DESPAIR MEETS DEFIANCE

Deep in the concrete belly of the Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex, Liverpool’s Champions League final grief was contoured by a brief post-match interaction.

Winding past the Real Madrid dressing room - which was strangely muted following their third successive victory in the competition - Jürgen Klopp was returning to the coaching quarters having satisfied his media duties.

Approaching in the opposite direction was a tearful Mohamed Salah; his left shoulder in a sling.

As the pair intersected in the corridor, the manager pointed to the injury wanting to ascertain an early diagnosis. Softly, the Egyptian’s voice breaking as the words came out, he responded that it was feared to be a fracture.

Klopp, his head bowed, pulled a choked Salah close and for a few seconds they stood in haunting, hopeful silence.

The German, unable to speak, had to be left alone for a short while afterwards. It wasn’t about losing yet another final, it was about how the night had affected so many people that he loves.

“It was typical Jürgen,” as an observer put it. “He was devastated for everyone but himself.”

A scoreline is just that - numbers separated by a dash. While a defeat of that magnitude can be painful, especially emotionally, getting over a result is much easier than dealing with deeper setbacks.

Klopp felt the distress of Salah’s final being ruined after a watershed season, while his World Cup was on the line.

Earlier, with full-time approaching, the Reds boss had caught a glimpse of his wife, Ulla, comforting the mother of Loris Karius.

Both women were engulfed by tears as the goalkeeper was visibly disconsolate following his two errors.

Klopp felt that anguish, and what hurt him most about the events in Kiev was that someone other than himself - Karius - was painted as the responsible party for Liverpool’s loss.

Then after the game, as the squad applauded the supporters, the 51-year-old had to compose himself as he spotted Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, on crutches, crying into his palms.

Klopp felt the midfielder’s devastation of not being able to affect the result and was shredded by the severity of the multiple knee ligament damage he suffered en-route to the final.

It was actually a conversation with friends about the 25-year-old in the early hours of the following morning that sparked a now-famous scene.

In Klopp’s Formby home, the manager detailed how unfair the month had been for ‘Ox’, reflecting on the sacrifices made by so many during the season and preaching a message of defiance.

Liverpool would pick themselves up and go again. Harder.

Liverpool would not just be fine, Liverpool would be fucking flying.

With an image of Ulla and Ox in his hand - the England international has the same picture at his house - flanked by assistant manager Peter Krawietz, Die Toten Hosen lead singer Campino and a German journalist, Klopp led an impromptu chant caught on a phone camera:

"We saw the European Cup

"Madrid had all the fucking luck

"We’ll just keep on being cool

"And bring it back to Liverpool!"

That boldness matched the sentiment of supporters, who travelled to Kiev and were intoxicated by the experience of Shevchenko Park.

It all seemed different. This wasn’t a one-off; something special had long been brewing.

Crucially, the club’s ambitions were not just confined to a clever chorus or the minds of the fanbase.

Liverpool’s work for 2018-19 had begun months in advance of the final and the result against Real - whether positive or negative - was to have no impact on their planning.