I know from experience there are certain games where, if you are the player who makes the difference, the fans never forget it.
I had been a Liverpool player for more than three years when I scored my first winner for them against Manchester United in 2000. I was used to being asked for autographs and people talking to me, but that goal against our biggest rivals suddenly elevated everything to a different level.
I was now the player who had scored that goal for us, and against them. It was like people saw me in a different way, and certainly thought more highly of me, because I had given them this joy in a fixture that meant so much to them.
It will be the same for Eze now and the immediate effect of his hat-trick is that, in the next few games, he will be so full of confidence he will feel like he can try anything because he cannot do anything wrong.
Whenever he next walks out on the pitch, whether it’s against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday or Chelsea in the Premier League next weekend, he will feel he has the fans 100% behind him, because they adore him now more than ever.
It will be the same whenever he gets on the ball, too. You know the fans love you and that transfers to your game. You are thinking “give me the ball, what am I going to do next?” The feeling is amazing, and he will want to express himself and show the world how good he is.
That’s the buzz you get and it applies to any player scoring a hat-trick in a game of this size, but it always means a bit more when you are a fan of the team you do it for – it really does.
You feel a warmth from the supporters it is very hard to get if you’ve not grown up knowing it yourself.
I’d been at Old Trafford as a Liverpool fan watching them play there, so I understood what beating United meant to our supporters, the same as Eze will know what beating Spurs means to Arsenal fans.
What he did on Sunday will live with him forever, and the supporters will know he gets it too.
