As I get to within a couple of years of turning 50, the number of times in my life – before now – that Liverpool had won 15 league games on the bounce was zero. The number of times the club had won seven away league games on the spin was also zero.
The number of times it had won the Champions League/European Cup was five, but the number of times it had won the Champions League/European Cup when posting more than 80 league points (pro rata for games played and three points for a win), let alone 97, was zero. This also applies to before my lifetime; and it applies back to the late 19th century – Victorian England – when the club was formed (although on the European Cup the issue only dates back to its inception in 1954/55).
As I noted last week in a piece for subscribers, no team in the entire history of European football – participating in a league with more than 34 games – had ever posted 97 points (pro rata for games played and three points for a win) when winning the Champions League/European Cup. It was a historically remarkable achievement, and what’s more, it’s been followed by an incredible start to the new campaign.
Football rarely gets this close to perfection, in terms of results, league points posted and trophies won. Since the start of last season – 44 games – Liverpool have won 115 points. That’s more than 2.6 per game, which is frankly ludicrous. In the same number of games, Man City have won “just” 111 points, and did not win the European Cup in the process.
In the same timespan, the Reds also beat Napoli, PSG, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Spurs (and a couple of others) to lift the European crown, and won the European Super Cup. Seriously, this – under Jürgen Klopp – is about as good as it gets. And yet, feasibly, it could somehow get better.
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