Liverpool's season still very much alive after a night of focusing on the positives

Hope came from the sight of Fabinho back controlling midfield, of fit-again Diogo Jota showing sharpness (if not yet ruthlessness) up front, of Nathaniel Phillips playing like a giant at the back, and of flowing counterattacks which created a hat-full of chances

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp smiles before the match against Leipzig at the Puskas Arena in Budapest. (AP Photo/Laszlo Balogh)

So deep is the hole that Liverpool have fallen into, that not even the most hyperbole-prone headline writer was going to analyse their performance in this match, no matter what the score, and suggest the crisis was over. But at least they have one outstretched hand grasping for the surface.

It will take far more than one victory to get the Premier League champions back on their feet altogether; it might not even happen this season given how far they have fallen. However, a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League is a positive step, after a match in which they dominated their surprisingly unambitious opponents and finally made it count.