It was the day before the start of the season when Jurgen Klopp conjured a colourful analogy to set the tone.
Liverpool, Klopp explained, were Rocky Balboa to Manchester City's Ivan Drago, the seemingly invincible foe from the fourth instalment of the eponymous movie series. Not surprisingly, it brought a response from Pep Guardiola - 'Thank you for that, Jurgen,' - that was clearly sardonic.
You cannot compare Liverpool to Rocky in terms of their journey to the top. They spent huge money in 2018 to build a squad that could challenge for the title, so it is nonsense to have them regarded as some kind of plucky underdogs. This is expensively assembled squad has been built to win.
But as Liverpool's title challenge was on the line at St James's Park, the final fight in Rocky 4 - during which Drago lands a succession of heavy blows to no avail - came to mind. Frequently Drago looks in disbelief to Rocky, climbing off the canvas, with a look that says: 'How are you still standing?'
As he watched Divock Origi score in the final moments - the 24th Liverpool goal that has arrived after the 75th minute in this campaign - to commandeer a 3-2 victory, Guardiola must have felt something similar. What, he will have wondered, must happen for City to finally shake them off. Liverpool, simply, will not go away.
'It comes from the belief in the squad,' said Jordan Henderson. 'We have great belief in each other no matter who plays or who comes on. What we've always said is that we'll keep going right to the end, no matter what happens and we've done that again.
'It is big moments every week and we have kept this race going right to the last game. You never know what can happen. We just focus on winning games and we'll just see what happens. That was a big moment for us as we wanted to take it to the last game which we've now managed to do.'
Henderson has a very matter of fact way of explaining things. Liverpool had a job to do and, to their captain's relief, they did it but it. How they did it - and the circumstances in which they were able to achieve it - was anything but straightforward.
There was a feeling that Lionel Messi's second goal in Barcelona's 3-0 win would rip the heart out of Liverpool and lead to a hangover on Tyneside. The physical effort last Wednesday as huge and there were moments when you looked at the players and felt this was a step too far.
Without doubt, Liverpool were on their knees at times. Two equalisers conceded in front of a baying home crowd; the sight of Mohamed Salah leaving on a stretcher to exacerbate the absence of Roberto Firmino. Still, however, they were able to respond.
Every question that City have asked this season, especially through this staggering sequence of 27 wins in 29 matches, Liverpool have answered. When Guardiola's magnificent team have played first and been faultless, Klopp have never lost their footing.
Rocky, of course, didn't always win and Liverpool need to be prepared for the very real prospect they will end this fight as gallant losers. But what they have done is keep the pressure on City - pressure that will remain until the final bell.
'We deserve something at the end of it but we've just got to keep going,' said Henderson.
'Whoever gets it will deserve it. We couldn't have done any more and we have given everything. It's going to the last game and we need to finish on a high at Anfield - then pray that a miracle can happen.'