Do not call the legends of Philippe Coutinho and Luis Suarez in Liverpool

The reception will be respectful. Anfield is still showing appreciation to stars who have already served Liverpool with distinction.

But the Swedes and Swiss Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho will have no doubt against the team of Jurgen Klopp in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

Fans will be too concerned to pay tribute to the staff who still carry their hopes and dreams rather than lingering over the two who have turned their backs and gone away.

The Barcelona duo will find that the Reds are almost unrecognizable from the club they have left behind. The bar has been raised significantly. Liverpool will face the Catalan giants on an equal footing rather than on the neglected.

Klopp described the secondary plot as being "the return of two Liverpool legends", but it's a little too complicated.

Suarez and Coutinho both illuminated Anfield during their stay in Liverpool. The two talented South American attackers produced a range of demonstrations of majestic brilliance and left behind a host of memories.

But by breaking their tie with Kop, they missed the opportunity to join the pantheon of club legends.

Greatness is not simply determined by natural ability. It's about longevity, loyalty and medals.

Suarez and Coutinho did not check these boxes. They regarded Liverpool as a stepping stone, they were just pbading through.

The better you are, the more your indiscretions are forgiven, it was certainly the case with Suarez.

The Uruguayan leader has revealed himself to be a genius, but deeply flawed, with regard to discipline issues that have resulted in Liverpool's name in the mud.

It is often forgotten that he asked to join Arsenal in the summer of 2013 before Steven Gerrard helped him to convince him to stay for another year.

Suarez was just sensational as he scored 31 goals in the league during the surprise title puck that followed, but then left the ship for the Barca after biting Georgio Chiellini at the World Cup.

He scored 82 goals in 133 appearances in three and a half years in Liverpool and left with only one success in the League Cup.

Coutinho stayed longer. The Brazilian scored 54 goals in 201 games during his five-year stay, but did not get his hands on the silverware.

After a slow start to Anfield, he flourished and his influence on the team grew. But, like Suarez, his head was returned by the Catalan giants just months after signing a new long-term contract.

Liverpool tried to force him in the summer of 2017 and refused three offers.

The mysterious back injury that followed and that FSG President Mike Gordon told face to face in Munich in the pre-season, told him that he was not going anywhere. Remarkably, he cleared once the window closed.

Liverpool spent the next six months trying to convince him that his long-term future lay at Anfield, but he was unsuccessful.

Coutinho was adamant that he wanted to play outside – even though he was not eligible to play for Barca in the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Klopp then decided that it was impossible to keep his services and make the most of him. It was a side show that the Reds could happen.

Crucially, he left for Liverpool. The GBP 142 million, which includes an additional £ 36 million, negotiated by sports director Mike Gordon, was exactly double what Barcelona had proposed for the first time at Coutinho last July.

It was a crazy sum of money for a player who only cost Liverpool £ 8.5 million in Inter Milan in January 2013.

"We are big enough and strong enough to continue our aggressive progression on the pitch," Klopp promised on Coutinho's departure day.

His words proved prophetic. Fourteen months in Liverpool are in remarkable form.

While Suarez's profits amounted to 75 million pounds, like those of Mario Balotelli and Lazar Markovic, Coutinho's money was spent wisely.

The signatures of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker have given Liverpool the defensive steel that will accompany their range of dazzling firepower.

The sale of Coutinho actually made Liverpool stronger. It also made them less predictable as an attack force.

When Coutinho left for Catalonia, the Reds were preparing for their first draw in the Champions League in nine years. Now they are two steps away from the consecutive finals.

We have to go back in 1984 for the last time. Liverpool had organized such a sustained challenge for both the high-flying crown and the European Cup.

It's a club where elite talents from around the world want to implant. They believe they can realize their dreams at Anfield. They see Liverpool as a final destination and not just as a stepping stone.

The legends dedicate the best years of their career to a club, they write unforgettable chapters of success. Suarez and Coutinho did not do that.

But Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Virgil van Dijk and his colleagues are about to write their names in the Anfield folklore.