Inside Liverpool’s Premier League title party: A 3am finish, cigars and a bike ride

It was shortly before 3am when the party finally ended inside Anfield’s Carlsberg Dugout.

The plush sports bar in the Main Stand was the setting for Liverpool players and staff to celebrate clinching the Premier League title on Sunday following their 5-1 demolition of Tottenham Hotspur.

With family and friends also in attendance, the dancefloor was packed for most of the evening, with a DJ taking requests. The Virgil van Dijk and Luis Diaz songs led to both players being serenaded by their jubilant team-mates, many of whom were wearing their special ‘Champions 24-25’ home shirt.

Sultans of Swing by British rock band Dire Straits, which has become the squad’s anthem of the season, went down a storm. It was Alisson’s contribution to the dressing-room Spotify list and has been first on after every cherished victory.

Arne Slot had vowed in his post-match press conference that he would enjoy “a glass of beer or two or three” and he was true to his word. Having become the first Dutch manager to win England’s top flight, he soaked up the occasion with his family.

It was all very informal, with no speeches. Liverpool principal owner John W. Henry and his wife Linda Pizzuti made an appearance at the party but said their goodbyes long before the early hours.

Liverpool actor James Nelson-Joyce was also there, along with former British super-middleweight boxing champion Paul Smith, who is a good friend of Kostas Tsimikas, and his younger brother Liam Smith, the former world light-middleweight champion.

Some of the players, including Van Dijk in his club tracksuit, took the opportunity to go back out on to the pitch to have photographs taken in front of a deserted Kop with their loved ones.

Ibrahima Konate walked up the first tier of the Main Stand before taking a seat and then spent a few minutes in quiet contemplation.

Ibrahima Konate sat in the Main Stand looking out over the pitch: “What a feeling to see it from up here.”#LFC pic.twitter.com/30GRSnwDa1

— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) April 27, 2025

“I don’t have words to describe what I felt. I just wanted to enjoy the moment on my own,” Konate said. “We won it with 60,000 fans and us on the pitch. I just wanted to feel something different and I am very happy now. I was close to crying. It’s crazy, unbelievable, and we have to really enjoy it now. I’m the first French player from Liverpool to lift it.”

A few hours earlier, it had been bedlam inside Anfield as the final whistle sparked an unforgettable outpouring of emotion as Liverpool won the title in front of their supporters for the first time in 35 years.

There was the classy gesture of Slot leading a chant of ‘Jurgen Klopp’, returning the compliment from nearly a year ago when his predecessor helped ensure it was the smoothest of handovers.

“I did it because of what he did before I even arrived here,” Slot explained. “I think that is something not one manager ever did before. That definitely helped me. But he helped me even more by the team he left behind and the culture he left behind.”

A video went viral of Darwin Nunez trying to drench Mohamed Salah with what appeared to be a bottle of champagne. However, it was actually alcohol-free Nozeco in all the large bottles used for the celebrations out of respect for Liverpool’s Muslim players. On his return to the home dressing room, Nunez posted a picture of himself with a large cigar.

Salah had celebrated scoring Liverpool’s fourth goal by taking an iconic selfie as he stood on the pitch with the triumphant Kop behind him.

Initially, it looked like the Egyptian had borrowed the mobile phone from a fan at the front of the stand, but it was in fact given to him by one of Liverpool’s club photographers, who Salah had spotted.

Liverpool have a lucrative commercial partnership with Google Pixel and Van Dijk did something similar after Nunez’s late winner away at Nottingham Forest in March 2024. The players do not have to get involved but they know where the phone is if they want it.

“Since the beginning of the season, I’ve always taken a selfie with the players (who scored) so for this one I said: ‘OK, I have to think of something special’ because this picture is going to be there forever,” Salah told Opus Sport. “So I worked my mind a little bit around that idea and it was fine.”

What was certainly impromptu was the wholesome sight of Andy Robertson and Alisson inviting the ball boys from the club’s academy, who were grouped together just off the pitch, to embrace their heroes in a joyous huddle.

