Liverpool vs Wolves result: For 83 seconds, the Premier League title was in Anfield’s grasp. And then it wasn’t

Some hugged the person in the row behind, some demanded those around them raise the volume, others shouted at those in red on the pitch to raise themselves for one final push towards glory. Anfield spent 83 seconds at the gates of heaven, waiting to be invited inside.

And yet because of Manchester City’s 4-1 victory from behind at Brighton and Hove Albion, those 83 seconds will be as close as this particular Liverpool side will come to winning the Premier League title.

Two Sadio Mané goals beat Wolverhampton Wanderers and secured a total haul of 97 points, enough to finish above every top-flight side since 1992 except two: last year’s City and this year’s City.

At the final whistle, Trent Alexander-Arnold - the provider for both of Mané’s goals - sunk to his knees. James Milner consoled Alisson with a hug. The other member of Jurgen Klopp’s runners-up simply paced the pitch, contemplating an exemplary league campaign by any standard except the current one.

It was ultimately out of their hands, as it has been since that draw on the other side of Stanley Park in March. Liverpool have matched City’s pace since that day but when competing with the most efficient winning machine top-flight English football has perhaps ever seen, the danger was always that they would run out of road.

Their title challenge ended with a peculiar game, more memorable for goals that were scored elsewhere or goals not even scored at all than those that Anfield actually witnessed. Glenn Murray’s opener at the Amex was celebrated wildly, only a minute or so after a Brighton ‘ghost goal’ was debunked.

There were several more of these bizarre ‘happenings’. None of them helped Liverpool’s cause. But then, that is the problem with imbuing your crowd with a mystical quality. Bootleg copies of Mohamed Salah’s ‘Never Give Up’ T-shirt did a roaring trade around Anfield before kick-off. They were ready to believe, one more time.

In their way was an opponent secure in seventh-place and their status as this season’s ‘best of the rest’. Wolves were Wolves: disciplined, positionally-aware and always threatening on the break. While the initiative was with Liverpool to score, they would need to maneuver around a deep-set defence intent of frustrating them.

A quarter-of-an-hour played, they found a way. As so often this season, the invention came from wide. Trent Alexander-Arnold followed a cute one-two with Jordan Henderson by drilling a low, deflected cross behind Wolves’ retreating defence. It evaded all but Mané, who finished first-time at close range.

As it stood, Liverpool were champions and the Anfield crowd began to lose control of itself. There soon followed a chaotic, confused three-minute spell that is particular to these final-day showdowns of simultaneous kick-offs. The title was theirs, then not theirs, then theirs and then suddenly not theirs all over again.

It began with a ghost goal. “I really think this is the job for all of us today: make sure the focus stays here on this game,” Klopp wrote in his programme notes to absolutely no effect. A mischievous corner of Anfield’s Main Stand appeared to be the main culprit, first spreading fake news of a Brighton opener that never was after 26 minutes.

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But almost as a soon as calm was restored, Brighton scored a very real goal. Anfield was in raptures. Klopp struggled to relay instructions to his players during a stoppage in play. Some, like Henderson, did their level best to ignore the scenes in the stands and encouraged their team-mates. Around them, there was a growing delirium.

Then Sergio Aguero levelled at the Amex. Whereas news of Murray’s strike had rippled quickly around Anfield, this was far more gradual. The air was slowly sucked out of a stadium rather than suddenly. Another section of the crowd cheered Brighton restoring their lead. They had not.

Quite frankly, this was becoming a problem. The crowd, rather the players, were dictating the pattern of the game. It affected Liverpool badly. From that manic three minutes onwards, they lost the momentum they had started with and Wolves began to consistently threaten. Not long after Aymeric Laporte put City ahead on the south coast, Matt Doherty struck the crossbar.

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The second-half brought an improvement though, understandably, as City extended their lead at the Amex, Liverpool struggled for their usual intensity. Wolves could have profited, with two excellent opportunities falling to Jota. For both, Alisson showed a level of urgency and alertness that his team-mates lacked, denying the Portuguese well.

And the threat of ending such an excellent title challenge with an anti-climactic draw seemed to finally draw something more out of Liverpool. A second goal, securing the three points, drew Mané level with Salah and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the race for the Golden Boot. Even in that sideshow, Liverpool could not claim the prize for themselves.

The bones will be picked out of this league campaign. It will be said that they lost their way against Leicester or at West Ham, at Goodison or at Old Trafford. All that Klopp will know is that, for 83 seconds back there, they were close.