Chris Hatterhall looks at what we learned as Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League.

I’ll bite the bullet and boldly predict it’s inevitable; we are going to be playing in next season’s Champions League — and that’s as much as you’re going to get.

A pointless cup tie turned into a pointless replay, all of our own making. If the manager wasn’t peeling paint off the walls after that he never will, yet it summed up perfectly the entire club’s attitude to domestic knockout.

Yes, there was a degree of bitterness over the decisions and, obviously, these were the same petty snarks who’d revelled in our discomfort at the end of last season (so why sympathise?) But they’re right aren’t they?

After tens of billions of dollars spent on infrastructure, and scepticism over this tiny gas-rich nation’s suitability as a sporting host, a World Cup has finally been handed out in Qatar.

It was all over social media; hashtag LiVARpool. You’ve got to laugh, really. It was a push, wasn’t it? My eyesight isn’t giving way just yet, surely.

Sadio Mane rescued Liverpool as the Reds’ late show at Aston Villa maintained their title charge.

Liverpool finally laid one of the Champions League’s more bizarre statistical shortcomings to rest, but it was the performance of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain that will have most pleased manager Jurgen Klopp.

We must be doing something right. The word ‘luck’ seems to find a new lease of life every week, where Liverpool is concerned anyway.

Liverpool began the defence of their Champions League crown on a losing note as Dries Mertens’ penalty and Fernando Llorente’s injury-time strike handed Napoli a 2-0 victory.

Is it me or are these international intervals getting longer? Maybe the reason they’re called ‘breaks’ is you end up wanting to break everything in the house.

Gabriel Jesus was sent off as 10-man Brazil lifted the Copa America for the ninth time with a 3-1 victory over Peru.

Brazil cruised into the quarter-finals of the Copa America with a thumping 5-0 victory over Peru at the Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo.

Meh. As European Cup triumphs go, I’ve seen better… OK, I’ll stop being an unbearable gobshite. For now.

With a front three featuring Sane, Salah and Firmino, it sounds ludicrous to suggest Liverpool’s most potent attacking threat will come from the full-backs

Here’s a quote from Monday’s Irish Examiner: “There’s a mental scrapbook of past experiences that may half-convince some to fantasise, but realism will strike tomorrow whether you want it to or not.”

A modest proposal: Uefa should now do the decent thing and cancel this year’s Champions League final.

We’re almost there, although we still don’t know where “there” is yet. It’s been whittled down to heaven or hell, with nothing in between.

Easter Sunday, upstairs in Cashman’s Bar, Academy Street, Cork. Liverpool are one up against Cardiff and on their way back to the top of the Premier League.

It’s bad enough going through this with Liverpool, now we do it for someone else’s games. I can’t take this much longer. Thankfully I don’t have to.

Jurgen Klopp is closing in on an historic season for Liverpool, as he again steered his side into the semi-finals of the Champions League. Only this time he returns to Premier League action this weekend top of the table and in a position to make a mockery of the fantastical claims surrounding Pep Guardiola brilliant Manchester City side.

All eyes might be on Liverpool and Manchester because of the two horse nature of the Premier League title race but the also-rans from London could yet prove pivotal to the outcome.

The 24th change in top place in the Premier League did not come without the predictable healthy dose of nerve-shredding drama as Mohamed Salah’s 90th minute header forced Toby Alderweireld to turn the ball into his own goal, gifting Liverpool a sorely-needed victory.

It wasn’t as exhilarating as many of this season’s remarkable last 16 ties and it certainly didn’t have the quality of football that’s been on show over the last fortnight; but Liverpool’s wonderful victory in Munich, inspired by two-goal Sadio Mane, has nevertheless put down a marker that is hugely significant.

The match, which followed a goalless first leg, was finely balanced after Joel Matip's own goal had cancelled out Sadio Mane's brilliant opener.

For a few seconds, just after Burnley’s second actually, I realised I’ll probably die watching this team.

As acts of vindication go, Jordan Pickford’s game-saving block to deny Mohamed Salah as the prolific Liverpool forward looked poised to open the scoring in the first half of a tense Merseyside derby was up there with the best of the Premier League this season.

Where were we? Three weeks without a column, due to Klopp’s disregard for the cup and TV’s disregard for supporters, the landscape has barely changed.

Liverpool bowed out of the FA Cup on an evening when Jurgen Klopp, via his 21st century boys, signalled that this season it is one competition too many.

One of the nice things about Graeme Souness’ stubborn refusal to sugarcoat his punditry is that he sometimes seems to forget who his lords and masters are, writes Liam Mackey.

The pace and intensity of City’s front three was so impressive, so ferocious, that this time they looked a step ahead of Liverpool’s equivalent.

John Lennon’s Christmas song mentioned New Year as well. “Let’s hope it’s a good one without any fear”.

I’d love to be able to blame our humiliating annihilation on the numbskull responsible for dressing us in a green kit, upon a grass pitch, but frankly that’s a feeble excuse. Saturday’s demolition served as a timely reminder of the enormity of the task facing Unai Emery.

Is the world about to end?

Red Star Belgrade 2 Liverpool 0

Joint top after the last month’s games, without ever hitting top gear? Straw clutch, number one.

Luckily for Manchester City, the bloated Champions League format means that opening group games can hardly be regarded as critically important, never mind ‘must win’, but even if the competition couldn’t ever hope to hit the ground running the way the World Cup did in Russia, this week’s action did see some of football’s global superstars exhibiting varying degrees of luminosity — from dull to blinding — in their attempts to twist again like they did last summer.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp insists last season’s devastating Champions League final defeat did the club no harm at all, writes Carl Markham

The greatest moment in the history of the Premier League? Has to be Sergio Aguero’s heart-stopping,

This Champions League final is all about two great attacks: two sides with the ability to blitz opponents in a matter of minutes.

Sligo artist Dan Leydon has already claimed a Champions League three-in-a-row this season, but now the Liverpool fan hopes Real Madrid stop following in his footsteps.

Liverpool 4 Brighton 0

There was a moment, round about when a referee was giving another dubious late penalty to Roma, that I wondered if all the anxiety was actually worth it.

Twelve months ago Virgil van Dijk watched the Champions League final and could only dream, as a Southampton player, what it would be like to play in one.