Winning the Champions League final can make this season a sensational one for Liverpool…
Since Jurgen Kloop took over this Liverpool side in 2015, the team has never looked back. For the first time since Rafa Benitez was in charge, the club has qualified for the Champions League in two consecutive seasons, which is quite extraordinary given their relative financial handicap and the quality of players compared to their Top 5 rivals.
This season saw Liverpool’s front-three wreak havoc on their opposition as there were a spectacular 89 goals accumulated between Salah, Mane, and Firmino. As a result, Mohamed Salah won the Premier League Golden Boot, and narrowly missed out on the European Golden Shoe. While doing so, the Egyptian winger broke the record for most goals scored in a 38 game season by scoring 32 goals, eclipsing the likes of Alan Shearer, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Luis Suarez – who had all scored 31 goals. Over the course of the season, Salah also won an incredible 35 individual awards. Liverpool also scored three or more goals in 62% of their victories, which is the highest percentage of victories by such a margin in the top flight since 1936.
There was a lot of uncertainty when Jurgen Klopp decided to trust the midfielders available to him, opting not to replace his main man Phillipe Coutinho after he left for Barcelona in January for a record-breaking £146m. This filled the heads of club faithful with doubts and fears, but the Brazilian’s departure led to a mighty rise in form for The Reds as they looked more aggressive and dangerous going forward. Emre Can, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, Jordan Henderson, and James Milner all stepped up and it never felt like the team was missing Coutinho in any way possible.
The season of Salah 🙌
Recap every record broken and feat achieved during his incredible first term at Liverpool: https://t.co/KBXT41Y1fc pic.twitter.com/CNPhlTN6YV
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) May 14, 2018
Even at the start of the season, nobody doubted the club’s attacking firepower, but the the fans were understandably concerned about the defensive combination as it had the potential to derail their season. In the first half of the season, Lovern, Matip, Klavan, and Moreno were all disjointed and very shaky in defence which resulted in Liverpool throwing away the lead and catapulting on multiple occasions. Luckily for Klopp, January didn’t just see The Reds lose one of their key players to Barcelona, but also saw the arrival of the messiah fans had been crying out for. A player who single-handedly boosted the confidence of everyone around him.
Virgil Van Dijk, who arrived from Southampton for a fee of £75 million, had such an impact on the Liverpool defence that the crumbling legs of the defenders became noticeably more composed and confident on the ball. Liverpool ended the season with an impressive tally of 19 clean sheets, which is their best since 2010. The club ended up conceding only 38 league goals, and shipped only 10 in 15 games after Van Dijk made his debut.
All this is cause for celebration given the club’s tumultuous form over the last few seasons, but a feeling of bitterness will prevail if Real Madrid emerge victorious in Kiev. Perhaps the only way for Liverpool to rubber-stamp their return to greatness is to announce themselves on the European stage once again.