Liverpool supporters have started a petition demanding a statue of Geronimo Rulli be erected outside Anfield after his Champions League heroics kept their hopes of winning an unprecedented quadruple alive.
Villarreal goalkeeper Rulli inspired a second-half Liverpool fightback after a first-half scare in which the Spanish side overturned a 2-0 first-leg deficit.
The Argentine almost singlehandedly dragged Liverpool to the showpiece final in the Stade de France with a hat trick of howlers.
Rulli’s performance in El Madrigal has been described as the greatest individual Champions League display since Roy Keane inspired a Manchester United fightback against Juventus in 1999.
Now Liverpool fans are lobbying Anfield officials to have a statue of Rulli built outside their stadium to commemorate the 29-year-old’s finest hour for the club.
Former Red and 2005 Champion’s League winner, Djimi Traoré, has backed the move.
‘What Rulli did for Liverpool last night eclipsed what Stevie did for us in Istanbul’, the 42-year-old told Paddy Power News.
‘Years from now, Liverpool fans will ask each other, where were you when Rulli was nutmegged by Fabinho at his near post?’
Traoré has also called for ‘The Kop’ stand at Anfield to be renamed ‘The Geronimo End’.
‘I can see it now. 13,000 Reds belting out ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and unfurling a huge banner with Rulli’s face on it’, said the former Malian international.
NEW TO PADDY POWER NEWS?
WELL, HOW DOES £/€20 AFTER SIGNING UP SOUND?
Meanwhile, Loris Karius, hero of Real Madrid’s 2018 Champions League final victory over Liverpool waxed lyrical about his Spanish counterpart’s match-winning display.
‘Never mind Grobbelaar in ’84 or Dudek in ’05, Rulli ’22 trumps them all’, said the German while buttering the palms of his goalie gloves.
‘I wouldn’t be surprised to see him awarded the 2022 Bellend d’Or after that performance last night’.
In related news, all the other clubs in world football have set up a petition to stop Liverpool fans setting up petitions.
*Paddy Power News football coverage is 100% fake news – honest*
READ MORE
- Ronaldo confirms he’s ‘not Finnish’ with message to TV camera
- Revealed: Elon Musk’s plan to ban post-match apologies from Twitter
- Peter Crouch: ‘When a manager talks about fixture congestion, it can put an excuse in your head’
- Exclusive: Liverpool fan has witty Erik ‘Tenth’ Hag saved in Twitter drafts
- Mindfulness centre helps Man United fans adapt to their team being s***e
- Jamie Redknapp investigates the murky world of football NFTs