That's all that may be separating Liverpool and perhaps the greatest feat in the history of club football.

The "quadruple" - that seemingly mythical achievement of winning all four major trophies in one season - is the target all the top teams in England set out to attain each season.

But given the strains on the squad and the vagaries of fortune and injuries, the idea of actually capturing the Champions League, the Premier League, the FA Cup and the League Cup is typically written off before it's even started.

Indeed, at the start of this season, British bookmakers were offering odds of 3,000-1 for Liverpool to complete the quadruple.

Now, the odds are 8-1. It really might be on.

Already League Cup winners after beating Chelsea on penalties in the final in February, Liverpool are through to the final of the FA Cup -- where they'll again face Chelsea -- and are favourites to reach the Champions League final after a 2-0 victory over Villarreal in the semi-finals first leg.

The latest hard-fought Premier League title race with Manchester City could hardly be tighter, with Liverpool a point behind in second place with five games remaining.

"I don't want to stop the emotions or people getting carried away, I have no problem with that at all," Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says.

"I know our people long enough, they are realistic as well, but they are always ready to dream when there is a little chance to dream."

Well, it's no longer a dream.

Winning the European Cup, the domestic league and the two domestic cup competitions is something no team in the top five leagues of European soccer -- England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France -- has ever achieved.

Nowadays, it's impossible for most, given England is the only one of the five countries to still have two cup competitions after France abolished its League Cup -- the Coupe de la Ligue -- in 2020. Germany did so in 2007 and Spain hasn't had a League Cup equivalent since 1986.

It has been achieved, though, by Celtic's 'Lisbon Lions' in the 1966-67 season. The great Scottish team won all three domestic trophies before beating Inter Milan in the European Cup final in Lisbon.

Here's what Klopp's team faces on a similar path to greatness:

PREMIER LEAGUE

The hardest trophy to win because it is out of their hands. If City win their remaining five games, Guardiola's team will retain the title. Liverpool can keep applying maximum pressure, though, as they play before City in their next three rounds of games. Liverpool's next match - away to resurgent Newcastle on Saturday - may be the toughest to win in the middle of the tight six-day turnaround between the two Villarreal games. Tottenham at home on May 7 looks to be the other troubling game for the Reds. City's run-in contains games against Leeds, Newcastle, Wolves, West Ham and Aston Villa.

FA CUP

Liverpool will take on Chelsea in the final at Wembley Stadium on May 14. Chelsea look fairly safe in third in the Premier League and are out of the Champions League, so manager Thomas Tuchel can rest his best players before the final - a luxury unlikely to be open to Klopp.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

If Liverpool finish off Villarreal in the second leg on Tuesday, Klopp's team will play either Madrid or City in the final in Paris on May 28, which would be a third final in five years for Liverpool.

Australian Associated Press