It wasn't to be.
Liverpool's attempts to land their seventh European crown, and second Champions League success, ended in heartbreak in Paris as Real Madrid claimed a 1-0 victory thanks to a goal from Vinicius Junior.
Only a week ago the quadruple had been on, with the Premier League title within their grasp before Manchester City's remarkable comeback against Aston Villa, where three goals in the final 12 minutes delivered the crown to Pep Guardiola's side. The focus for Liverpool quickly switched to Paris and taking on the Spanish giants, but it wasn't the fairytale ending that Reds fans had hoped for. Financially, it also wasn't the ending that they had dreamed of.
Before a ball was kicked in Paris the Reds had banked some £102m through prize money and media rights, while around another £18m had arrived during the competition from gate receipts. All that will have a positive impact on Liverpool's finances and could embolden owners Fenway Sports Group to make money available to Reds boss Jurgen Klopp in the summer transfer window.
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But the sum that they were hoping to achieve, one in excess of £130m, won't materialise after the defeat to Real Madrid, with the Reds missing out on £11.7m in extra income, a figure that could have been higher if the club had leveraged their success, something they have done well in recent years.
A sum of just shy of £4m was to go to the victors, with qualification for the UEFA Super Cup, where the winners pick up £4m, also on offer. Then came qualification for the FIFA Club World Cup, something where the winners can pick up another £4, and a competition that Liverpool won after they triumphed over Tottenham Hotspur in the 2019 final.
That figure of close on £12m will likely have been given a significant bump with bonus payments from sponsors for winning the Champions League likely to kick in, as well as the chance to leverage the success when engaging with new commercial partners, something that would have given them a strong hand heading into the negotiation of key sponsorships such as the front of shirt and sleeve partners, currently held by Standard Chartered and Expedia, respectively.
Positively, Liverpool will bank £2.9m more next season, which was already assured before the defeat to Real Madrid, thanks to an improved UEFA co-efficient from next season.
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Based upon the distribution of Champions League revenues for 2021/22, Liverpool received €22.7m (£19m) from the market pool. That figure was reached by the Reds receiving their chunk of the €600.6m (£502.5m) that is broken down 528 parts valued at €1.137m (£0.95m) and then distributed to clubs based upon their coefficient position among the 32 qualifying clubs. For example, the lowest ranked side in this year's Champions League, Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol, received €1.137m from the market pool while the side with the largest coefficient, Real Madrid, received that sum multiplied by the number of teams, 32, to earn €36.38m (£30.44m) from the market pool.
Liverpool's ten-year coefficient sees them in 13th on the 10-year list, behind Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla and FC Porto. Based on the current state of play, the Reds would move into 10th on next year's list, with all three clubs qualifying for next year's competition based on their current domestic performance. That would mean that Liverpool would claim €26.15m (£21.9m) from next year's market pool. Even if Liverpool had won every game in this season's Champions League and lift the trophy they would still be four points short of Manchester United who occupy ninth on the list, although United missed out on next season's Champions League and could soon be overtaken by the Reds.
