A year ago, Andy Robertson mourned Liverpool’s Champions League defeat with a trip to Homebase to buy a barbecue.
Twelve months on, the Scotland star is dreaming of a rather different kind of Sunday.
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“Hopefully we’ve not got that nonsense again, eh?” Robertson laughs. “I’ve still got that barbecue actually, so there’ll be no need to go to Homebase this time.”
Robertson’s family party last summer was a subdued one – it was his father, Brian, who insisted he put his pain aside and go barbecue shopping – but the 25-year-old hopes to right the wrongs of Kiev this weekend, when the Reds take on Tottenham in Madrid.
“Obviously we’re hoping for much happier feelings,” he smiles. “Last year was a massive disappointment, there’s no hiding away from that. Hopefully we’re feeling better this time, but we know what hard work has to go in to achieve that.
“If we can do that, it’ll be a better party!”
Robertson admits he hasn’t allowed his mind to wonder what an open-top bus parade around Liverpool would be like – “I hadn’t considered it until you mentioned it!” he grins – but Jurgen Klopp’s side head into Saturday’s game as favourites, against a Spurs side that finished 26 points behind them in the Premier League this season.
“We have a job to do, and that’s to make these people happy and to bring them out onto the streets,” Robertson says. “The only way to do that is by winning it.
“We know how hard we will have to work and how good we will have to be. Spurs are a fantastic team who have the same dream as us. You don’t think about it [the victory parade]. Maybe we’ll think about it when we have the trophy with us on the flight back!”
Memories of Kiev, clearly, still linger. Robertson was probably Liverpool’s outstanding performer against Real Madrid a year ago, but that was little consolation as he watched Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and Co. lift that famous trophy.
He rejects the idea that Liverpool are ‘due’ success this time around, or that they in some way deserve silverware because of their remarkable league campaign.
“I’ve heard a few people say that, but for me we don’t deserve anything yet,” he says. “The Premier League shows that. A lot of people would say 97 points deserves the Premier League, but it didn’t because Manchester City got 98. They were that little bit better than us in the end.
“We deserve nothing, only what we put into the game and what we get out. If we have 100 per cent effort and have a good game, play to our best, then we’ll deserve it. But we aren’t going into the game thinking we deserve it because we’ve had a good season and got 97 points. Never. That’d be stupid of us.”
Robertson speaks with the kind of determination associated with Liverpool heroes of the past.
The club’s greats – the true greats – all got their hands on the European Cup. And so victory this weekend would make Jurgen Klopp’s side legends, right?
“Well we had that last season as well, remember, and we fell short,” the former Hull man warns. "We let other people think about that once we’ve won it, and if they want to put our name next to them then so be it.
“We just think we need to win trophies to be a successful team. Whether that’s on Saturday or next season or the season after, we won’t stop trying. This club, the size of it, and these fans, deserve trophies. We know how hard it is to produce, we’ve found that out this season, but hopefully we can get over that final step and get the first trophy for the squad and the manager.
“It’s massive for all of us. The manager wants a trophy of course, because that’s the only way he’ll say he’s been successful. But we want trophies as well. It’s for everybody. Liverpool is a family and we’ll try and win it for everyone.”
To do so, he says, they will need to display the kind of ruthless streak we have seen across the Premier League campaign. Liverpool’s history may be built on emotional, dramatic nights, but this team has a surgical streak. They know how to win, whichever way.
“We’ve been ruthless this season, and we need to be ruthless again,” Robertson adds. “But I’ve watched Tottenham over the last three or four years under [Mauricio] Pochettino and they’re a ruthless team as well.
“They beat us last season and if they perform like that then we’ll be in for a hell of a game.
“At the top end of the Premier League, you have to be ruthless. Even just to get in the top four is hard. If we can take that into our game, I believe we have enough to win it, but we have to prove it.
“We have to show the team that’s played the last 10 months of the season.”
If they can do that, the Robertson family barbecue should be that little bit livelier…
