Jurgen Klopp has taken Liverpool on quite the rise in recent years, turning the Reds into European, World and English champions, but things could have been different had he not guided them to a top four finish on the last day of the 2016/17 season.
Beating relegated Middlesbrough 3-0 at Anfield, in hindsight qualification was hardly in doubt. But it seems strange, given their recent success, the anxiety around whether they could actually finish in the top four.
They had competed in the Champions League just once since 2009 after all, and on that occasion suffered a group-stage exit, with the lack of elite European football inevitably costing them on the transfers front and in their quest for success.
So how would things have been different if Liverpool had missed out in 2017? Well there would have been no trip to Kiev for the Champions League final against Real Madrid, that’s for sure!
But would it have seen them miss out on signing Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk? Could Barcelona have landed Philippe Coutinho six months sooner and for less? And would the Reds have still been able to fund their 2018 summer spending spree on Alisson, Fabinho, Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri?
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Given Klopp’s pedigree, we can assume he would have completed this Liverpool turnaround sooner or later, though his Reds squad could have looked very different if missing out on the Champions League that year had indeed cost the club the chance to sign the likes of Salah, Van Dijk and co.
It wouldn’t have been the first time, of course. They had had to get used to seeing a number of their top targets decide to move elsewhere with Liverpool unable to compete financially or offer them the Champions League football that they desire.
Fortunately for the Reds, such has been Klopp’s success, they hardly need worry themselves about the possibility of missing out on the Champions League and A-list signings as a result these days. Even when an injury crisis had seen them destined to miss out last year, they still found a way to finish in the top four. And should they ever miss out, the assumption would be their absence would only be for a season the way the current land lies.
Yet there was one occasion where Liverpool found themselves in the strange position where Champions League qualification actually prevented them from completing a signing.
Back in 2004/05, the Reds famously progressed to the knockout stages on their way to reaching Istanbul courtesy of Steven Gerrard’s late wondergoal against Olympiakos. Yet that strike would inadvertently prevent Rafa Benitez from signing a striker.
Liverpool were drawn against Bayer Leverkusen in the round-of-16, with today marking 17 years since they won the first leg 3-1 at Anfield to help land some revenge for their surprise quarter-final defeat at the hands of the Bundesliga outfit three years earlier.
But Benitez and the Reds had been locked in transfer talks with Leverkusen prior to the round-of-16 draw, with confirmation that they would be facing each other in February/March ensuring negotiations were ended.
As a result, Liverpool missed out on signing Dimitar Berbatov.
Of the collapsed transfer, Benitez was quoted by the Mirror saying: "We knew about Berbatov before we played them in 2005, I'd been aware of him since I was in Valencia. He was a player were were looking at closely.
"Everybody can see the quality he has and we wanted him, but then the draw with Leverkusen came along and we couldn't get him. It is shame but we had to move on."
The Reds would end up signing Fernando Morientes from Real Madrid instead, with Berbatov moving to Tottenham Hotspur in 2006 before signing for Manchester United two years later and then leaving for Fulham in 2012.
The Bulgarian would end up scoring five times against Liverpool during his career, including an Old Trafford hat-trick and for Leverkusen in their 2002 quarter-final win, and also register five assists from 17 appearances.
Yet he would end up on the winning side against the Reds just three times.
Still, given his record in the Premier League, with the striker scoring 94 times from 229 appearances and winning two titles and a Golden Boot, Liverpool would be left to rue missing out on his services. And not just because Morientes ended up flopping.
Berbatov would start for Leverkusen both at Anfield and the Bay Arena in 2005 as the Reds ran out 6-2 winners on aggregate, with the striker helping create his side’s away goal in the first leg when Jerzy Dudek parried his effort to Franca.
While Liverpool would ultimately miss out Berbatov, Benitez would later sign one striker from the Leverkusen side his team faced on this day in 2005.
Andriy Voronin. Yeah, that didn’t work out too well either.
