Liverpool opinion: Liverpool 2018-19 season review – Klopp finally reaches the pinnacle of football

What a season Liverpool had as they won their first trophy under manager Jurgen Klopp.

The Reds had come close on several occasions to break Klopp’s duck but the German finally won the one trophy that had eluded him, the Champions League.

The 2-0 win over Tottenham in Madrid was the perfect manner to finish the season and it erased two sets of memories.

One was the loss in the final of the competition last season as Real Madrid won and the second was narrowly missing out on the Premier League title.

Liverpool lost the league by just one point despite amassing 97 in the season. They were beaten just once in the campaign, with Manchester City picking up the three points at the Etihad.

Next season is going to be another fantastic ride for us but there were several great moments from this campaign too.

Player of the season

Almost every Liverpool player was fantastic throughout the season or at least in chunks. Georginio Wijnaldum was excellent at the start and Sadio Mane kept scoring the goals when Mohamed Salah couldn’t.

The Egyptian still shared the Golden Boot with Mane (and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang). Alisson was an excellent signing while Fabinho came into his own in the second half of the campaign.

Our full-backs kept providing the assists throughout the season but Virgil van Dijk was on another level. The Dutch defender made it impossible to go past him and picked up several individual honours.

He was excellent in the Champions League final too, and the scary prospect for our rivals is that he is just 27 and will improve in the coming years.

0 – No opposition player has completed a dribble past Virgil van Dijk in any of his last 64 appearances in all competitions for Liverpool. Rock. #UCLFinal pic.twitter.com/VlviY2ohRH

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 1, 2019

Game of the season

This was a tough one to pick, thanks to several crazy moments in the season.

The win against Everton with Divock Origi scoring a late winner was one of the highlights of the season. The Belgian did the same against Newcastle to keep us in the race for the Premier League title.

The atmosphere at Anfield against PSG and Napoli were fantastic while we thrashed Arsenal 5-1 at home to prove our title credentials.

However, only one game stands out and that has to be the 4-0 win over Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final second leg.

Liverpool came into this clash on the back of a 3-0 defeat at the Nou Camp but a brace each from Wijnaldum and Origi were enough to dump the Catalans out and there were crazy celebrations at Anfield that night.

The Champions League final was the bigger result given we won the trophy, but defeating Barcelona in the manner we did made us believe that the Champions League was coming home.

Player who failed to deliver

Liverpool didn’t have many players who did not showcase their ability this season, however, there was one star that just could not get going.

Adam Lallana is possibly the most technically gifted player we have in the team but his injury record over the past two years didn’t help him break into the side.

Even when he did, the former Southampton star looked out of sorts or rusty. Lallana gave it his all for the team this season but it just wasn’t enough as the rest of his teammates kept getting better with time.

Disappointment from the season

Nothing really, apart from missing out on the Premier League title. However, the Reds gave it their all, lost just one game, and City won the Premier League crown by a mere point.

Liverpool were excellent in the campaign and there is nothing that can be pointed out as a disappointment.

Goal of the season

There were two goals that stood out in the season given their importance in the league context.

Both came against Chelsea, with Daniel Sturridge scoring a late equaliser at Stamford Bridge and Mohamed Salah scoring the second with a rocket at Anfield.

Sturridge’s goal ensured we remained unbeaten at the start of the season and kept the pressure on Manchester City, while the second goal gave us hope that City will drop points later in the campaign.

The winner is Sturridge’s effort, just by a whisker, as the Englishman hadn’t played too many minutes before he walloped the ball home past Kepa Arrizabalaga with the seconds counting down.

Final words

Klopp had promised to win something with the club in four years and he achieved that with our sixth Champions League crown.

We pushed City for the Premier League crown all the way and will be back for a second stab at that title.

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That is the one trophy which Liverpool want more than anything else, and we seem geared up to fight hard for the Premier League when the season starts in a few months.