A FAN of English Premier League club Liverpool didn’t mind paying RM600 to “congratulate” his club for reaching the quarter-final of the UEFA Champions League.

Businessman Rosmaini Jemaan said he wanted to humiliate fans of rival club Manchester United, who was knocked out of the competition.

Liverpool booked its passage to the quarter-finals with a 5-0 aggregate win over Portuguese club FC Porto last Wednesday while Manchester United lost 2-1 on aggregate to Spanish club Sevilla despite only needing to win 1-0 in its second-leg home game.

“I’m sick and tired of listening to the gloating of Manchester United fans,” Rosmaini said in Kuching, Sarawak

“When I took out the seven-hour advertisement – from 5pm till midnight last Wednesday on a giant LED billboard in Petrajaya – I wanted to rub salt into their wound,” said Rosmaini, who has named all his six children after Liverpool greats.

“I hope it silenced the Manchester United fans,” Rosmaini, who is also president of the five-month-old LFC Petra Jaya fan club, the PJ Reds, said.

Rosmaini’s eldest son, 17-year-old Mohd Hyypia was named after former Liverpool defender Sami Hyypia while his 16-year-old second son, Mohd Hamman Danial, was named after the club’s former German midfielder, Dietmar Hamman.

His two daughters are Bibby Aurellya – after the club’s Brazilian left wing back Fabio Aurelio Rodrigues – and McEmery Rose, after current midfielder Emre Can.

His two other children are Muhamad Qarliff Kuyt, after Dutch striker Dirk Kuyt and Muhamad Zaf Eqbal, who is named after a team doctor.

The giant LED screen is on Jalan Tun Datuk Patinggi Abdul Rahman Yakub, a main thoroughfare for city dwellers living in Petra Jaya and Matang residential areas.

The last time Liverpool won the Champions League was in 2005 when it beat Italy’s AC Milan on penalties after coming back from a 3-0 halftime deficit. The Reds won the shootout 3-2.

Liverpool have not won the Premier League, which was founded in 1992 but won the old First Division title 18 times.

The last time they won the league was in the 1989-1990 season of the old Football League First Division.

The Reds will face second favourite Manchester City in the last eight.

“We will win. That’s for sure,” said a confident Rosmaini. – March 17, 2018.