It is testament to Jurgen Klopp’s sunny disposition that he could so quickly identify the positives from Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat to Barcelona.
The Reds had been beaten by a scoreline convincing enough to suggest that their Champions League hopes had died in Catalonia, as well as their bid to avoid a seventh consecutive trophyless campaign.
And yet Klopp spent his post-match press conference hailing what he viewed as his team’s best away performance in Europe this season.
He said: “From my point of view my boys gained a lot of respect for the way they played, and I am so happy with how they developed.
“I had so much fun out of that game but in the end we lost it, which is not funny really. I am long enough in the business that I have learned to accept it.
“Whatever happens, these boys, I couldn’t be more proud of them. People who haven’t seen the game will see the result and say strange things about it, but they always strike back in these kind of games.
“How brave they are, I just like it. And in the end it is still 3-0, it will not change.
“There will be a moment when I can convince the boys again how important this game was for our development because I really think this was our best Champions League away performance.
“That is another important message for us not the world outside because they look at the result.”
In fairness to Klopp, he was completely right.
Liverpool outshot and outpassed their hosts over the course of 90 minutes - not something Camp Nou regulars are used to seeing.
Unfortunately, they did not outfinish Barcelona and, as ever, that was all that mattered when the final whistle blew.
These are the cruel fine margins at the elite end of the sporting spectrum, where the biggest competitions are decided by the big moments.
It is something a decorated player such as James Milner knows all too well, a fact that meant he was no mood to praise the Reds’ performance at full-time.
"I think at this stage of the competition the result is the only thing that matters really," he told beIN Sports.
"Maybe we can take heart that we created chances in the game and we should have probably taken a couple of those, but it didn't happen and they are a top team who are always going to create chances and they took them.
"We can be proud of our play, but at this stage of the competition you need to get the result."
It is not difficult to make the case that, for Liverpool, injuries have tended to play a part in their inability to come down on the right side of those fine margins, particularly under Klopp.
The absence of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and early loss of Mohamed Salah in Kiev certainly played a part in last season’s European run coming to an unsatisfactory conclusion.
And here, the Reds were already without Roberto Firmino before the increasingly influential Naby Keita was forced out of the game with 20 minutes gone.
But that is an issue for the manager to ponder over the summer; now, he must focus fully on the seemingly impossible job that awaits at Anfield next week.
Of course, in true Klopp fashion, he still believes it is possible.
He said: “Because it is football, yes, but before this game we had a bigger chance, let me say it like this. It is difficult.
“It is Barcelona and they can play for counter attacks, which doesn’t help us a lot. Because it is football, we should still try but it didn’t make our life easier.
“It is not the night to be mouthy and saying it was exactly what we wanted, if we score an early goal and all that s***. It will be another really difficult game.”
Perhaps the truest test of the German’s always-positive outlook will come in June, when Liverpool will finally know whether it is their turn to pick up the winners’ medals.
