How typical the moment for which many Liverpool supporters have been desperately waiting should prove so strangely bittersweet.
Despite a season that has thus far at times proven interminably painful, there will have been a certain sense of regret when Anfield waved goodbye to their heroes for the foreseeable future.
Rather than being warmly embraced as an opportunity to refresh and reset, the break for the World Cup comes at a time when Jurgen Klopp’s side have finally gained a semblance of momentum.
