Reports of Liverpool’s resurrection are exaggerated.

Presumed dead a few times already this season, the Reds fooled everybody this week.

For 20 minutes into the game against Real Madrid, they looked like their old rampaging selves.

Having roared out of the blocks, they led through a sublime goal by their record signing, Darwin Nunez, and a gift accepted with aplomb by Mo Salah.

Anfield was in full voice for what had all the makings of another famous European night.

The lights shone, the atmosphere crackled and, after a troubled campaign, all suddenly seemed well with Liverpool’s world.

Two successive wins had put the top four back within reach; the owners weren’t selling after all and Uefa’s inquiry into the Paris fiasco had exonerated Liverpool fans.

Money would be made available for a summer rebuild and the two latest recruits were beginning to show why they were bought.

And those ghostly nemeses in all white, were already two down.

As false dawns go, it was right up there.

Then Vinicius Junior struck and the mood changed. Another goalkeeping error – this time by Alisson – and the game changed.

Soon after half-time, the season changed; and midway through the second half became a turning point in the modern history of the club.

It would be the biggest ever European loss at Anfield.

Real “declared” at five but they’d done more than enough: they’d already bowled out Jurgen Klopp’s great Liverpool side.

This was the end: as The Doors put it, of those elaborate plans, the end of everything that stands.

Together they had won it all, gone toe to toe with moneybags Manchester City and regenerated the club as one of the giants of world football.

But they can no longer pretend that a few tweaks are all it needs to turn them around: it’s painfully clear that major surgery is required.

In football, clubs can rise and fall like empires – and have as many theories written about the causes.

The Romans fell for a myriad of reasons from lead poisoning from eating bowls to deforestation.

Arsenal declined because Arsene Wenger hung on too long, money went on the stadium instead of players and cash-rich Chelsea and Man City emerged as serious threats.

Man United reigned so long because of the ruthless genius of Alex Ferguson but were already in decline when he left.

The Liverpool of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley lasted even longer but then they took almost as long to regain their perch.

What no one saw coming was the suddenness of this crash.

Looking back, it seems that certain players were not only playing above themselves, but beyond their “best by” date.

Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and Joel Matip, heroes then, now look past it while Naby Keita will have to go down as a £50 million flop.

Joe Gomez doesn’t look good enough, nor does Trent Alexander-Arnold as a defender. Even Thiago hasn’t lived up to the billing.

Klopp’s heavy metal style is being blamed for so many injuries while the manager doesn’t escape censure from some quarters for not heeding the warning signs.

If he is at fault, he’s in good company.

Just as Shankly took a dim view of injured players – often ostracising them – Klopp drives his men relentlessly.

Both have perhaps been too loyal to some whereas Paisley usually bought three players a season to keep the team fresh.

Klopp has not done that which may not be entirely down to cash restraints: the German prefers to work with a smallish squad and keep everyone in contention for a start.

But empires also fall because circumstances change and now, through analysis, his all-action gegen-pressing has lost its edge as others are doing it.

Defeats to the likes of Brighton, Wolves and Forest were tell-tale signs; recent wins over Everton and 10-man Newcastle offered false hope.

Klopp must now manage the fallout and ensure it doesn’t prevent them from capturing a top four slot that still appears up for grabs.

It will not only affect player recruitment but investors who will provide the cash for those players. All will want to be in the Champions League.

For more than a year, Jude Bellingham, 19, has been expected to become the next big thing at Liverpool.

Klopp has apparently been a hero of the England midfielder which may explain why the Reds have been in pole position for his signature.

But having been a Champions League regular with Borussia Dortmund, Bellingham will want to keep playing in the competition.

Which is why Kopites now fear he may choose to go elsewhere – notably to Real Madrid – should the Reds not secure Champions League football next season. Or even if they do.

A midfield of Bellingham, Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga would be worthy successors to Luka Modric, Tony Kroos and Casemiro.

Liverpool tried for Tchouameni last summer but his eyes were set on the Spanish capital. The weather’s better as well.

“Seventh season syndrome” is another theory being advanced for the Reds’ slide, a similar drop-off having happened to Klopp at Dortmund.

Could the great motivator be burned out? He insists not but there are those who think he may have run out of ideas.

History shows that great managers can be re-energised by stellar signings as Shankly was by Kevin Keegan, Paisley by Kenny Dalglish and Brendan Rogers by Luis Suarez.

In Nunez, Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz, Klopp has a trio who are somewhat unconventional. He just needs another who is full of goals.

Bellingham would also need an accomplice to adequately strengthen the midfield while right-back and centre-back are also weak points.

Ibrahima Konate looks good when fit and Virgil van Dijk surely has a year or two left in him.

Changes on that scale would mean a different team, perhaps with a slightly different style.

Just as players sometimes want to hear a new voice, managers want a new audience.

Real Madrid ensured that his first great Liverpool team doesn’t have any more to give.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.