BOTTLED on the team bus, deafened by heavy-metal crowd noise and hunted into submission out on the turf.
Pep Guardiolas Manchester City, whod been making an outstanding case to be regarded as one of Englands greatest ever club teams, were intimidated and ultimately humiliated by a brilliant Liverpool last night.
Anfield is Citys very own version of Hell. They have not won at Liverpools home in a decade of filthy-rich Abu Dhabi ownership and this their sixth straight defeat at the place, following a 4-3 Premier League loss in January.
After their coach had been attacked by bottle-throwing thugs en route to the stadium, City looked thoroughly unsettled almost from the first whistle.
Other teams simply arent capable of doing this to City but Jurgen Klopp has their number.
It is all about in-your-face pressing, snapping at heels, breaking at pace and finishing with certainty.
Liverpool played with fearsome tenacity, utter conviction and no little quality.
This was a masterful example of how to defeat a technically superior team as City were muzzled, neutered and owned.
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It was Klopps seventh victory over Guardiola, a record unsurpassed among managers worldwide.
Mo Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sadio Mane swept Liverpool into a three-goal lead after just one-sixth of this Champions League quarter-final tie.
Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola react after an amazing first leg Champions League tie at AnfieldTuesdays second leg at the Etihad is no dead rubber. City defeated Liverpool 5-0 there in the league this season although that was helped by a Mane red card.
But after this battering, even securing the Premier League title record time against their bitterest rivals Manchester United would come with a bitter taste in the mouth on Saturday teatime.
RED WALL Man City coach smashed as Liverpool fans launch bottles and missiles as it arrives at Anfield
Liverpool can dream big now; dream of an eighth European final, perhaps even a sixth triumph.
The rest of the last four is likely to be made up of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich but in 2005 the Reds won the competition with a weaker team than this one.
Both managers had been talking up their insatiable appetite for attack but the idea of non-stop erotic cabaret football only goes so far, even for the godfather Guardiola.
Hence Raheem Sterling was sacrificed for an extra central midfielder in Ilkay Gundogan.
The plan had been to offer extra protection to the back four. Some hope of that.
After a window and door of the team bus had been smashed, rendering the vehicle un-roadworthy for the journey back, it was up to City to quiet down the locals inside the stadium.
Yet despite Leroy Sanes slalom run winning the visitors an early corner, it was Liverpool who seized the momentum after just 12 minutes.
Sane lost possession and Trent Alexander-Arnold raked a long pass forward to Salah, who was questionably judged onside.
The Egyptian fed Firmino, who skinned Nicolas Otamendi and had his shot saved but Kyle Walker was unable to clear and Firmino nipped in and cut back for Salah to thump home.
It was a perfect start for Klopps men, the place rocking and Citys champions-elect suddenly haunted by their grim memories of the place.
Sane might have equalised almost immediately but dragged his shot wide to spoil a dangerous break.
And City were soon ruing that profligacy when Gundogan was caught dithering close to his own box and was robbed by a wrecking-ball tackle from James Milner.
Manchester City team coach window shattered as it arrives at Anfield ahead of the Champions League tie with LiverpoolWhen the ball fell to Oxlade-Chamberlain, the Englishman took aim and exploded it into the corner of the net from 20 yards sparking bedlam around Anfield.
On the half-hour, we were approaching the realms of insanity when Salah sent over a delicious chipped curling centre, inviting Mane to head home from close range.
City had simply been caught cold, finding themselves over-run by a team with superior hunger and bite.
Guardiola waited until seven minutes into the second half before he acknowledged his own selection error and replace Gundogan with Sterling.
Salah had just limped off with a groin injury and City were stemming the tide, starting to get a grip on midfield and able to get behind Liverpools defence.
Had City played the first half as they played the second, theyd have been happy enough controlling possession yet failing to produce too much in the way of clear-cut chances.
Yet when you are 3-0 down, theres little point in that.
Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva, largely anonymous in the first half, were showing a little of their craft and guile.
But after the wondrous fury of the opening half-hour, Klopps men were solid and diligent in their defending - even though a yellow card for Jordan Henderson earned the Reds skipper a ban from the return leg.
The damage had been done, though, on and off the field.
City arent quite out just yet but they have been shaken to within an inch of their Champions League lives.