WEDNESDAY NIGHT WAS unbelievable, fabulous. To be so depressed at half-time and to come back like that was fantastic. Of the five European Cup final victories, it was the best. Much earlier in the season I heard someone say on BBC Radio 5 Live that this could be a vintage season for English clubs in the Champions League. He said that any one of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United could win it, but that Liverpool weren’t good enough. On Wednesday they showed that they were.

It was inspirational to watch for anyone, but especially for anyone involved in politics. At one stage during the election campaign I compared the Conservative Party to a team that was 2-0 down at half-time, but last night shows that you can be 3-0 down and still win. In fact, I heard Rafael Benítez himself say in the run-up to the final that what you have to do is fight hard and believe to the end, which is good advice in any walk of life.

Does it make up for losing the general election? Not quite. The result of a football match and any political successes or failures you might have are in separate compartments of your life, but it was very cheering. I’m down if they lose and elated when they win. For example, the people in the Conservative Party office were worried when I went to the first leg of the semi-final against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, which was played during the election campaign. They were terrified that Liverpool would lose and that I would be miserable during the next day’s campaigning. But of course they didn’t lose.

If you are a fan, as I am, you become totally absorbed. Although I can’t get to as many actual matches as I would like, I watch all the games on television and read about them and regard it as an important part of my life. Sandra, my wife, had got herself committed to something before we knew that Liverpool would be in the final, so I ended up watching at home alone, but that didn’t diminish my relish for the occasion or the result.

Steven Gerrard was rightly man of the match and Jerzy Dudek was immense, as was Jamie Carragher. I was interviewed on a radio programme on a Saturday morning just before the European Championship and I was talking about the England defence. I said that Jamie was an unsung hero, and that his best position was centre half. At that point he wasn’t even playing in the centre of the Liverpool defence. He’s played on the right, in midfield, in both full back positions, you name it. He’s such a good guy that he’s been content to be played out of position and has rarely got an extended run there until recently. But we saw him at his best on Wednesday night.

I saw him gesticulating in an animated way to Dudek before the penalty shoot-out and wondered what he could be saying to someone in those circumstances, and of course it turned out that he was telling him to remember Bruce Grobbelaar’s performance in the 1984 final against AS Roma. And he did. That was just one of so many amazing things about the match. It was sensational. Just magic.