Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp made a promise to his squad players - that they would get a Premier League winners’ medal.
The likes of Harvey Elliott and back-up goalkeeper Andy Lonergan did not qualify for the silverware having played less than five games in their title-winning term.
But Klopp hit out at the ruling in the run-up to their trophy presentation and vowed to ensure they were rewarded.
Lonergan, a shock signing on a free transfer last summer to add depth in goal, admits he never expected the German to keep his public promise.
Yet he was left shocked on the historic night they lifted the trophy as the German personally handed him his own piece of silverware.
Lonergan told the Liverpool Echo : “Winning the league is something I’ve got to my name now, regardless of not kicking a ball. It sounds nice. It’s a great experience and something I’m pretty proud of.
“He (Jurgen Klopp) gave me one (a winner’s medal). He gave me one in the dressing room. I’m happy to get one and I’m happy how he did it because getting one on the stage would have been embarrassing, it really would!
“I wasn’t expecting it at all, even after his comments. I wasn’t expecting to get one. He just came up to me and said, 'There you go, you deserve it.' It’s a great moment really.”
Youngster Harvey Elliott also appeared to get a medal of his own behind the scenes.
On the night of the presentation he was pictured holding the trophy without a medal around his neck on the pitch.
But he shared a snap biting a medal back in the dressing room later in the night, writing the caption: "No words will ever be enough to express how much this means to me.
“An absolute dream come true.”
