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It was an afternoon Kopites would dearly love to forget.

The momentum built up by a remarkable run of 11 successive league wins had put Liverpool FC on the brink of their first title for 24 years. Just seven points from their final three matches and the long wait for a 19th top-flight crown was over.

But on April 27 the dream turned into a nightmare. Chelsea gate-crashed the Anfield party and Manchester City took full advantage.

Defeat cut deep but Brendan Rodgers has no wish to erase that emotional roller-coaster from his players’ memory banks.

Rather than fear the consequences of that heartbreak he insists the experience will prove to be a stepping stone to glory this season.

The message sent from America to the club’s title rivals is clear – Liverpool aren’t going anywhere.

“Remembering that feeling, that’s what drives you,” said Rodgers, whose side face AC Milan at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium tonight.

“The Chelsea game was the one. A draw even at Palace was alright.

“But if you look at the history of the winning teams they have always gone close. You look at the United team that won it in 1993, they came close in 1992 when they just lost it to Leeds.

“They came back the following year and won it. That set up an era of winning for them. They won the Champions League (in 1999) and they just missed out two years before.

“Part of the process of winning is being able to lose like we did. What it has done with this team and this group, it has made us even more unified and stronger to be more successful in the future.

“We have got players that have had disappointments in their career and picked themselves up again.

“For me there was no real hangover, I was just so proud of how we as a whole club got together last season. The supporters talking about making them dream and there is no negative in it for me.

“We went so close but it is only the beginning for us. I’m super hungry to be a champion and succeed and we have shown we have the credentials to do that.

“The Premier League is going to be as competitive as ever. There will be six odd teams who can challenge for it but we’ve reinforced the squad and we will go into it with even more belief with a group of young players who are hungry too.”

Rodgers’ three-year mission to get the club back in the Champions League was achieved 12 months ahead of schedule.

His reward for ending the club’s five-year absence from Europe’s elite was a new long-term contract and now he has his sights set on silverware.

“I want a trophy this year,” he said. “My sole aim in the first three years was to get us into the Champions League.

“I knew what it meant to the supporters, the city, the taxi drivers, the people, the businesses... so my drive in that period was to get us back. Now we’re in it, I want the club to win the big trophies again.

“That’s what I’ve said to the players. The expectancy this season is continual improvement. Can we go to the next level? We want to win.

“Our priority will be the Premier League but we want to do well in the Champions League too as it’s a big competition.”

Having lifted Liverpool from seventh to second, expectation levels will be higher this term but Rodgers doesn’t view that as a burden.

“I don’t feel any more or less pressure,” he said.

“Our expectancy is the same. We want to do the best that we can.

“I just think there is a real excitement, not pressure because of last year. We know we can do it now.

“We take confidence from last year. We embrace it and I am really looking forward to this season.

“Our first aim is getting fourth guaranteed and from that we aim higher.

“That’s how it was last year. It seemed to bypass a lot of people when we guaranteed a top-four finish at Norwich.

“In another year, if the point at Crystal Palace was securing the Champions League we’d have been doing cartwheels.

“It was a smashing season and it’s given us the drive to kick on.”