LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 4: Liverpool fans with Champions themed banners during the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Liverpool FC at Stamford Bridge on May 4, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Liverpool may have lost 3-1 at Chelsea but their supporters, and players at full-time, were in high spirits after the Premier League title was sealed
Nothing was quite what it seemed here at Stamford Bridge. And one glance at the travelling Kop as Cole Palmer put the result beyond doubt was all the evidence required.
Rather than remonstrate at Liverpool being consigned to only their third Premier League defeat of the season, the Reds fans were instead celebrating almost as vociferously as the home Chelsea supporters.
There was an even more surreal moment after the final whistle when, as Arne Slot’s players saluted the away end, Ibrahima Konate was dancing as the Liverpool faithful continued to party.
Having been denied their moment five years ago, this was a further example of how Reds supporters are determined to wring every last drop out of enjoying a championship triumph that was won emphatically with four games to spare last weekend.
Balloons spelling out “Champions 20” were lifted before kick-off while the buoyant noise emerging from the away end became even louder after Enzo Fernandez had fired Chelsea into a third-minute lead.
Indeed, there was barely a pause for breath throughout the game.
That Konate had been an unused substitute said much about the strength of the Liverpool side Slot fielded, making six changes with four of the XI having made a combined total of nine Premier League starts this season.
Representative of the campaign it was not. And when prefacing the game by insisting his team’s efforts this season be judged by their points tally after 34 games – 82, for those who need reminding – Slot had hinted at what was likely to come.
And while, perhaps unlike at Manchester City in 2020, this was by no means a matter of Liverpool phoning it in – they had the greater possession and could easily have been level by the time Palmer’s injury-time spot kick sealed a 3-1 loss – there was an understandable sense of the collective foot being taken off the gas, certainly in terms of concentration.
The job, after all, has already been done.
undefined
undefined
Also available is the Liverpool FC CHAMP20NS: Premier League winners 24/25, with a double sided poster.
undefined
Chelsea fans raced through their regular Steven Gerrard chants – referencing an incident 11 years previous after which Liverpool have now won the championship twice – but it mattered not to those who had made the long journey from Merseyside.
The game was lost, but the title is won.
And Reds supporters are going to make sure everybody knows about it for as long as possible.