Jurgen Klopp described Wednesday’s game against Burnley as a ‘semi final’, and he watched on with relish as his Liverpool players set up a fitting finale to the campaign with a 3-0 victory.
Football’s enduring popularity owes plenty to its complete unpredictability and its penchant for creating jaw-on-the-floor moments.
Another moment for the archives was created on Sunday when Liverpool, locked at 1-1 with West Brom and needing a win to keep their Champions League hopes alive, won a corner in the 95th minute.
Goalkeeper Alisson lolloped forward more in hope than expectation, and to the surprise of absolutely everybody he climbed highest to power home Trent Alexander-Arnold’s corner with a textbook header.
An outstanding performance at Old Trafford means that Liverpool’s hopes of a top-four finish are in their hands. The maths may hand Leicester and Chelsea the advantage, but remember that they play each other on Tuesday – one, if not both, will drop points. And so the door has been slammed open by Liverpool’s outstanding 4-2 victory over Manchester United on Thursday.
To some extent, Liverpool’s fate this season is out of their hands. Their pursuit of a top four finish will be dictated largely by the actions of Leicester City, who can book the final Champions League place with a series of positive results from now until the end of the season.