If, as expected, Liverpool go into Sunday's Premier League clash with Manchester City eight points behind league leaders Manchester United there will be no shortage of doubters ready to write off their title hopes as an impossible dream.
But when you have been part of a team that clawed back an identical deficit to a Real Madrid side during the Galacticos era then you are surely entitled to believe that impossible is nothing.
Liverpool coach Mauricio Pellegrino looks back with great pride on the season when Valencia surprised everyone in Spain by reeling in the Real of Raul, Zidane and Beckham having lagged well behind them with three months of the campaign remaining.
Now he believes the Liverpool squad he helps train daily has both the characteristics and quality to ensure United will not be able to rest on their laurels even if they do give themselves an eight -point cushion.
"In football and in sport in general anything is possible," said the man who was described by Rafa Benitez as "a born winner" upon his return to Anfield in the summer.
"As long as your rivals do not have too many points with too few games left to play then of course they can still be caught – there are so many examples of this happening.
"When I was with Valencia as a player there was a time when we were eight points behind Real. This was in the 2003/04 season. We had won La Liga in 2001/02. This time we were behind and lots of people did not think we could catch them.
"But we went on a run in which we won seven games in a row and Real Madrid lost two or three games and we ended up being champions.
"We never gave up and we kept on believing in ourselves and because of this we were able to take advantage when the leaders did not win as many games as they had been expected to.
"We had a very strong team and we had confidence to keep going right up until the end and it paid off.
"In football you never know and things can change from one week to the next. With three points for a win gaps can be closed very quickly.
"If you look at the Premier League table the gap between Manchester United at the top and Aston Villa in third place is not so big.
"We still have chances, Villa still have chances and Chelsea in fourth still have chances.
"Our target now is to ensure that we get towards the end of the season with our chances still intact.
"Man United will be the favourites because they are the champions and they are at the top of the table but our team is having a good season and we will try to continue in this way.
"The team has confidence, the players have energy and they want to fight to the very end.
"We have tried from the very start to compete at the top of the table and we are doing that but we know that we can still improve some details.
"Some of the players are increasing their level and some of them are coming back from injuries so the future could be good."
The impending arrival of City brings similarly evocative, if more recent, memories for Pellegrino.
The last time the two sides met Liverpool staged one of the comebacks of this or any season to record a memorable victory after being two goals down.
And the 37-year-old believes the character they showed in that game is emblematic of what he sees in the squad all the time.
"Our squad has shown great character on many occasions this season," he said.
"If you go back to the first home game we were behind against Middlesbrough with only a few minutes remaining and we came back to win.
"It was similar in our last match against Portsmouth which we won 3-2 after being behind twice.
"The best example though is probably the win over Man City when we came back from two goals down away from home. That takes character and this means that we do not need to worry about pressure because the players have already proved that they can cope with it."
If Liverpool are to overhaul United then they must first deal with their Mancunian rivals and Pellegrino knows just how vital a win on Sunday could turn out to be.
"We have won our last two games so now we want to make it three," he said.
"Man City will be a tough opponent but we are confident that we can get the result that we are looking for.
"If we do win then we can look ahead to the Champions League game with Real Madrid with even more confidence and belief."
Having conquered Madrid once, Pellegrino now wants to do it again but it is United who occupy his thoughts most right now.
The similarities between United and Real are not lost on the Argentinian and now he wants Liverpool to do what Valencia did five years ago and show that even the hottest of favourites can be defeated.
"You can find comparisons because each country has powerful teams who the press is always pushing because they are expecting them to win the title," he said.
"We know this is the business but at the end it is eleven against eleven on the pitch and if you do your job well, with confidence and you play as a unit then this can be more powerful than the other things – the press or the money or the power.
"I trust in our players. It is an amazing squad to work with and they deserve to have a chance right up until the end because they have worked hard from the very first day.
"We are at a crucial stage in the season and the next month will decide if our possibilities will increase or decrease but, like I said, I believe in the Liverpool players."
But when you have been part of a team that clawed back an identical deficit to a Real Madrid side during the Galacticos era then you are surely entitled to believe that impossible is nothing.
Liverpool coach Mauricio Pellegrino looks back with great pride on the season when Valencia surprised everyone in Spain by reeling in the Real of Raul, Zidane and Beckham having lagged well behind them with three months of the campaign remaining.
Now he believes the Liverpool squad he helps train daily has both the characteristics and quality to ensure United will not be able to rest on their laurels even if they do give themselves an eight -point cushion.
"In football and in sport in general anything is possible," said the man who was described by Rafa Benitez as "a born winner" upon his return to Anfield in the summer.
"As long as your rivals do not have too many points with too few games left to play then of course they can still be caught – there are so many examples of this happening.
"When I was with Valencia as a player there was a time when we were eight points behind Real. This was in the 2003/04 season. We had won La Liga in 2001/02. This time we were behind and lots of people did not think we could catch them.
"But we went on a run in which we won seven games in a row and Real Madrid lost two or three games and we ended up being champions.
"We never gave up and we kept on believing in ourselves and because of this we were able to take advantage when the leaders did not win as many games as they had been expected to.
"We had a very strong team and we had confidence to keep going right up until the end and it paid off.
"In football you never know and things can change from one week to the next. With three points for a win gaps can be closed very quickly.
"If you look at the Premier League table the gap between Manchester United at the top and Aston Villa in third place is not so big.
"We still have chances, Villa still have chances and Chelsea in fourth still have chances.
"Our target now is to ensure that we get towards the end of the season with our chances still intact.
"Man United will be the favourites because they are the champions and they are at the top of the table but our team is having a good season and we will try to continue in this way.
"The team has confidence, the players have energy and they want to fight to the very end.
"We have tried from the very start to compete at the top of the table and we are doing that but we know that we can still improve some details.
"Some of the players are increasing their level and some of them are coming back from injuries so the future could be good."
The impending arrival of City brings similarly evocative, if more recent, memories for Pellegrino.
The last time the two sides met Liverpool staged one of the comebacks of this or any season to record a memorable victory after being two goals down.
And the 37-year-old believes the character they showed in that game is emblematic of what he sees in the squad all the time.
"Our squad has shown great character on many occasions this season," he said.
"If you go back to the first home game we were behind against Middlesbrough with only a few minutes remaining and we came back to win.
"It was similar in our last match against Portsmouth which we won 3-2 after being behind twice.
"The best example though is probably the win over Man City when we came back from two goals down away from home. That takes character and this means that we do not need to worry about pressure because the players have already proved that they can cope with it."
If Liverpool are to overhaul United then they must first deal with their Mancunian rivals and Pellegrino knows just how vital a win on Sunday could turn out to be.
"We have won our last two games so now we want to make it three," he said.
"Man City will be a tough opponent but we are confident that we can get the result that we are looking for.
"If we do win then we can look ahead to the Champions League game with Real Madrid with even more confidence and belief."
Having conquered Madrid once, Pellegrino now wants to do it again but it is United who occupy his thoughts most right now.
The similarities between United and Real are not lost on the Argentinian and now he wants Liverpool to do what Valencia did five years ago and show that even the hottest of favourites can be defeated.
"You can find comparisons because each country has powerful teams who the press is always pushing because they are expecting them to win the title," he said.
"We know this is the business but at the end it is eleven against eleven on the pitch and if you do your job well, with confidence and you play as a unit then this can be more powerful than the other things – the press or the money or the power.
"I trust in our players. It is an amazing squad to work with and they deserve to have a chance right up until the end because they have worked hard from the very first day.
"We are at a crucial stage in the season and the next month will decide if our possibilities will increase or decrease but, like I said, I believe in the Liverpool players."
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