Liverpool legend Craig Johnston says Wednesday’s friendly against Melbourne Victory will be the first time he will be cheering against the English club.
Liverpool legend Craig Johnston says Wednesday’s friendly against Melbourne Victory will be the first time he will be cheering against the English club.
Johnston made 190 appearances for the Merseyside club between 1981 and 1988 and famously scored a goal in Liverpool’s 3-1 victory over rival Everton in the 1986 FA Cup final.
But despite a superb career in England littered with highlights, Johnston has always called Australia home and that is why the 53-year-old will be hoping Liverpool is beaten when they take on one of Australia’s best sides at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Wednesday night.
“For the first time in my life I want Liverpool to get beat,” Johnston said.
“Merely because it is not a league game, it is a pre-season friendly and this is their (Victory’s) Cup final.”
The friendly will mark Liverpool’s first match on Australian shores and a key part of the club’s pre-season as they attempt to build on their seventh-placed finish last season.
Liverpool commenced their pre-season with an impressive 4-0 victory over Preston North End earlier this month and flew into Australian on the back of a 2-0 win over an Indonesian XI in Jakarta on the weekend.
Johnston urged the Liverpool players to continue their good recent form and embrace the big crowd that is expected to be in excess of 95,000 in Melbourne.
“I said to them (the Liverpool players) three or four months back that they are in for a treat wherever they go around the world,” Johnston said.
“They have just been in Indonesia with big crowds, but this is a very knowledgeable football audience in Melbourne.
“They have never been to the MCG, which is the home of football in Australia.
“When that song ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ strikes up they say it will be 92,000…every one of those people will know every one of those words.
“So hopefully it will be a fantastic game.”
