‘Outstanding’: Manchester City player names Liverpool man who contacted him directly

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Well, the Liverpool treble is now only possible.

For months everybody spoke about Liverpool potentially winning a clean sweep of domestic and European honours this season – the quadruple.

But Manchester City spoiled that dream by pipping the Reds to Premier League glory on Sunday, scoring three goals in the final 15 minutes to beat Aston Villa 3-2 and defend their title.

All isn’t lost for Jurgen Klopp’s outfit, who have a Champions League final with Real Madrid in Paris on Saturday and the treble is still very much alive, having won both cup competitions in England this season.

That being said, no doubt the German manager will be secretly sickened by events at the Etihad.

But Klopp, it seems, has kept his dignity after Ilkay Gundogan revealed to Sport 1 that the Liverpool boss – whom he played under at Borussia Dortmund for four years – personally contacted him after the title win.

Gundogan, who scored two of City’s three goals against the Villans despite a difficult campaign, said: “He was one of the first. We have always treated each other with the utmost respect. He had another very good season with Liverpool and made life extremely difficult for us. He’s just an outstanding guy and coach, and he’s shown that over the years.”

Gundogan is a class act himself; not only on the field, but off it.

Shortly after Liverpool lost the Premier League title, the Germany midfielder highlighted the Reds and paid tribute to them with a positive post-match message.

The Liverpool treble has to become a reality this weekend. It just has to.

This is a phenomenal team, despite failing to win the Premier League, and if you told Klopp a few weeks ago that all they’d win this season as the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, well there might’ve been hints of disappointment.

And rightly so because this Liverpool side deserves to be remembered but you wonder how memorable this season will be – for the right reasons – if they don’t get past Real Madrid to win the Champions League for a seventh time.