Liverpool’s win against Tottenham was crucial to prevent Manchester City from putting one foot on the Premier League Trophy.
It looked as though Jurgen Klopp’s would draw 1-1 with Spurs as the match entered the 90th-minute.
But with seconds of normal time remaining, Mohamed Salah found space at the back post and his header was parried by Hugo Lloris onto the legs of Toby Alderweireld, resulting in the ball bouncing over the line.
It was dramatic. And it was massive.
Anfield was in ecstasy and Klopp looked almost in disbelief when the TV camera panned to him.
But when the camera did focus on him, it also captured a man behind him in a Premier League jacket celebrating.
The man in question had a great big grin on his face before he looked to the Liverpool bench, clenched his fist and appeared to mouth ‘come on!’
He was clearly delighted.
But who was he?
Football fans claimed he was a Premier League match official and were demanding answers.
But his true identity has now been revealed.
According to the Mirror, he’s a masseur provided to the officials at the ground on matchday.
The report states: “Mirror Football understands via sources with knowledge of the man’s role, that he is not a Premier League match official.”
While he may be employed by the Premier League – or the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) – he’s not actually an official.
In fact, we have some further digging and believe it’s a man called Paul Tremarco.
According to his LinkedIn, Tremarco is a “level 5 Sports massage practitioner at PT Sports Therapy and Sports masseur for PGMOL assisting elite match officials.”
He acts as a masseur for all visiting match officials at Anfield and across Stanley Park at Goodison Park.
And yes, he’s a Liverpool fan.
That settles it then.
As with pretty much everyone working in football, the masseur is entitled to support a team. After all, he’s very unlikely to influence a result when all he does is give treatment to officials before and after matches.
This particular conspiracy theory has been killed.