At least they won. They didn’t deserve to but that didn’t really matter, not on this occasion. It was important that Liverpool beat Wolves just so that this remarkable Premier League title race ended the way it should, with just one point between the champions and the runner-up.
Had the gap been any greater, it would have felt wrong and desperately unfair on Liverpool. Yes, Manchester City have been the better team. Pep Guardiola’s players deserve their title. But City haven’t been more than a point better.
So this felt right. Sealed by goals in each half from Sadio Mane on a day when Liverpool were far below their scintillating best and on a day when their goalkeeper Alisson was their busiest player, this was consecutive win number nine in the Premier League to finish a season that has seen them lose only once and that to the champions.
Sadio Mane converted from close range at the back post to fire Liverpool into the lead against Wolves at Anfield
Mane wheels away in celebration after scoring a potentially vital goal for Liverpool and continuing his superb season
Liverpool's squad celebrate with goalscorer Mane as the team chase a crucial three points in their bid to win the title
Jurgen Klopp was a calmer figure than usual on the sidelines but allowed himself a moment of celebration when Mane struck
Mane got his second goal of the game was in the 81st minute, heading home from close range to seal Liverpool's win
Mane stooped to make contact with Trent Alexander-Arnold's delivery after Mohamed Salah failed to make contact
One day they will look back at the numbers and wonder how it happened. Thirty wins. Eight-nine goals. Ninety seven points. And no trophy. It has not happened before and it has hard to see it ever happening again.
In terms of looking for the point where Liverpool lost this title race, it is clear. A win against City in early January would have taken them ten points clear. But they lost, narrowly. Then, soon after, came a fallow period of form. Draws against Leicester, West Ham, Everton and Manchester United.
That was where Liverpool lost the initiative, a period when the fact Klopp’s squad does not go quite as deep as Guardiola’s hurt him. As some of his front line players suffered a little mid-season lethargy, it was hard to freshen. City got their noses in front and have simply refused to yield despite the extraordinary pressure placed on them by Klopp’s team.
But to say Liverpool lost this title race is unfair. City won it and that is a far better way of putting it.
Here at Anfield today, something unexpected seemed possible for precisely three minutes. That was the time the home supporters spent celebrating Brighton’s goal against City before news filtered through that their rivals had equalised almost immediately.
In that brief moment in time, we got a glimpse of what it would have been like to witness a Liverpool coronation here. With the home supporters wound up by news from Sussex, Anfield shook. In the Press Box in the Main Stand, it was impossible to ignore the vibrations.
It wasn’t to last but Liverpool did see the game home and for that they needed some resolve. They were poor here and Wolves the best side in the period between Mane’s two goals that came in the 17th and 81st minutes.
Klopp’s players looked tired and did not play with their usual instinct. Alisson saved very well three times in the second half alone and Liverpool looked a little like a team that will welcome the three-week break that now comes before June’s Champions League final against Tottenham. They will need to be better than this but you can be sure they will be.
For once they came here more in hope than expectation. That was to change midway through the first half but at the outset Anfield settled in and waited for what all but the most optimistic felt would be news of City goals from Sussex.
Wolves improved as the game went on and hit the crossbar through Matt Doherty at the end of the first half
Klopp brought on James Milner on the hour mark after Wolves started to gain a foothold in proceedings at Anfield
Wolves striker Diogo Jota tries his luck, without success, against the Liverpool defence in a strong display from the visitors
Jonny (left) and Willy Boly of Wolves combine to stifle an early opening for Liverpool's star attacker Mohamed Salah
Wijnaldum started in midfield for Liverpool after coming off the bench to score two against Barcelona in the week
All Klopp’s players could do was win. All they could do was tick the box. They began with an appropriate appetite and were ahead just after the quarter hour.
With Roberto Firmino still absent injured, Divock Origi played through the middle with Mo Salah on one side and Mane on the other. Liverpool were progressive rather than explosive early on and when Origi turned to deliver a decent but hopeful shot in to Rui Patricio’s midriff from the angle in the fourth minute, it felt as though it was the prelude to something bigger and better.
Sure enough, the goal arrived in the 17th minute and it had the modern Liverpool hallmark written all over it. Mane began the move himself with a pass driven left to right and rather than stand back and admire it, he set off towards the Wolves penalty area at the Kop End.
By the time he arrived, Trent Alexander-Arnold was easing down the flank and when the full-back’s low cross arrived fast and true, Mane side-footed it simply in the back of the net from about 11 yards.
Mane has been a familiar scorer this season and this was his 21st of the league campaign. At times when Salah has fallen below his own
