Brendan: The YNWA was a tearjerker
Messages from family members had been flooding in all day to Brendan Rodgers' phone telling him that Melbourne was a sea of red - so the Liverpool boss always knew it was going to be a special night at the MCG.
But it was only when he stepped out in front of more than 95,000 passionate fans and the first strains of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' started to echo around the stadium, that the magnitude of the occasion dawned on him.
He watched from the sidelines as Steven Gerrard and Iago Aspas capped a comfortable win, and then paid a heartfelt tribute to the Melbourne Reds who filled their iconic stadium.
Rodgers told reporters: "It'd be disrespectful to start with anything other than the crowd. It was a huge honour. I want to put on record a huge thank-you to the people of Melbourne and Australia.
"They can be very proud of what they put on here tonight. The 'You'll Never Walk Alone' at the beginning was a real tear-jerker.
"There are not many clubs who could do what we've done in the past week - 83,000 in Indonesia and a sell-out at the MCG. It was our first time here and I'm sure we'll be back again.
"The hotel has been mobbed every day since we've been here. And the sheer passion and intensity that the people have is amazing.
"Throughout today, I'd been getting messages from family members who are out here for the game, and they were saying that Melbourne has just been a sea of red all day.
"I knew it was going to be a special night, but it's not until you go out there and you really see how vocal the supporters were and the incredible 'You'll Never Walk Alone' [that you realise].
"It's a day that hopefully many of the supporters over here in Australia will never forget."
The support Liverpool commands worldwide has been emphasised throughout the summer tour by the sheer number of fans who have turned out in Jakarta and now Melbourne.
And while Rodgers knows there is consequently added pressure to succeed, he insists he is relishing the challenge of taking the Reds back to the top.
"We're trying to build something here," said the boss. "But when you're at a club of this size, you expect there to be pressure to succeed and that comes with being the manager of Liverpool.
"It was the reason I came here; the challenge of coming to Liverpool and trying to restore the club to where it was at. We knew it was going to take a bit of time. We're certainly making progress and hopefully we can have a real good season this season."
Rodgers was also questioned by local journalists on the future of Luis Suarez, who set up the second goal at the MCG after being introduced as a substitute during the second half.
The boss said: "There's nothing new to report. He's very much a Liverpool player and over the course of the next couple of weeks we've got to get him up to speed.
"The support he has received from the supporters and the people of the city of Liverpool has been unrivalled. In this period of time he's missed a lot of games for the club through various reasons. The people have stood by him, like a son and really looked after him.
"Whatever happens in the coming weeks that will be in his mind because it's something you can never forget."