As he sits and surveys the ashes of Liverpool’s season, Jurgen Klopp will know, deep down, two intensely painful things.
First, and most immediately, his loyalty, pride and belief in his players was ultimately to blame for the soul-crushing defeat which was the worst in Anfield European history.
It was the nature of that defeat though, a total capitulation as his side fell apart both physically and mentally around him, which will lead to his inevitable second intensely difficult conclusion. His great Reds team is at the end of its cycle.
