Liverpool pushed a team regularly touted as the best to ever grace the Premier League to their very limit in the 2018/19 season.

It was a valiant and sensational campaign from Jurgen Klopp and his men to go toe-to-toe with Manchester City in a bid for the domestic crown - narrowly missing out on glory by just one point.

The Reds finished on 97 points - the highest ever total for a side coming in second place in any of Europe's big five leagues throughout history. The fact that Liverpool made sure City won every single match of their final 14 to just finish ahead of them was simply incredible.

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They also achieved the best defensive record in the competition with their goalkeeper Alisson winning the Golden Glove while at the other end of the field Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane came joint top scorers to win one Golden Boot trophy each.

And not forgetting away from the Premier League there was the matter of the European Cup which captain Jordan Henderson raised to the heavens in Madrid after leading his side on a masterful and successful Champions League run.

The whole season was one to be admired with so many facts and figures since being realised that highlighted just what a special term it was from Liverpool, there was not a single team within 18 points of City in the 2017/18 season and after Liverpool, Chelsea were 26 points behind in the most recent campaign.

Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane of Liverpool with the golden boot at the end of the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield on May 12, 2019

Finishing second is never easy, especially in the way it happened, but away from the Premier League statistics and behind the numbers highlighting all that was good in Liverpool's campaign - there is something else Reds fans would do well to realise.

And that is the nature in which both Pep Guardiola's team and Jurgen Klopp's side came to their final points total.

There is an argument to say City had almost unlimited resources at their disposal with the wealth of Sheikh Mansour and his petrodollars all but funding their rise to the top whereas the Reds have crafted their success with clever sales and, of course, still some big money spent - but a net spend that pales into significance when looking at their new Manchester rivals.

But this is not about money. Nor is it about trying to claim Liverpool's achievement was better than City's by virtue of their improvement. Neither is it to question the excellent way both teams went about their business in the Premier League in superior and relentless fashion.

It is instead about their opponents and the fact teams almost appeared to roll over when Guardiola's men came to town - merely looking like they had accepted defeat and wanted to move on to the next 90 minutes with as little damage as possible, almost afraid to come out and attack and give the English champions a serious game.

It was almost as if teams not only came up against the starting XI fielded by City but also an aura they carried into matches that made it feel like trying to beat them was all but futile.

They conceded seven goals in the Premier League in the whole of 2019 and won just one point after going behind in the entire campaign.

There is an easy case to be made that only really Tottenham gave City a fight in a game during the title run in.

Liverpool were not afforded that luxury, having to come from behind to win five matches across the season - scoring a total of 19 goals in those five wins - 3-1 and 4-2 against Burnley, 5-1 against Arsenal, 4-3 against Crystal Palace and 3-1 against Southampton.

The Reds won 16 points from losing positions in the competition and lost only once while similarly in the Champions League Klopp's men conjured up some sensational comebacks when staring down the barrel of defeat.

A lot of the results and the fact City didn't concede many, nor allow teams to get at them, is down to their class on the football pitch but it says a lot about a side who don't win as many games when needing to fight.

Take, for example, Spurs in the Champions League who knocked Guardiola's men out in the quarter finals or French outfit Lyon winning both home and away for City in the European Cup group stages. City also dropped points at Wolves early on in the season, who went 1-0 up and got a draw at the Molineux.

Make no mistake, City still had to win their games under a lot of pressure to win the domestic treble and they did so brilliantly but there is a sense that some of their 90-minute contests were a little easier than Liverpool had to endure.

It has, of course, taken time for City to afford themselves that advantage by building up a reputation that strikes fear into their opponents hearts, having hit the 100-point mark in the Premier League in the 2017/18 season - losing twice and scoring 100 goals before winning a second title in two years.

Players of Liverpool celebrate the victory as captain Jordan Herderson lifts the trophy after the Champions League final win against Tottenham Hotspur
Players of Liverpool celebrate the victory as captain Jordan Herderson lifts the trophy after the Champions League final win against Tottenham Hotspur

The Reds had to battle and earn every single one of their points in the previous campaign but they've done that now and beaten teams with their backs against the wall to come out the other side of a challenging Premier League campaign with a magnificent points total.

And not forgetting, they are European champions once again.

Their work last season may just afford them an extra edge next term by making teams fear what's to come before Liverpool even step foot on the pitch to line up against them.

It is nothing less than their 2018/19 season deserves and it could do wonders for the upcoming campaign, fuelling great hope that a Premier League trophy will finally be coming to Anfield in May 2020.