Jordan Henderson had spent half an hour discussing where Liverpool have come from and, more importantly, where they could be headed when his voice suddenly trailed off. Reality had bitten.

“But I don’t think you can define how the season has been because everything rides on the next few months really,” he said. “It is a big couple of months for us as a team but if we give everything we can give then, hopefully, we can do something special. This is the crucial part. It is make or break really.”

And there’s the rub. For all the strides that Liverpool have made, all those scintillating performances in which they have blown opponents away and sent a shockwave through Europe, it is still not enough.