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

So how do you feel after your little break, then? Relaxed, refreshed — or just plain bored?, writes Steven Kelly.

With the 2019/20 Premier League now just past its halfway point and a busy Christmas programme almost done, it’s time to hand out some imaginary mid-season awards.

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.

Liverpool have won the Club World Cup, beating Flamengo 1-0 after extra-time in Doha.

It was all sweetness and light between Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp at the Football Writers’ Awards dinner in Manchester last Sunday.

Leafing through the Bumper Book of City Swear Words, it is sometimes easy to forget how those well-thumbed pages, with their dubious-looking smudges and deeply ingrained tearstains, got so grubby. It is a body of work that has, on the whole, not been needed much of late, as City have cantered through season after season of gentle trophy gathering.

Whether it was our diving, the safety of their transport or VAR, they wove a narrative of City suffering all week.

‘I’m probably the wrong man to ask, I like a little dive myself.”

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

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.

Until 2019, I’d never seen Liverpool win a European tie after losing the first leg 3-0. That it was against Barcelona, and the world’s greatest ever player, only embellishes the miracle.

Last season’s top two look set to dominate but there’ll be plenty of thrills and spills along the way. There’ll also be plenty of betting opportunities and these five wagers should help keep punters engaged throughout the season.

The return of the Premier League always provokes mixed feelings. On the down side, it heralds the onset of long winter nights with nothing to do but watch football; on the up side, it heralds the onset of long winter nights with nothing to do but watch football.

Everton's Idrissa Gueye fired Senegal into the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations by sealing a 1-0 win over 10-man Benin.

Youcef Belaili fired Algeria into the last 16 of the Africa Cup of Nations with the only goal of a bad-tempered 1-0 victory over Senegal in Cairo.

Sadio Mane, arguably one of Europe’s most feared strike threats, heads to Madrid on Saturday with Liverpool supporters hoping his next return to the Spanish capital is not of a more permanent variety.

A centimetre denied Mane a goal at City, while another confirmed Aguero’s goal at Burnley. Those are the margins we live by now.

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.

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.

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.

Rollercoasters are overrated. Up, down, then up again. Never saw the fascination myself — maybe it’s because I get all that from my team and don’t really need any more discombobulation.

The Reds put aside their recent anxieties as they lifted themselves three points above champions Manchester City with goals from Sadio Mane, Georginio Wijnaldum and Mohamed Salah.

Liverpool and Manchester City are taking it in turns to blink in the title race but Jurgen Klopp’s side face slipping back down to second place tomorrow night after taking their eyes off the ball altogether against West Ham.

I knew it was too good to be true. Having ended 20 league games claiming “this can’t last”, my sense of vindicating satisfaction is tingling…

Daniel Storey picks out the five biggest questions emerging after Liverpool's first loss of the season to champions Man City.

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.

For an idea of how Jose Mourinho got it so wrong at Old Trafford and what Manchester United now need to get right, a good place to begin is with the first press conference the last manager he’d lose to held, writes Kieran Shannon.

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.

Manchester United’s troubled International Champions Cup campaign suffered another blow, with a 4-1 defeat to Premier League rivals, Liverpool, in Michigan on Saturday night.

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

Steven Kelly on the emotions that Liverpool fans are enjoying - and enduring - ahead of kick-off.

Liverpool were last night working with fans and tour operators in search of a resolution after around 1,000 supporters had their flights to this weekend’s Champions League final cancelled.

Jurgen Klopp will have Liverpool playing “like 11 animals” to win the Champions League on Saturday night, Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos has declared.

Liverpool 4 Brighton 0

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.

And so the 2018 Champions League final will be contested by Real Madrid and Liverpool.