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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Paul Gorst

It's time to talk about the quadruple - even if Liverpool don't want to

Football, more than ever these past two years, has always been about escapism.

It is, to coin an often-used phrase, "the most important of life's unimportant things" and rarely does that ring more true than on the streets of Merseyside, where someone will always be quick to engage in the conversation - whatever their allegiance.

And for Liverpool fans, it has rarely been this good right now. Two years ago, their Premier League domination was put on indefinite hold as the world was getting set to face up to a new way of life in lockdown.

With Jurgen Klopp's side 25 points clear at the summit of English football, league title No.19 appeared to be a mere formality before the suspension was placed on the game. There was, of course, an entirely legitimate reason for that but as fans around the world adapted to their new way of living in the COVID-19 era, the most important of unimportant matters were no doubt rattling around in the back of the minds of many.

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It would take three months before Liverpool were allowed to finish the job, being crowned champions of England for the first time since 1990 in June 2020, setting up the strange paradox of becoming the earliest ever official title winners on the latest date of the calendar year.

That is surely a record that will never be taken from Liverpool having won the championship with seven games left to play over a month after the campaign was initially slated to finish.

Liverpool fans were unable to mark that occasion as they would have truly liked given the lockdown restrictions that were still in place across the summer of 2020, so there will perhaps be a justified feeling that there is some making up to be done. Even if the only piece of silverware atop the open bus will be the League Cup later this year.

Jurgen Klopp would probably no doubt agree after ranking the club's Carabao Cup win last month as equal alongside the Champions League success of 2019.

Despite the League Cup being widely thought of as the least prestigious of the trophies that can be won every season at Anfield, Klopp viewed a record-setting ninth triumph in the same way he did when he lifted Liverpool's sixth European Cup in Madrid nearly three years ago.

"The other part that made Sunday incredible was being able to celebrate it with our supporters," Klopp said. "The Liverpool section of Wembley…Wow! And I mean wow! The atmosphere was one I will remember for the rest of my life.

"And it was constant. They were with us for every second of it. And then after…That felt like a party."

That Wembley party that Klopp speaks of will look like a silent disco if his side go all the way in their aim to become the first-ever team to secure a historic quadruple, however.

Talk of snaring every trophy possible is showing no signs of abating. On the contrary, with every Liverpool win, the chatter grows louder among fans and media and Trent Alexander-Arnold's "1/4 Hungry for more" Instagram message from Wembley indicated that it is something the players are at least privately thinking about too.

Klopp, of course, will continue to downplay his side's prospects and given it has never been achieved before by any club, he is entirely correct to do so. After all, it is he and his players who must manage the pressure and spiralling hopes of a fanbase who are just about daring to dream right now.

But while expectations and demands are not really getting out of hand among a sensible supporter-base at present, there are winds of hope and optimism that are blowing across the Kop at the moment. And why not?

Football - that most important of unimportant things - is nothing without either for supporters. Some say it is the hope that kills you, but that is not true. It is the hope that sustains you. Throughout entire seasons, as it goes.

And as Liverpool look ahead to a gigantic April that will see them contest crucial Premier League games against Manchester City, Manchester United and Everton alongside a Champions League quarter-final and FA Cup semi-final, is there really any harm in believing this squad can win the lot?

YOUR SHOUT: Have your say on Liverpool's chance of winning the quadruple

There is little to be gained from being rooted in pessimism, even if Klopp and co will quite properly stay within the realms of reality. That is their job. Fans do not get paid to do the same.

So for now, while all remains on the table for a club who have, for all their success throughout the decades, never been in this position where they can still win the quadruple at the beginning of April, why wouldn't you - as a fan - allow yourself the opportunity to dream big?

Such hope rarely comes along at this stage of a season and there is no pressure on supporters other than to cheer their team on and enjoy every minute while it lasts.

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