It was not just the 63rd and final game, but the last possible, that proved a game too far. Liverpool had played every match in every competition until the biggest game brought the gravest disappointment. Paris brought elation in 1981 and frustration in 2022. They didn’t run out of steam as much as of inspiration. “The longer the game went, it just looked as though we weren’t going to score,” confessed a candid Andy Robertson. And, much as Thibaut Courtois’ saves decided the Champions League final, it was how it felt.
Liverpool’s roadrunners had run out of road. They were running on empty, perhaps. For a side whose identity was intensity, to quote Jurgen Klopp, a relentless fixture list led to a loss of sharpness and that tends to be their defining quality when they are at their best. Perhaps it was no coincidence their brightest forward in Paris was Mohamed Salah: injury spared him 240 minutes of Liverpool’s previous 270. A mini-break may have re-energised the Egyptian but he encountered an inspired goalkeeper. As it is, Liverpool now have two months off to reflect that two more wins would have brought two more trophies and a clean sweep. Or, indeed, that an earlier defeat might have permitted a more meaningful triumph. There is no definitive way of knowing if an early cup exit would have kept them fresher to win the Champions League, but perhaps they peaked against what seemed the best team in Europe, rather than in Europe’s most prestigious match, surging into a 3-0 half-time lead against Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final. That was when they were electric and irresistible.
