Tottenham is not the first group of players to stumble blindly from the green acres of Anfield that have been stripped of purpose, belief, hope and dignity. Nor will they be the last if Arne Slot and his team continue to play like this.
This was supposed to be a draw in balance, a meeting of minds and styles, a contest. But it wasn't that. It was an Evisceral of Blanco by red. It was a dismantling, a scholarship, a humiliating.
There were four but it could have been five. Tottenham simply was never in him, his hopes of a Cup final that saves the season without mercy, since Liverpool produced a performance that was almost perfect.
Maybe it was perfect. Is there such a thing in sport? Maybe not. But this was as good as necessary and perhaps almost as good as it can be on one occasion like this.
The Ange Postecoglou players did everything possible. In the first half, they played wisdom while trying to protect their thin aprons from the first leg and maintain liverpool along the arm.
They sat and compressed space and worked hard. And they succeeded for 34 minutes only for a goal, from Cody Gakpo, to skew them and from that point in Liverpool he destroyed them as wild dogs.
Mohammed Salah took Liverpool to a 4-0 victory over Tottenham in his second-leg shock
The Reds will now face Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final after their aggregate victory of 4-1
Ange Posttecoglou seemed lost in the touch line when his spurs side was torn in pieces
In the second half, Liverpool was irresistible. A penalty of Mo Salah advanced them in the tie and then an objective of an almost impressive beauty of Dominik Szoboszlai, created by the flourishing talent of Conor Bradley, meant that Virgil's header van Dijk from a late corner was a garnish and nothing else .
Liverpool will stop when they are in Newcastle in Wembley next month. Tottenham now has a draw at the FA Cup in Aston Villa on Sunday night. He loses that and his season will not contain anything other than question signs.
Postecoglou said before the start that his team would play on the front foot, but that was not the case at all. On the contrary it was true.
Tottenham spent the whole first period within his own half of the field. First, while looking to protect their first stage lead. It was a quite deliberate tactic.
Then, after Liverpool scored in the 34th minute, the Spurs simply could not leave. By the interval, Liverpool was a goal and level in the draw and it was the least they deserved.
There had been some needle from the beginning. Tottenham Richharlison striker once played for Everton and, therefore, is not popular in these parts. In the first ten minutes he fell under an agitated arm of Virgil Van Dijk and, although the Brazilian took the most, there was clearly contact with the throat. The Liverpool captain was fortunate to escape the sanction.
Not long after, the couple crashed again. This time, Van Dijk offered his hand to help his opponent to get up, just to withdraw him while Richarlison approached. All very childish.
In terms of football, Liverpool was dominant in every way. Slot had rested to some players while Postecoglou presented a new defender, the Austrian Kevin Danson, and had his exciting adolescent loan Mathys Tel in the bank.
Salah became a penalty point to double Liverpool's advantage at night
The Egyptian wore a big smile on his face later, since he was embraced by Virgil van Dijk
As it happened, Tel was just before halftime, since Richharlison was the victim of muscle tension. He left the field accompanied by some histrionics.
Liverpool does not swarm for all Tottenham. It was more a survey than a complete assault. Dominik Szobolszlai saw an early diverted shot saved by Antonin Kinsky and had another blocked shot just like Ryan Gravenber. Darwin Núñez, meanwhile, a header was saved before Mo Salah played in Szobozslai to score right in the 30th minute only for the Hungarian to set half a yeño.
Spurs efforts at rest were insignificant. At one stage they broke so cautiously in the field that they were surpassed in number seven players. For the interval, Liverpool had handled 73 percent possession and eleven shots. The most important thing is that they had also scored a goal by then.
He came from a Tottenham error when Yves Bissouma coughed possession in the central garden. When Gravenberch worked in the ball to the room on the right, Núñez lost his cross with the exterior of the left foot, but flew in the distant post by Gakpo.
It was a good end of the Dutch international. He was moving back and, therefore, was a challenge to gather power. Even so, Kinksy, diving to his right with two hands, should really have saved him. It was his mistake.
Salah then hit the upper part of the bar with a volley after the post while Liverpool tried to squeeze the life of the game. At the middle of the night and the Spurs were already enduring.
However, in the first five minutes of the second period, and things seemed much worse.
The beginning of half of the Liverpool was explosive. Three times they threatened the Spurs goal in 90 seconds, with Kinsky saving the second, a header from a corner of Szoboszlai.
The pressure is growing in Ange Postecoglou now that his team has been knocked out by the cup
Mathys Tel made his spurs debut the night after leaving the bank in the first half
Then, for a penalty, they noted. Salah's ball behind Tottenham's central defenders was impressive. It was perfect inch and, while Núñez did, the penalty could be seen at a mile away. Kinsky properly demolished the Liverpool striker and Salah turned the penalty into Kinsky's right into the Kop End.
Now the spurs had to bet. They had to enter the game. Postecoglou sent two submarines and the Spurs suddenly went out to play, pressing their opponents in the field in a style more associated with their manager.
That left them vulnerable on the back, of course and that Liverpool began to create overloads on the counter. From one, in the 63rd minute, Salah and Curtis Jones fed Gakpo, who hit the shot after the post through the goal.
The tie was certainly prepared with remaining twenty minutes. An objective of the Spurs would return them to the image, while another of Liverpool would indicate the end.