And then there was midfielder Curtis Jones giving young supporter Harry Whitehurst a memory he will cherish forever, as he lifted him from the Kop and brought him on to the field so he could be part of the celebrations.

Earlier this season, the LFCTV cameras had captured some touching footage of Jones making a surprise visit to meet Whitehurst, who suffers from the rare genetic condition Williams syndrome, while he was volunteering at Homebaked cafe close to the stadium.

Amid all the dancing and the singing, there was the sight of former Manchester United goalkeeper turned TV pundit Peter Schmeichel on the touchline putting club allegiances aside to congratulate Alisson on his outstanding contribution to Liverpool’s 20th title, and time for the entire playing squad and coaching staff to pose in front of the Kop for a group photo — a recognition that this had been a truly team effort.

1. Curtis Jones, 2. Mohamed Salah, 3. Alexis Mac Allister, 4. Dominik Szoboszlai, 5. Arne Slot, 6. John Heitinga (assistant coach), 7. Harvey Davies, 8. Conor Bradley, 9. Harvey Elliott, 10. Luis Diaz, 11. Ryan Gravenberch, 12. Darwin Nunez, 13. Kostas Tsimikas, 14. Sipke Hulshoff (assistant), 15. Vitezslav Jaros, 16. Trey Nyoni, 17. Caoimhin Kelleher, 18. Andy Robertson, 19. Diogo Jota, 20. Wataru Endo, 21. Federico Chiesa, 22. Conall Murtagh (head of physical performance), 23. Fabian Otte (head of first team goalkeeper coaching), 24. Jonathan Power (director of medicine and performance), 25. Aaron Briggs (first team individual development coach), 26. Ruben Peeters (lead physical performance coach), 27. Clare Farrell (lead performance nutritionist), 28. Brendan McIlduff (kit co-ordinator), 29. Tyler Morton, 30. Jarell Quansah, 31. James McConnell, 32. Trent Alexander-Arnold, 33. Joe Gomez, 34. Alisson, 35. Virgil van Dijk, 36. Ibrahima Konate, 37. Chris Morgan (head of performance physical therapy), 38. Cody Gakpo, 39. Phil Holliday (director of first team operations & travel), 40. Louise Dobson (head of first team operations), 41. Roderick van der Ham (first team tactical analyst), 42. Michelle Hudson (masseur), 43. Max Thompson (doctor), 44. Jansen Moreno (opposition analyst), 45. Lee Nobes (head of rehab physiotherapy), 46. Lee Radcliffe (kit operations manager), 47. Paul Small (masseur)

With thousands of fans who hadn’t attended the game converging on Anfield, fireworks and red flares lit up the sky outside the ground late into Sunday night.

Nearly three hours after the final whistle, Walton Breck Road, which runs behind the Kop, was still closed to traffic due to the sheer volume of people with many clambering up railings, lamp posts or onto nearby roofs to gain the best possible vantage point as the beer flowed.

As the clean-up operation got underway early on Monday morning, Liverpool wasted no time in getting both the Champions Wall outside Anfield and the Walk of Champions inside the ground updated to reflect sealing their 20th top-flight title.

“Super grateful for the past,” Klopp posted on Instagram with an image of Liverpool’s players and staff standing together in front of the Kop during You’ll Never Walk Alone on Sunday. “Super, super happy about the present, extremely positive about the future! Congratulations — YNWA. Thank you Luv.”

Klopp will be back on Merseyside next month when he’s the guest speaker at the LFC Foundation gala dinner and he’s been invited to attend the final game against Crystal Palace on May 25 when the trophy presentation will take place.

Everyone based at the club’s Kirkby training base has been given two days off to get over Sunday’s exploits with Slot’s squad due to reconvene on Wednesday.

Diogo Jota was spotted cycling along the coast in the town of Crosby, north of the city, on Monday while proudly wearing his ‘Champions 24-25’ home shirt.

A guard of honour awaits Liverpool at Stamford Bridge next weekend. And the celebrations will keep on coming.

(Top photos: Instagram/darwin_n9; Getty Images)

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