centre, where many thousands more waited in St George's Square.