With decisions that have been made over the past week or so, the possibility of declaring the 19/20 Premier League season as 'null and void' has essentially been taken off the table.
In reality it was never really an option, but some football fans were vocal in their support of having the current campaign expunged from the record books. That just isn't going to happen.
If the remaining fixtures cannot be fulfilled then it the final standings will be decided based on 'sporting merit'. That is likely to come in some form of a points-per-game average.
Regardless of the method, it is all but certain that Liverpool will be crowned champions. Jurgen Klopp's side currently hold a 25-point lead at the top of the table, needing two wins from their remaining nine games to guarantee the title.
Speaking at a talk at the DFB Academy, the German manager has finally responded to those who wanted the season cancelled. Klopp said he believes it would be unfair were the season declared void when the finish line is in site (h/t Goal):
There was talk that people wanted to declare the season null and void. So you thought: 'Huh? We have played 76 per cent of the season and you just want to delete the thing?'
That would have been something that I personally would find unfair, to just say that it didn't happen.
We are first in the home table, we are first in the away table. It is a season in which we should become champions.
Dealing with the crisis is the most important thing. But that doesn't mean that certain things are of no importance at all just because they are less important.
I think there are worse things in life than not becoming champions. A lot of people around us have big problems. People die, it always happens, but at the moment because of a virus that we all didn't know and for which nobody could be prepared.
We cannot prepare for everything, but also have to react often. That’s the biggest part of my life, reacting to things that I didn’t expect.
Klopp also said that he is fully aware that there are things that are far more important than football at the moment, but the sport must be prepared to return when it is possible to do so:
People say: 'How can you think about football, in moments when people are dying out there?' Nobody does that, but like every other branch of business, we have to prepare for the time afterwards, because it will come of course.
When it comes to football, that means that we will start training at some point and to make sure everyone is safe, unique measures are taken.
As they were made in Germany, they are now being taken in England. The training centres of the English professional clubs will be the safest. There are no places to be infected at all.
