Three times Liverpool came pretty close to winning Premier League before this season

Bengaluru, June 29: Liverpool’s long search for a league title was finally ended after 30 years when Chelsea defeated Manchester City 2-1 in the league in the last gameweek.

Jurgen Klopp's side were already 23 points above the defending champions and needed only two points to secure the title. But Guardiola's failure to register a win against the Blues handed the Reds the title a game earlier, overall seven games earlier, a league record.

This remarkable success, however, could have been achieved earlier too. The Red half of Merseyside also came close to winning the coveted trophy four times earlier since the inception of the Premier League but could not see through the finishing mark.

Here are three incidents where the Reds came close to laying their hands on the trophy:

2008/09

Liverpool riding on the success of talisman Fernando Torress, leaders Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and the mastery of Rafael Benitez fought neck to neck with Alex Ferguson's Manchester United.

However, could not keep up the momentum for the whole 38 games. Liverpool won 10 of their last 11 and lost just twice the whole season. But drew a massive 11 times in the league, which took away the title from them. United secured a treble in that season and won the league by four points.

2013/14

The pairing of Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge almost guided the side to a league victory but a massive slip up in the last month of the league fully took away the much-expected league victory from manager Brendan Rodger's hand.

Five points clear with just three games to go, two win's would have handed Liverpool the title. But they lost against Chelsea, then drew against Crystal Palace despite having a 3-0 lead. Manchester City meanwhile won all the remaining games and clinched the title with two more points than them.

2018/19

One of the best title challenges in the history of the Premier League, last season Jurgen Klopp's side were just shy of one point to win the League title. The Reds racked up an astonishing 97 points and lost just once all season but time and time, Pep Guardiola's team matched them and recorded consecutive 19 wins in the second half of the season to finish the season with one more point than Liverpool. Liverpool's dry run in between January and March where they drew four times out of six could have been the big factor.