The first whispers of the remarkable story in Madrid came at around 35,000 feet over France on Wednesday night.
With Liverpool supporters on board a delayed flight from Valencia to Manchester, having seen their team reach the final of the Champions League the night before in Villarreal, the desire to find out the identity of their opposition in Paris was tangible.
And then, somehow, ingenuity took over and a scarcely believable scoreline was shared across the Ryanair flight.
Real Madrid 3-1 Manchester City.
The whispers had grown into full-grown shouts by the time they reached the back of the plane. One supporter, who had been watching the game on his phone until moments before the flight took off and was aghast at Riyad Mahrez securing what had appeared a final appearance for City, was roused from his slumber to be informed of the important news.
"F*** off lad, are you messing?" came the bleary and astonished reply, one of the many who feared being on the end of an elaborate mid-air wind-up.
Indeed, there were those who chose to ignore the high fives, cheers, songs and, yes, dancing in the aisles by refusing to entertain the notion until they could see it for their own eyes.
It was the result the Reds’ fanbase, almost to a man, will have collectively wished for at full-time of their own 3-2 win over Unai Emery’s men on Tuesday.
After all, if Liverpool versus Manchester City is your Champions League final of choice, you’re either a neutral or a sadist.
But, at such high altitude across the skies of Europe, could this apparent result at the Santiago Bernabeu be genuine? The cheers from the dozens of fans on an aircraft that was apparently almost exclusively reserved for Liverpool’s followers, was enough to suggest they were willing to accept the rumour at face value.
READ MORE: Mohamed Salah sends blunt six word message to Real Madrid as Liverpool final set
“I’m getting filled in if this isn’t right, aren’t I?” joked one fan, whose ability to connect to the 3G on his phone was the source of such mile-high giddiness. It’s thought he was joking, anyway.
Others ran up and down the plane in search of further confirmation that Pep Guardiola would not in fact be awaiting them in Paris on May 28.
“Honestly lad!” this particular flyer protested. “Rodrygo scored after 90 minutes and then again after 91. Madrid scored again in extra time.”
It seemed implausible. Even for the Champions League’s flair for the theatrical and love of the dramatic; this was a storyline too tall for some.
It wasn't just the passengers who were abuzz at matters from the Santiago Bernabeu either. The crew of the plane could later be overheard chatting on the bus back to the terminal.
"Can you believe that? I didn't think they would do it," said one to his colleague. "You could hear all the other pilots talking about it on the radio. One of them said 'tres uno' and I thought he must have been joking."
During the flight, a graphic designer on board was tasked with assessing a screenshot of the Google search of the result.
It was asked, with sincerity, if the image could have in some way been doctored. It would have taken a brave - or foolish - prankster to have tried that one.
“Just ask the pilot to radio to Manchester airport and double check,” suggested another. At no point was it thought that using aircraft communications to find out the result of a football match might be considered frivolous.
With a Champions League final at stake, why would it?
LONG READ: Liverpool icon went from sleeping in a shed to inventing the Adidas Predator
EXCLUSIVE: Liverpool striker loved by fans lived his dream before triumph, tragedy and brutal transfer exit
READ MORE: Alex Ferguson 'sacked' own Man United player after Liverpool dressing room row
The wheels touched the turf at Manchester as the clock struck midnight and the airplane modes were hurriedly flicked off. Phones instantly pinged from every angle, lighting up the cabin as the wider incredulity of the result became known.
“You play Real Madrid in Champions League finals!” said one supporter. “You don’t play Manchester City in the biggest game in football. You just don’t.”
“Genuinely no better way to have experienced that City result than being on a delayed flight back from Valencia that took off at 1-0 and finding out in stages via a series of rumours and dodgy looking screenshots off random lads' phones.” tweeted another on the flight.
“I’m not entirely sure how rumours of the City result started emanating at 35,000ft somewhere over France on my Ryanair flight home from Valencia but they did,” read another tweet. “Resourceful.”
And then, as the match-goers assessed the hundreds and hundreds of WhatsApp conversations that had been awaiting their response, one supporter let out a short, frank assessment of the collective mood.
“Thank f*** for that!”
And before the plane disembarked, thoughts were already turning to Paris.
"We've got to be careful of their midfield, you know," said a Liverpool supporter, who followed up with "Modric and Kroos. Then there's that Benzema. He's quality. And I'd worried about that Vinicius up against Trent."
The shock and jubilation had already started to subside. Clearly, nobody thinks it will be any easier against Real than it would have been against City...
