Liverpool’s breathtaking 4-3 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League on Thursday evening has emerged the most tweeted moment in the United Kingdom in 2016.
The Merseyside club produced one of the greatest comebacks in football history at Anfield to snatch a precious victory away from the Germans who taught they were cruising to the semi-finals of the competition.
Jurgen Klopp’s side were twice left needing three goals to go through in the face of Dortmund’s rapier attacks – but climbed the mountain twice with Dejan Lovren’s injury-time header from James Milner’s cross concluding a night packed with drama and emotion.
The Bundesliga side struck twice inside the first nine minutes through Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – while Divock Origi got one back for the host.
Marco Reus restored Dortmund’s two-goal advantage before Philippe Coutinho, Mamadou Sakho and Lovren scored in front of the Kop to spark chaotic celebrations to seal a win that will take its place in Anfield folklore.
After referee Cuneyt Cakir had ended proceedings, Liverpool not only shook the world of football, but also the Twittersphere with a peak of 56,000 tweets-per-minute but even more incredibly, the moment Lovren scored the winner saw a peak of 53,000 tweets-per-minute.
As a consequence, in the space of four minutes, Liverpool managed to account for two of the three most tweeted about UK moments of 2016.
The match itself saw more than two million tweets posted in relation to it, with the event trending top in both the UK and worldwide.
However, it was the conclusion of the match which broke the records, overtaking singer Adele’s Global Success prize at the BRIT Awards as the most mentioned moment by Twitter’s keyboard-happy users.
The Reds will face Spanish side Villarreal for a place in the final while the other clash is between Shathtar Donetsk and Sevilla. Both legs will be played on April 28th and May 5th with the final scheduled for May 18th in Basel.
Top four most tweeted about UK moments in 2016
1) The full-time whistle goes as Liverpool stage an incredible comeback to beat Borussia Dortmund 4-3 at Anfield – 56,000 tweets-per-minute (TPM)
2) Adele wins the Global Success prize at the 2016 BRIT Awards – 55,000 TPM
3) Dejan Lovren heads in James Milner’s cross to edge Liverpool 4-3 ahead against Dortmund in the Europa League quarter-final – 53,000 TPM
4) Danny Welbeck heads in a dramatic last-gasp winner in Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Leicester City in the Premier League – 51,000 TPM
