Jurgen Klopp - PL disappointment will drive Liverpool to CL success

Sunday was the day every Liverpool fan had been desperately awaiting as Jurgen Klopp's first-team squad admirably kept our hopes alive of a fantastic and historic quadruple trophy haul in the 2021-22 campaign.

As we now know, sadly, it was not to be and the stars did not align in the way tens of thousands of supporters had hoped. Our eventual 3-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers counted for little as Pep Guardiola's Manchester City side staged a very annoying 2-0 fightback victory over Aston Villa to secure that single point victory they needed over us. In amongst all the disappointment though, there are plenty of reasons for Klopp to feel pride in the campaign we fought, particularly in taking it down to the final game. In fact, we took the battle down to the final ten minutes of the game and more than played our part in a tantalising and enthralling final day of action that would have hooked the minds of fans across the country, irrespective of their own particular and individual club colours. For those who like a flutter, if you had been tempted into the world of Bitcoin betting given the anonymous, fast and simple, no transaction fee design, betting on such a dramatic final day of action could have also proven to be very lucrative for you on a personal level given the excellent welcome bonuses offered by Cloudbet - not least a rise of 300% since we last faced Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League Final and no KYC is required either.

Second-place was not what anyone wanted, but it can certainly be celebrated given how narrow the margin of success here was for notorious spenders City and their never ending, but so far unanswered, Financial Fair Play questions. We also get to celebrate Mohamed Salah sharing the Golden Boot (his third award) with Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-Min after both put themselves on 23 goals for the campaign on Sunday afternoon. That success was replicated with Salah picking up the most recent end of season domestic award, the Premier League's Playmaker of the Season gong with the Egyptian hitting 13 for the campaign, one ahead of teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Goalkeeper Alisson was also recognised as he also shared the Golden Glove (his 2nd award) with City counterpart Ederson with both keeping 20 clean sheets for the year. Whilst the quadruple is now not on the cards, the treble still could be, with Liverpool still to face Spanish side Real Madrid next weekend in the Champions League Final and their preparations will not have been perfect with Kylian Mbappe astounding everyone by staying at Paris Saint-Germain.

Fans will certainly agree with our German manager Klopp when he paid tribute to the efforts of the players following Sunday's final whistle, and pointed out that the nature of the near miss will undoubtedly increase the desire of the players to taste success this coming Saturday. "The boys have played an incredible season. The whole journey, it's absolutely exceptional. The game today said so much about these boys. We conceded an early goal, which gave us a knock. We didn't play football like we usually play. We had to take Thiago off early. And then you still find a way, it's outstanding. Ninety-two points is crazy. It's the story of my life. I'm the record holder for not getting promoted from the German second division with the highest points tally, first division points tally as well. You have to get all the points." Having taken the battle to the final day, Klopp still knew that the stars needed to align, particularly having conceded first, but he was predictably magnanimous in defeat. "It was clear before the game a lot of things had to happen. Congratulations to Man City, Pep Guardiola, their players. We were close but in the end not close enough. But this season is incredible and will end next week. We have five days to prepare for the Champions League final. We face an incredibly experienced team but that's OK. Losing the league today increased the desire to put it right next week. You can't do more than give your absolute best and that's what the boys did. I couldn't be more proud, we had to chase the best team in the world to the wire but we will go again. We will build the team again and go again." The 2022-23 Premier League campaign will be an interesting one for a host of reasons given how tight the battle was this year - not least how sides will cope with the enforced mid-season break for the  World Cup out in Qatar. That in itself could prove to be very telling when it comes to trophies with injuries, recovery periods given the heat and the varying levels of disruptions that sides will face in comparison to others. It should be another year without a dull moment though.