SUTTON: Real Madrid will be more motivated to beat Liverpool after fireworks

By my reckoning, I've had this happen 10 times in my career. Usually, it was the fire alarm going off at the Hilton in Glasgow before the Old Firm.

I'm sure those Rangers fans got a good chuckle out of Celtic's striker standing outside in his dressing gown in the wee hours, waiting to be let back in. Does it have the desired effect on the players? Not really.

If anything, it can have the opposite. As if you weren't already motivated enough to win, now you're thinking, 'Sod this, if they're trying to mess with us, let's make sure we mess them up'.

It happens in all sports, not only football. The 1991 Ryder Cup started with a local radio DJ revealing the phone numbers of the European players' hotel rooms and encouraging listeners to 'wake up the enemy'.

What Liverpool's supporters tried with Real Madrid the night before their big game – setting off fireworks outside their hotel – was just the latest example.