Tuesday night's Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid allowed some fans to see their club in action for the first time since the pandemic

“I’ve changed my job, my house, my wife, my car, my clothes, my hair. But I’ll never change my love of Liverpool.”

Jesus 'Jess' Gil is smiling as he delivers the killer line, but he isn’t joking.

We are sitting in Plaza Mayor, right in the heart of Madrid. The sun is shining and the beer is flowing. Liverpool are in town. That night, they will take on Atletico Madrid in the Champions League at the Wanda Metropolitano.

For Jesus, that’s kind of a big deal. “The biggest!” he smiles, before telling Goal why he and his friends spent most of Monday driving 400 kilometres to the Spanish capital from Bilbao.

“We are the Basque Reds,” he says, proudly. “We support Liverpool from Bilbao, Donostia-San Sebastian, all over. And once we knew Liverpool were coming to Madrid, so were we!”

Jesus was born and bred in Bilbao, but he has been a Liverpool fan since 1983, when Joe Fagan’s side visited San Mames in the second round of the old European Cup.

“That night changed everything,” he says. “Ian Rush scored a header, Liverpool won 1-0, and I’ve been in love with the club ever since.

He’s not the only one, it seems. Jesus, the secretary of the Basque Reds, laughs as he introduces his group.

“We are all obsessed,” he says. “It is our life.” To illustrate the point perfectly, he calls out to his friend, Antonio, across the table.

“It’s his wife’s birthday tomorrow!” Jesus grins. “He had to buy her a huge seafood meal, like a banquet, to say sorry!”

Antonio smiles back. “I don’t know if it will be enough!” he admits, holding his hands up.

For Gorka, the youngest member of the group, this will be the first Liverpool game he has watched live. Like Jesus, he is from Bilbao. He works as a steward for a fifth-tier Spanish club, but has been supporting the Reds since he was 10.

“I played a lot of FIFA,” he explains, “and Liverpool had Fernando Torres, so…”

For all of the Basque Reds – and there are 54 members in total – this is a special day, a rare chance to catch a glimpse of their heroes and, maybe, to pick up where they left off before Covid-19 changed everything for everyone.

“The last game I went to was Atletico [in February 2020],” says Jesus. “Liverpool provides our club with tickets for six home matches each season, and we try to spread those around the members.

“But, of course, the pandemic came and so it has not been possible for us to go at all. We’ve missed it!”

He’s not the only one. The previous evening, Goal had caught up with Jackie Willcox, the secretary of the Madrid Reds, who are based out of the legendary Triskel Tavern pub, a mile or so from Plaza Mayor.

Jackie is originally from Litherland, but moved to Spain 20 years ago as part of her job working for a credit card company. She remains an Anfield season-ticket holder, but like Jesus, Tuesday’s game was her first for more than 20 months.

“I’m nervous,” she said beforehand. “There’s apprehension being in a crowd again, especially with what’s happening with case numbers in the UK right now.

“But at the same time, I’m dead excited to see the Reds. It feels like closing a circle, if you like, where we can all start to move on.”

Jackie, like Jesus, Gorka and the rest, says she has devoted as much time and energy to Liverpool as anything else. But she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“There’s only room for one true love in everybody’s life,” she says. “People often ask me ‘Who do you support in Spain?’ But it’s only ever been Liverpool for me.

"My dad took me to my first game when I was two years old. My first hero was Jimmy Case, but my all-time favourite is Patrik Berger...”

The Madrid Reds started with five ‘original’ members. Now there are 40, a mix of Spaniards, English ex-pats, Scandinavians and others, who meet at the Triskel for every game.