There is nothing quite like the noise of a goal being scored elsewhere: the isolated explosion from whoever saw it flash up on their phone or heard it on their radio, first rippling out, the doubts almost audible as the wave spreads. Really? Manchester City behind? Could it be true? Then the scramble for confirmation, the celebration hovering uncertainly. What about VAR? Might it yet be ruled out? Then word coming through that City had kicked off again, that the goal stood, that this might actually be happening.
In the end it did not but for 80 unlikely minutes it seemed as though it might. Liverpool did their bit, and that is all they could do. They won and they hoped and in the end it was not quite enough. Perhaps there is a temptation to go back through the season and wonder which the crucial points were: the Christmas defeat at Leicester perhaps? The defeat at West Ham? The draw at home against Brighton?
