Show caption Jordan Henderson salutes the fans after Liverpool’s win at Newcastle on Saturday. Photograph: Lee Parker/Action Plus via Getty Images Liverpool Jordan Henderson looks to old mentor for answer to Liverpool’s prayers • Anfield captain hopes Brendan Rodgers can orchestrate upset

• ‘We couldn’t have done any more. We can’t have any regrets’ Louise Taylor at St James’ Park Sun 5 May 2019 22.47 BST Share on Facebook

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Jordan Henderson will switch on the television on Monday night and “pray” that “a miracle” unfolds before his eyes.

Liverpool’s captain must hope Manchester City somehow stumble at home against Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester and allow Jürgen Klopp’s side to regain control of their own destiny before Sunday’s Premier League title race denouement.

As the hours ebb away before kick-off Henderson may be tempted to pick up his phone, relocate a once familiar number and press send. Whether he will actually text Rodgers, previously his manager at Anfield, and appeal for assistance remains unclear. “No I won’t, well maybe I will,” mused the undecided England midfielder. “I’ll think about it.”

Henderson was speaking at the end of a breathlessly exciting Saturday evening concluding with Divock Origi’s late winner consigning an impressive Newcastle to a 3-2 defeat as Liverpool restored a two-point lead over City.

The odds are it will be only a temporary advantage but Henderson is not giving up quite yet. “The lads will watch Monday’s game and, yeah, pray for a miracle,” said a former Sunderland player subject to some spicy songs from the crowd whenever he touched the ball. “City are a great team but so are we.

“Whoever gets the title will deserve it. We couldn’t have done any more. We can’t have any regrets. It’s going to the last game and we need to finish on a high at Anfield – [against Wolves on Sunday] – and pray that something, a miracle, can happen.”

Considering that City visit Brighton next weekend, Leicester appear to offer the greater hope of thwarting Pep Guardiola’s side but it should not be forgotten that Rafael Benítez’s Newcastle very nearly left Klopp’s domestic ambitions holed beneath the waterline.

Benítez – like Rodgers another ghost of Anfield past – revelled in reminding everyone that, while Newcastle’s players may have their limitations, his coaching ability warrants bracketing alongside the very best.

Jurgen Klopp and Rafael Benitez greet one another before Saturday’s game. Photograph: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

Afterwards, in a stadium corridor beneath the main stand, he and Klopp embraced warmly but, as Liverpool head into Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final second leg at home to Barcelona with the Catalans 3-0 up, it is tempting to wonder whether Newcastle’s manager might have done marginally better than the German this season.

It is an academic question and such comparisons can be invidious but Benítez did win four trophies – including the 2005 Champions League – during six years on Merseyside spent operating with a comparatively modest budget.

At least Klopp has reminded everyone that, sometimes, the journey really is more exciting, and important, than the destination. In another year his side might have swept up trophies galore but in this season of peak City and vintage Lionel Messi does it really matter if they do not actually end up hoisting silverware? What surely counts is that they are still there, still challenging?

“We cannot do more,” said Klopp, unequivocally. “The boys have done much more than I thought possible. Let’s try to get to 97 points and then we’re ready for judgment.

“Whatever happens, this will be a very, very successful season and I’m pretty sure that all our supporters can see it like this.”

For the moment, though, a coach possibly without a concussed Mohamed Salah this week is not contemplating a runner’s-up role. “I don’t think about it for a second,” he said. “In my mind we win. I know it might not happen but thinking about a negative scenario is a waste of time. You deal with it when it happens.”

The German prefers to live in the present and, at that precise moment, on an unseasonably cold Tyneside night, he was delighted. “It was a brilliant game from my side against a Newcastle team who are pretty difficult to defend against and make you work hard. I wasn’t sure we could do it but we did. I’m absolutely proud.”

At Newcastle Benítez has, albeit in a very different context, also learnt about the pleasures of travelling rather than merely arriving. Indeed Newcastle’s manager seems to take a perverse pleasure from facing the Klopps and Guardiolas – whose side he beat in January – with one hand in effect tied behind his back.

“Liverpool have everything, so to manage them like we did we’re really pleased,” he said at the end of a night on which Christian Atsu and Salomón Rondón excelled, each registering the equalisers which levelled matters following Virgil van Dijk’s headed opener and Salah’s volleyed second. “We did quite well but to beat these teams you need to be very good tactically and, even then, you can lose.”

Given the circumstances – namely that Newcastle’s XI cost a fraction of Liverpool’s ensemble – there has to be a limit as to how much difference a coach, however good, can make. Benítez likens the situation to motor-racing in a family saloon or super-mini.