But with six games remaining, Reds boss Klopp still wants to finish strongly.

Klopp said: "If someone said the result didn't matter for my team, I cannot help them.

"Yes results matter a lot. I am not only looking for results but we want to win football games – that is the reason we work in the training ground, go to away games and play home games."

One motivating factor could be the challenge of beating City's record of 100 points from two seasons ago.

Liverpool, who have dropped points in just four games this term, currently have 86 ahead of Sunday's home clash with Aston Villa.

Klopp said: "Look, it is but we cannot force that. To get there we have to win football games and we didn't do that here.

"So now we make sure we are ready for Aston Villa and the points tally at the end of the season is the result of the results we collect until then."

Liverpool started brightly against City with Mohamed Salah testing Ederson and then hitting the post but the hosts took charge after Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring from the penalty spot on 25 minutes. Further goals came from Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden before Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain put a Sterling shot into his own net.

It was a strong reminder of why City, despite the big gap, remain such a potent force and could end the season with Champions League glory.

"It's a reminder how good Man City are," Klopp said. "I didn't need that, I knew it before. The surprise that it's still possible, nice, that in a league where City are playing someone else can be champions. That's not very likely with the quality they have.

"We will see next season but it's a while until then. Next season we will think about next season."