Liverpool put in their best season of the Premier League era in 2018/19, finishing with a record-breaking 97 points.

Unfortunately, the record broken was 'most points for a runner-up' as Manchester City beat them by one.

It's the third-highest tally in history, made even more impressive by the fact Liverpool also progressed to the Champions League final.

This will be the second in two years for Jurgen Klopp's team, after the disappointment of defeat in Kyiv last season.

It offers the best consolation prize going, quite honestly - Liverpool would certainly love to be synonymous with the European Cup once again.

The last time they held the trophy was in 2005, of course, after the 'Miracle of Istanbul' led by Rafa Benitez.

Benitez came awfully close to winning the title, too, with his 2008/09 side but finished four points short of Manchester United.

It was the last successful era in Liverpool's history - putting Benitez in a perfect position to judge Klopp's crop.

"I want to be very respectful about my team, but this team is much better. Not just the team, but the squad," Benitez told the Liverpool Echo. 

"In my time at Liverpool we had [Fernando] Torres as a striker and [David] Ngog, who was a good player and a good lad but we paid £1.5million for him. He was on the bench.

"Now you have [Xherdan] Shaqiri, [Daniel] Sturridge and [Divock] Origi on the bench so it's totally different. Times have changed."

Benitez quite openly admits that this current team is better - and that's saying something. His '09 team was a fantastic side with one of the best spines in Liverpool's history.

But Klopp's team is pulling off something new, pushing the title race as far as possible and may still match Benitez's great triumph.

'May' being the key word - as good as Klopp's team is, it still has to win the big one to match what Benitez managed.