Managers tend to learn pretty early in their career that, in football, there are some things you cannot control.
It is why so many of them prefer to talk about ‘the process’, or focus on performances rather than results during their encounters with the media.
In those terms, Jurgen Klopp couldn’t have asked for much from Liverpool during last night’s Champions League last-16 second leg clash with Atletico Madrid.
The Spaniards had been impressively dogged in the sides’ first meeting, completely nullifying a Reds attack that has rarely looked so blunt.
But suggestions that Diego Simeone might repeat that masterclass at Anfield looked dubious when the hosts landed their first shot on target of the tie after just five minutes.
Klopp’s men dominated from there on in, placing the Atleti goal under siege as visiting goalkeeper Jan Oblak was forced to make nine saves.
And, while it took until the fourth minute of extra-time for Roberto Firmino to convert that into a lead worthy of passage to the quarter-finals, there would have been few arguments over the deservedness of the result had the scoring ended there.
Still, that Liverpool had just two goals to show for their efforts ensured that fine margins remained at play with that added half-hour ticking down.
And the significance of that fact was then cruelly underlined when Adrian shanked a simple clearance to Joao Felix, who teed up Marcos Llorente to score.
The absence of the injured Alisson Becker hadn’t told prior to that point but, when it did, the tie was effectively ended by the weight of an away goal.
One of this competition’s most endearing features is that its knockout stages asks teams to constantly walk that tightrope, something Liverpool have done expertly in reaching back-to-back finals over the last two seasons.
Alisson’s last-gasp save against Napoli, the four-goal heroics that downed Barcelona - moments of brilliance, yes, but also moments that could so easily have gone a different way on another day.
As Klopp put it at full-time: “For two-and-a-half years we had an exceptional ride in the Champions League, we had party after party after party in the Champions League pretty much.
“And tonight was a party, everything was set, it was great – crowd exceptional, the stadium, everything showed up in the best way.
“The boys delivered a super game, fought hard, played well and scored wonderful goals. But we lost. That’s it.
“We were lucky in moments in the Champions League, when we went through for some reason. Usually we really deserved it but there were lucky moments as well. Tonight we are out.
“Atletico won both games, they are deservedly in the next round.”
Having never lost a two-legged European tie under Klopp prior to last night, Liverpool had become quite used to always landing on the right side of such knife-edge fixtures.
The stunned silence that descended upon Anfield after Llorente’s second goal was evidence enough of what supporters had come to expect.
Like all managers, though, Liverpool’s boss was never under the impression that his team had suddenly become immune to fate conspiring against them.
After that proved emphatically to be the case on Wednesday, the German’s task now is to refocus his players on quickly securing the two wins that will guarantee this season ends with a long-awaited Premier League title being secured.
At least in that competition, Liverpool have been able to ensure that they cannot be undone by fine margins.
