The triumphant Liverpool football team went out on a victory parade tonight after returning home with the European Cup they won in dramatic fashion last night in Istanbul.
At around 7pm, Rafael Benítez,'s team embarked on a two-hour tour of Liverpool on an open-top bus and were expected to be cheered by tens of thousands of jubilant supporters along the route.
Thousands of red-shirted fans, many with flags, thronged the streets around the club's home at Anfield and in the city centre, where the parade was to finish.
The open-top bus, which left half an hour late, was led by 20 police horses and was due to pass the club's Anfield stadium by 8pm, before finishing at St George's Hall at around 9pm.
Earlier the team had arrived at Liverpool John Lennon airport at 4.24pm and were greeted by dignitaries, including the lord mayor of Liverpool, Alan Dean - an Everton fan - who officially invited them to go on parade.
The team's captain, Steven Gerrard, and Benítez emerged from the plane with the huge European Cup, which Liverpool now get to keep after recording their fifth win in the competition.
The team won Europe's greatest football honour on penalties in what must have been the greatest comeback in the competition in modern times after trailing 3-0 at half-time to Milan.
The players were cheered wildly by airport ground staff, who had gathered to meet them after last night's heroics in Istanbul, where Benítez's men levelled the scores at 3-3 in an astonishing seven minutes in the second half.
Gerrard and Benítez were dressed in tracksuit trousers and red fleeces, with Gerrard wearing a pair of flip-flops. Staff climbed on fire engines and baggage trucks to get a better view of their heroes.
Particularly wild applause greeted goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek, who thrilled the crowd by demonstrating his "wobbly legs" technique that helped him prevail in the penalty shoot out.
One of the last players to emerge, to a loud cheer, was defender Jamie Carragher, who grew up nearby, in Bootle. He laughed and waved as he descended the steps of the plane and stopped to sign a fluorescent jacket worn by a member of the ground staff.
However some Liverpool fans were angry at having to miss the parade after being caught up in long delays flying home from Istanbul. Supporters faced hold-ups of four hours or more at the city's second airport, Sabiha Gokcen.
This afternoon, thousands of fans were waiting for planes. Supporters were filling the terminal, and a large tent nearby, which they said was in place when they arrived two days ago. Fans also spilled out on to grass verges.
"It's a nightmare," said John Bridge, 31. "You pay hundreds of pounds to come out here, then this happens."
Jubilant scenes were sparked in Istanbul and Liverpool by last night's win as supporters poured out into the streets to party into the night in both cities. In Liverpool, police praised the behaviour of fans; just four people were arrested, two for being drunk and disorderly and two for assault.
But, even as the reality of their win hit the players, the argument over whether Benítez's team would be allowed to defend their title swiftly resurfaced.
Uefa this morning reiterated that it had no plans to change the rule whereby only the top four finishers in the Premiership gain qualification to next season's competition. Liverpool finished fifth.
Recalling the precedent set in the 2000-01 season when Real Madrid defended the trophy, despite finishing fifth, after the Spanish football federation decided to hand them Real Zaragoza's place, spokesman William Gaillard said: "The rules are what they are. They were used already once when Real Madrid won and actually were not among the qualifiers in the Spanish league.
"The Spanish FA told us they would replace the fourth-placed team - Real Zaragoza - with Real Madrid. It is a tough decision to make but it is not for us to make. It is for the FA and they told us Everton would be the fourth English club."
Despite intense lobbying by the Football Association for a fifth Champions League place, it now seems likely that Uefa will make their final decision on June 17 at an executive committee meeting.
But should it hold firm, it would place the FA in an impossible situation. If Uefa deemed it necessary to give Liverpool the fourth and final spot, they would have to take it from the Reds' bitter city rivals Everton, a decision sure to provoke outrage among the blue half of Merseyside.
The sports minister, Richard Caborn, claimed it would be "a travesty" if Liverpool were not allowed to defend their trophy.
Liverpool fan Glyn Thomas, 58, said it was now up to the FA to put pressure on Uefa to give England a fifth Champions League spot. He said: "We have a joke with Everton, but it wouldn't be fair if they had to drop out. We want to beat them fair and square in the first round."