Jurgen Klopp revealed Liverpool evoked the spirit of Istanbul to secure a place in the Europa League semifinals with a stunning fightback against Borussia Dortmund.
The Reds scored four second-half goals as they fought back from 2-0 and 3-1 down in the second leg of their last-eight tie to win 4-3 and prevail 5-4 on aggregate against Klopp's former side.
Liverpool were cut apart in the early stages as they conceded twice in the opening nine minutes but their revival echoed their famous Champions League fightback against AC Milan in the 2005 final.
"The counter-attack of Dortmund is, in some moments, [something you cannot] defend and we saw that after four minutes, after nine minutes," Klopp said.
"Very often in football the game is over [at 2-0] but not here, not with this Liverpool team. That is great to be part of. In the first half of the game, we created a lot of chances, we didn't score and then it was really, really difficult to stay in the game because we are all human beings -- we tried everything but nothing really worked.
"At half-time, there was a good atmosphere to be honest because I was satisfied with the game -- not with the goals, but with the game in general.
"I told the lads, 'I was not there but a few Liverpool players who are a little bit older and work now as experts for television, they were 3-0 down at half-time but won a Champions League final. So even when it's not really likely, it is for sure possible and we should try it.'
"They did it and made it 2-1. I think even before 2-1, we had a chance and two or three really good moments but didn't score. Then we scored and then everyone could see something happen in the stadium. You could feel it, you could hear, you could smell it.
"But then there was a brilliant, brilliant attack situation [from Dortmund]. It was not too good defending from our side, to be honest, but it was brilliant play from Dortmund and 3-1.
"Then that was the moment in football -- and in life -- when you have to show character. That's what the lads did and it was pretty cool to watch. In the end, to come back in a game like this against this highest quality opponent and to win, you need a little bit of luck, but I think everybody who was part of the game, who saw the game, has to say at the end it was deserved.
"We had more bad moments in the game, we had to react more often in difficult, difficult things in the game, but then to score the fourth goal it was strange. It was a long time before I was sure the ball was in -- but obviously it was until somebody tells me something else."
Klopp admitted that at half-time he wasn't positive his team would have enough in them to rally.
"The players did it, it was not the team of Istanbul," he said. "It's easy to say it. I'm a football fan so I saw the game [in 2005] and to be honest at half-time I did not think, 'Oh it looks like Liverpool will strike back.'
"I only told them that it's possible, but it's much more difficult to do it than say it. They showed that they have potential, real potential, and I'm completely happy.
"Forget the story about 'these could be heroes' -- give us the time to play the semi-final against probably a really strong [team]. They are all pretty strong so we don't need to compare this. This, tonight, was brilliant in itself."
It was another of Anfield's famous European nights and Klopp had praise for the fans, who built up a ferocious atmosphere throughout.
"I know this is a place for big football moments, [but] we didn't start this story, there were other people," Klopp said. "But we know about our responsibility to try to write a few nice stories in football and tonight it was a really nice story.
"I can't believe when some people say [this is] the only chance for us to go through to the Champions League -- it's not one second we thought about the Champions League through the Europa League because we have to do all these steps. We try to really take everything we can get out of this season and I see that we always tried."
Anfield erupted when Mamadou Sakho made the score 3-3 with 13 minutes remaining and then again when Dejan Lovren netted the stoppage-time winner.
"It was an outstanding atmosphere and what I said [was that] we need experiences like this to grow together, that's how it is," Klopp said. "So now we have something like a milestone, or whatever you would call it, and that's good, that's really good."