Former Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar is taking some of the credit for the extraordinary season that the Reds are enjoying – because he peed on the goalposts at Anfield!
Jurgen Klopp’s side have established a 10-point gulf between themselves and second-placed Leicester City in the Premier League standings thanks to a 2-0 over Watford on Saturday, which was sealed by two Mohamed Salah goals.
And with the crown apparently all wrapped up midway through December, the eccentric Grobbelaar, who was famous for his ‘spaghetti legs’ routine in the 1984 European Cup final penalty shootout, has come up with a very unusual explanation for their success.
“I had a testimonial in 1992 and I was sponsored by Zambezi lager and they sent a witchdoctor with the lager,” Grobbelaar, who was part of the last Reds team to win the title in 1990, told BT Sport.
“He went around on the posts and put his goat's tail, put his water on the posts of both sides, got the microphone and said: ‘If you don't have the jungle man Bruce Grobbelaar here, you won't win the title'.
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“Of course, I went back to South Africa, went to Canada, came back. Remember when Stevie G [Steven Gerrard] slipped? One night game I went down to the Kop End, I peed on the posts.
“That breaks the spell. I got thrown out. I didn't do the Anfield Road and we finished second.
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“Last season I played in a corporate game here, we were in the dressing room and the guy said: ‘You have to do the business today'.
“I said: ‘Okay.’ I took a water bottle, poured the water out, peed in the bottle, came back.
"First half at the Kop End, I splashed it all over the posts. Second half, I came down to the Anfield Road End and splashed it all over the posts. End of last season.”
Since Grobbelaar’s unusual ritual, Liverpool have gone undefeated in 13 matches at Anfield, including a perfect nine from nine in the Premier League.
The Reds’ last home match of the year comes on December 29 against Wolves, but first they have the Club World Cup to negotiate, as well as a trip to Leicester.
A Carabao Cup trip in midweek to Aston Villa, meanwhile, will be competed by a fringe team due to the regulars travelling to Qatar for the FIFA competition.