Desperate that Liverpool rule in Europe now

QUITE simply, there have been no runners-up quite like Liverpool.

There have been no runners-up with their level of excellence.

No runners-up with more reason to feel they could have done no more.

They will still harvest lavish praise and there will be talk about there being no losers at the end of this incredible title duel.

Try telling that to the players who trudged around the pitch’s perimeter, thanking the fantastic support (above).

This will take some getting over, make no mistake.

Because the painful truth is that Liverpool, this wonderfully thrilling Liverpool, are one defeat away from ending the season without a single honour. Jurgen Klopp is absolutely right to say he has this club back where it belongs, among the established elite. But if he were to go another season without a trophy – a season in which they accrued 97 points – it would be a bitter pill to swallow. That is why victory in the Champions League Final against Tottenham in a couple of weeks’ time in Spain has become an even more desperate target.

That is why, once news of Manchester City’s muscle-flexing filtered up from the south coast, Anfield turned its vocal attention to Madrid in June 1.

Liverpool, they say, will not be moved. And the supporters have certainly done their part in this scarcely believable season.

They lined the streets, 10 and 20 deep, ahead of the game, welcoming the team with a sea of fiery, red acclaim.

No wonder.

With the club having adopted the slogan This Means More, some fans actually believe it.

Good on them, nothing wrong with that.

And there is no doubting the role the fans can play at this stadium. To see Barcelona

For 21 minutes, Liverpool were the as-it-stands champions

intimidated by the environment was remarkable, and the atmosphere on this occasion was similarly charged.

That was until Sadio Mane scored and, after that, interest was split between action on the field and on the phone.

If you thought phantom goals fled with Luis Garcia, you should have been here for this.

But when Brighton’s opener was confirmed, bedlam ensued. For 21 minutes, Liverpool were the as-it-stands champions.

Then the reality of City’s brilliance came crashing like waves onto Merseyside.

And thoughts turned to Madrid long before Mane’s second ensured a THIRTIETH Premier League win of the season.

“We shall not be moved,” they sang, “… like a team that’s going to win the European Cup.”

And they were still singing it as Klopp and his main man Virgil van Dijk walked off arm-in-arm, patting their Liverpool crests.

One of the finest ‘losing’ teams of any generation in English football must now lift itself for one final challenge.

It is going to take a mighty effort.