Liverpool, England - Something always happens when a team approaches glory. Liverpool could finish the 2021-22 season winning three times if they add to the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup, the Champions League already won by Jurgen Klopp's players this year, but when you look at how they lost the Premier League title, seven of them are crucial. Minutes.
Manchester City trailed 2-0 at home to Aston Villa when Liverpool circled Wolverhampton's goal at Anfield in a desperate attempt to score the green goal that would see them top the table with less than 20 minutes left.
Some City fans had already deserted Pep Guardiola's side at the Etihad, with ESPN's Rob Dawson saying a number were starting to leave the pitch and it looked inevitable that Liverpool would score and demand an advance at Anfield.
Liverpool scored his second goal while City trailed 2-0, who knows how frustrating the blow was for Guardiola's players? If Liverpool had scored a goal, Al-Ittihad would have wasted more and exhausted all hopes in a late match.
But it was City who scored the next goal, as Ilkay Gundogan launched the attack, scoring three goals in five minutes and changing the mood in Al Ittihad. Liverpool lost their moments and the atmosphere at Anfield went from cheerful to calm in seconds.
What if Liverpool scored before City? If?
But after beating Wolverhampton 3-1 and ending the season with 92 points, one point behind City, Liverpool's failure to achieve its second title in three years is due to impressive margins that made the difference.
They have lost only two league games all season, at West Ham and Leicester, and finished the season as the only team undefeated in 2022, so it is the near misses that haunt Klopp and his players.
Liverpool advanced 2-0 against Chelsea after 26 minutes on 2 January, but it ended in a 2-2 draw. The same story was at home against Brighton in October, when the score was 2-0 and 2-2, then scored two goals in the 24th minute.
Klopp's team also gave up its winning positions to draw with Brentford, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur. Although Liverpool finished the season 18 points behind third-placed Chelsea, Liverpool finished the season after failing to beat any of the top four, drawing twice with City, Chelsea and Tottenham.
These are the title losers, although it seems difficult to find fault with a team that scored so many points and lost only twice.
But on the last day of the season, in the last minute, Liverpool really had a chance to turn City against Wolverhampton, and they just couldn't do it. When Mohamed Salah managed to put Liverpool ahead in the 84th minute, City had already turned the defeat into a win by scoring three times in five minutes through Gundogan (twice) and Rodri.
It is unfortunate that Liverpool are enjoying their best years under Klopp at the same time that City are collecting trophies under Guardiola. In the past four years, Liverpool have won the title and finished second to City twice: 92 points this season and 97 points in 2018-19. Those numbers were enough to win the title in all but four of the 30 seasons of the Premier League era, but Liverpool were struggling against a team that set standards well above previous champions.
"Ninety-two crazy points in all the games we played," Klopp said. "There are worse scenarios: We could have been a point ahead [on the last day] and we didn't make it, but we didn't feel good. We were close, but not close enough. Relatives."
Liverpool beat City in the Champions League, and Klopp's side could shed some light between them and rival Manconian if they beat Real Madrid in Paris next Saturday.
This would be Liverpool's third Champions League final in five seasons and could lift the European Cup for the second time in that period, and seventh overall, with a victory at the Stade de France. City, of course, has yet to win the Champions League.
Having come so close and enduring such dramatic tension on the final day of the league season, Liverpool will need time to come to terms with the disappointment of losing the title and the unexpected glory of the quartet.
But by Saturday, winning a seventh European title will be all that matters, and if they do, losing the title will quickly fade from memory.
"We've had a great season," Klopp said. "I would have preferred [City] to go 5-0 after 10 minutes so we could get into the game, but the season has been very tight.
"We have five days to prepare for the final against a great team, but that's what we will do. Losing him will only increase our desire to succeed."
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