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If it’s the sort of thing that Arne Slot just doesn’t see the value of getting into, Luis Enrique had no problem going there.

“We will play against the best team in Europe,” the Paris Saint-Germain manager said of Liverpool.



The history of the Champions League alone is characterised by numerous examples of the best team not winning, from Juventus 1996-97, Arsenal 2003-04 and Chelsea 2004-05 right through to Barcelona 2009-10 and maybe Liverpool themselves in 2019-20.

In that last season, mind, Bayern Munich had quite a claim.

Liverpool know all of this as well as anyone, from both sides of the discussion.

In the modern era, Liverpool have proved that you can win the Champions League without being the best in Europe (Getty Images)

For their fifth Champions League, in 2004-05, they were the fifth best team in England let alone the best on the continent.

After so much toil, it has suddenly looked so easy.

Liverpool have opened up a 13-point lead at the top of the Premier League (Getty Images)

Slot would certainly argue with that perception, and he immediately pointed to how the lack of an FA Cup match last weekend helped with the difficult work of preparing for a game against a revitalised and youthful PSG.

“It’s a good thing because two days would probably not be enough to prepare for PSG, because I’m really impressed by what I saw,” Slot said, in an answer that was typically about taking it one game at a time.

While Slot has to stay that, and anyone serious just has to look at it that way, it’s impossible for anyone else not to look at what those games might mean.

Liverpool immediately went and won three English titles in a row, with the last of those bringing an entire European era to its culmination with what happened in 1983-84.

Klopp’s Liverpool won their only Champions League before lifting the Premier League (Getty Images)

They won the League Cup, the league and the European Cup, in their only treble that has involved both of the latter two major trophies.

Those within the club will naturally seek to avoid such talk, but you sometimes have to grasp opportunities as they come.

Liverpool have been that good, while the field has been that inconsistent.

This is why descriptions like the best team in Europe are more than just talk.
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