Liverpool 2-0 Wolves: Five talking points

While not enough to be crowned champions owing to Manchester City’s result at Brighton and Hove Albion, the Reds fittingly rounded off an incredible top-flight campaign with yet another victory thanks to Sadio Mane’s double.

Here are five talking points on the action from Anfield…

Ninety-seven points 

“Whatever happens, we are what we are because we have come together and we have all played a part. This is Liverpool now: a powerful collective who looks to live in the moment and embrace the joy of it.

“Thank you, Anfield - you are special.”

So wrote Jürgen Klopp in his final programme notes of the season. Well, his team are pretty special, too.

Their tally of 97 points represents a club record and the third-largest haul in the history of English football. Thirty of Liverpool’s 38 Premier League games in 2018-19 ended in victory, and just one in defeat. 

That, by any measure, is phenomenal. 

Golden boys

Mane’s brace on Sunday took him to 22 Premier League goals for the season - and secured the No.10 the Golden Boot, along with his teammate Mohamed Salah and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who also ended the campaign with 22.

Salah, meanwhile, is only the sixth player to be the division’s leading marksman for the second consecutive campaign after Alan Shearer, Michael Owen, Thierry Henry, Robin van Persie and Harry Kane.

There was individual recognition for Alisson Becker, too, after the Brazilian marked his 50th appearance for Liverpool with another clean sheet - his 21st in the Premier League, a total that makes him the outright winner of the Golden Glove.

Alisson’s 21 shutouts is also a club record in the division, topping the 20 Pepe Reina recorded in both 2005-06 and 2008-09.

Trent the record breaker

Mane’s early opener was set up by a low Trent Alexander-Arnold cross from the right - taking the No.66 to 12 Premier League assists for the season and a new record.

Prior to Sunday, both Alexander-Arnold and his teammate Andy Robertson had equalled the previous high watermark of 11 for a defender in a Premier League campaign.

And, when Mane unerringly converted from close range, the right-back surpassed that total. 

Alexander-Arnold later laid on the Sengalese’s second of the afternoon with a trademark delivery from deep that extended his tally to 13.

Fortress Anfield

April 23, 2017: the last time Liverpool lost in the Premier League at Anfield. 

Sunday’s win extended a formidable unbeaten sequence to 40 matches - or, if you’d prefer, two whole seasons, plus two games.

The Reds’ top-flight home record in 2018-19? Played 19, won 17, drawn two. Fifty-five goals scored, 10 conceded.

Remarkable.

‘We’re the mighty Liverpool…’

‘…and we’re going to Madrid.’

The Anfield crowd reminded themselves of that fact regularly, with the chant that has sound-tracked the latter stages of Liverpool’s surge to another Champions League final being sung with an added air of celebration, and perhaps defiance, this afternoon.

The Reds’ season is far from over. 

Next stop: Estadio Metropolitano on Saturday June 1.