We may only see the best Liverpool in the Champions League this season

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Liverpool have been outstanding this season but we may only see their peak in the Champions League. Now that should frighten everyone else.

Liverpool beat Norwich City 1-0 on Saturday in a now routine performance. The Reds had to push for a breakthrough all game while up against a compact, resolute defence.

Their opponents would then look to hit them on the counter with limited numbers running at pace. Liverpool control them for virtually the entire game, though, and then someone produces something great. Much as Sadio Mane did at Carrow Road.

That summary works for the majority of Liverpool games this season. And, honestly, it’ll probably work for nearly all of the rest.

Teams face Liverpool expecting defeat because all but one team has suffered defeat. Liverpool go into every game expecting a win and knowing how to get it because they’ve done it in all but one game.

It means we don’t actually get to see Liverpool play to their strengths, thus we don’t see them at their potential best. Teams in the Premier League simply don’t challenge them – they merely hope for the best.

That’s not to say there aren’t some challenging games, of course, but opponents don’t try to go toe-to-toe. No one plays in a way that brings out Liverpool’s best, then, except for possibly Manchester City.

It’s a shame because this should be when Liverpool are playing their best football. They’ve found the rhythm that they can’t have at the start of the season, and they’ve just had a two-week break, so they’re fresh.

Unfortunately, the games still play out the same way. But that shouldn’t be the case in the Champions League, where we should see Liverpool at their best.

There, teams should attack Liverpool. For the most part, the continent’s best teams only know how to attack, having built their teams to do so.

Funnily enough, Atletico Madrid are a possible exception to that but should Liverpool get past them, they’ll face opponents looking to hurt them.

And that can bring out the best in Jurgen Klopp’s side. Sides looking to control games themselves will, ironically, mean they face a better Liverpool, one playing to their strengths.

The Reds can look to initiate attacks through pressing. They can utilise their pace. It’s the kind of stuff they simply can’t do in the Premier League this season. And it’s a very exciting thought.