Carlo Ancelotti made his injury worse last season by beating Liverpool in the Champions League final, but this time he could be proved wrong.

It was a heartbreaking end last season for Liverpool. The Premier League title race lasted until the last day of the season, but Manchester City conceded two goals to cement their status as champions. Days later, the Champions League slipped away, with Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid triumphing in a tight final.

Thiago recently commented that much of Liverpool’s problems this season can be attributed to this disappointment. We talk too little about the psychological side of the game, and we understand that even the monsters of mentality were shaken by such a setback.

However, some of the warning signs were also seen on the pitch last season. Liverpool may have come temptingly close to a historic quadruple, but the way they lost the final was one of many early indicators that all was not well.

On the one hand, only an inspired performance from Thibaut Courtois gave Real Madrid a win, with Liverpool having more chances that night. But equally, it was a far cry from the kind of blitz that Jurgen Klopp’s side once produced with such regularity and Ancelotti later admitted his opponent was somewhat predictable. Well Carlo, Liverpool are now ninth in the Premier League and heading into a round of 16 rematches, losing nearly half their available points so far. You didn’t see this coming, did you?

This is clearly not the kind of unpredictability Liverpool were looking for. But the fact remains that Ancelotti is facing a very different team from the one played in May, and that could surprise Klopp.
After all, the form of the competition isn’t necessarily the best indicator of Champions League success. An example of this is Manchester City: they have been a domestic titan since the arrival of Pep Guardiola but have repeatedly failed to claim club football’s highest honour.

Real Madrid themselves have often achieved the opposite, winning in Europe despite playing second fiddle to Barcelona in La Liga. In fact, in their five incredible Champions League triumphs over the past decade, the club have only won the domestic title twice in the same season.
But perhaps the best example is Liverpool themselves: looking back to 2005 – the last time the final was held in Istanbul – the club went through a torrid period in the league, finishing fifth. It was only by winning the final that he secured his place in the next edition of the competition.