Looking for more silver items will be very difficult for Liverpool from here on out, warned Jürgen Klopp in Lisbon, but it was with unparalleled and understandable joy that his thoughts turned to what could prove to be the first of three games against Manchester City this season.
Benfica went well on Tuesday, the first 25 minutes of the second half, however, with the result of the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final away from home, to prepare for a potentially decisive moment in the Premier League title race on Sunday and beyond.
Liverpool will arrive at Etihad Stadium with another piece of the club's history on their behalf. The 3-1 victory at Estadio da Luz was their eighth consecutive victory in all competitions, a new Liverpool record, and while Klopp spoke of his team "digging deep and fighting with all their might" to increase success in Portugal. , all in all it was Liverpool's most controlled game for a few weeks. That doesn't mean City will be close to compliance as Benfica did in the first half with one side.
Klopp used and rounded up his rich resources to produce the result again. Jordan Henderson, Joël Matip, Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota started on the bench - with only Matip left - ahead of City's game where they will all be in contention for a return. Trent Alexander-Arnold has been given an important 89 minutes to regain his momentum and a truly remarkable passing rate after a hamstring injury, similar to Naby Keïta, who provided the clever, biting and threatening midfielder, following his recovery from a knee injury.
In the second Champions League match in a row it was a three-point change - not a quintuple - that enabled Liverpool to push the opponent up for almost an hour. As in Inter, when Henderson, Keita and Luis Díaz were introduced when the players became dangerous, it was night conditions that made sense for the next game which led to Klopp withdrawing Thiago Alcântara, Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah in the 61st. minute against Benfica. But they should all feel the benefits.
Afterwards the Liverpool manager re-discussed the problems - mentally and physically - that Mane and Salah had been dealing with for some time. It is almost time for the strikers to be given a break as they carry a heavy load as Senegal and Egypt race in the Africa Cup of Nations finals, and in the recent play-offs at the World Cup, with Salah losing hard in both. . Liverpool's leading scorer has scored once in his ninth out of the club, a penalty in Brighton, and will see City as a good opportunity to respond.
The luxury of leading by two goals in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, as well as Liverpool's superiority over Benfica most of the night, gives Klopp a chance in Salah's second leg before the FA Cup semi-final against Pep Guardiola's side. after three days. Klopp will advise any talk that could be considered a luxury, as he did after the win on Tuesday, but the task ahead for Liverpool next week is less expensive than that facing City on their trip to Atlético Madrid. The chances of Premier League and FA Cup rivals also meeting in the Champions League final will increase if both come out unscathed.