The only seven European clubs to win the treble as Liverpool edge closer to quadruple

Liverpool are genuinely nearing the quadruple.

Having defeated Villarreal 2-0 in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday night, the Reds are potentially only 180 minutes away from lifting their seventh European crown.

Marry that to having already won the Carabao Cup, sitting just one point off the Premier League summit and preparing for the FA Cup final to see exactly why history is genuinely being touted.

Now, of course, beating either Real Madrid or Manchester City as well as Chelsea in major finals won’t be easy, never mind relying on dropped points in the league, but the quadruple has certainly never been closer.

All those times that supporters have gotten overexcited about City winning the Carabao Cup early in the year have never gone this far in terms of genuinely entertaining a quartet of trophies.

And really, that shouldn’t be any sort of shock at all because the simple fact of the matter is that an English club has never won the League Cup, FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League in a single season.

Yes, that does also apply to when it was the old First Division and European Cup, too.

In fact, even when you look across European football as a whole, there are very few examples of ‘quadruples’ that hold up to the scrutiny that Liverpool‘s would be able to survive.

Besides, instances like the ‘sextuple’ that Barcelona won under Pep Guardiola can ultimately be chalked off on the basis that the six trophies were secured across a calendar year and not a season.

If we’re talking about a strict criteria of the league title, European title and biggest two club competitions, then you’re pretty much only left with 2012/13 Bayern Munich and 1966/67 Celtic.

The Bavarians won the Champions League,