 Complete the following phrase:  Liverpool started the 201819 season with their best-ever league start, winning their first six matches. A 40 win against Newcastle United on Boxing Day saw Liverpool extend their lead in the table to six points at the half-way point of the season and become only the fourth Premier League team to be unbeaten at this stage. Equalling the all-time record for the fewest goals conceded half-way through top-flight season, Liverpool conceded 7 goals and kept 12 clean sheets in 19 matches. Ultimately, Liverpool finished a season-long title battle as runners-up to Manchester City, to whom they suffered their only league defeat of the season. Winning all of their last nine matches, Liverpool scored 97 points, the third-highest total in the history of the English top-flight and the most points scored by a team without winning the title, and remained unbeaten at home for the second season running; their thirty league wins matched the club record for wins in a season. Liverpool reached the Champions League final for the second consecutive year after overcoming a 30 first-leg deficit by beating Barcelona 40 in the second leg at Anfield. In the 