Liverpool beat Wolves 2-0 at Anfield on Sunday thanks to two goals from Sadio Mane, but City came from behind to win 4-1 at Brighton and retain their title by a single point.

It meant Liverpool ended the season on 97 points, the third-highest tally in Premier League history, but fell agonisingly short of securing their first English top-flight title since 1990.

“Congratulations to Manchester City,” Liverpool boss Klopp told the BBC. “We tried everything to make it as difficult as possible but not difficult enough. I couldn’t be more proud of the boys.

“It’s incredible what they did all season and today was a strange situation. We were really good until 1-0, what happened then was clear. You can’t tell the people to calm down.”

City trailed for 83 seconds after Glenn Murray’s first-half header for Brighton, briefly putting Liverpool two points clear at the top as it stood, but Pep Guardiola’s side fought back to ultimately win with ease.

“At that moment (when Liverpool fans celebrated Brighton’s goal) it was a shock for everyone and Wolves were there,” added Klopp.

“We had to fight. In the end we scored two and kept a clean sheet. It’s nice but not how we wanted it.

“It’s clear we had to work hard and City too. Our target during the week was to get 97 points, we got that — that’s special. We want to write our own history and we did.

“Today feels not so good but we have plenty of time to prepare for an important game in three weeks (Champions League final).”

– ‘We’ll be there again’ –

Klopp hailed his team’s progress in the past year, having needed a 4-0 victory over Brighton on the final day of last season just to finish fourth.

“The boys were all there from last season apart from (goalkeeper) Alisson,” he said. “He had a big impact but all the rest were here last season.

“It’s a very special season, a better season than I played with my team (Borussia Dortmund) when we were champions in Germany. But we cannot ignore one team were better.

“It’s clear we were lucky in moments, like City were. We were unlucky against City but scored in the last second against Everton and late on against Newcastle, they could have been draws as well…

“They (City) have 198 points in two years, that’s special. We made such big steps. It’s only the first step. Always after a good year we lost key players (in the past) but we won’t (this time) so we’ll be there again.”

Liverpool could yet be crowned European champions for a sixth time if they beat English rivals Tottenham in the Champions League final in Madrid on June 1.

And Klopp told Sky Sports: “We have three weeks to prepare for the Champions League final — let’s give it a go.”

The world number one joined Rafael Nadal on top of the all-time Masters list when he swept to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas in Sunday’s final in the Spanish capital.

“At this very important time for me in the season, the win gives me a lot of confidence prior to Rome and, of course, Roland Garros where I definitely want to play my best,” said the 15-time major winner.

Djokovic dominated a clearly exhausted Tsitsipas less than 24 hours after the 20-year-old Greek had stunned five-time champion Nadal in a semi-final which ended around midnight on Saturday.

Djokovic and Nadal will now attempt to claim a 34th Masters title in Rome this week in a key indicator ahead of Roland Garros which gets under way on May 26.

Djokovic credits a keys wins in Madrid with helping him to his first final since winning the Australian Open three months ago.

He will be bidding to collect his fourth consecutive title at a Grand Slam when he plays in Paris where he was also champion in 2016.

“This win was very important for my level of confidence because after the Australian Open I wasn’t playing my best,” he said.

“I wasn’t finding the right game and the consistency on the court in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo.

“I felt like I was close and needed a little bit of a push, which came yesterday against Dominic Thiem in the semi-final in a very close match.”

Djokovic never let Tsitsipas get into gear in a final which lasted just over 90 minutes

The Greek, who beat Djokovic in their previous meeting last summer in Canada, was broken once in each set, enough of a margin for the top seed to take the trophy, his second of the season after the Australian  Open.

The Serb still needed four match points to get the job done with Tsitsipas finally beaten when Djokovic sent a winning volley into the corner.

“He has the best backhand that I have ever seen in a human being,” said Tsitsipas of his opponent.

“He controls it so well. He can play cross, he can play down the line the same way. And that’s very difficult to deal with.

“He deserved the victory, he played unbelievable. I couldn’t do much.”

Tsitsipas was playing his second Masters 1000 final after losing to Nadal in Toronto last August.

Pep Guardiola’s team won 4-1 at Brighton to finish with 98 points — the second-highest total in Premier League history — as Liverpool beat Wolves 2-0 at Anfield to finish a single, agonising, point adrift.

City, who strung together 14 league wins at the end of the season, are the first side to retain the title since their bitter rivals Manchester United managed the feat in 2009, and remain on course for the first domestic treble in English football history.

But Guardiola’s team did not have it all their own way as they won a fourth English title in eight seasons and the sixth in the club’s history.

A day of drama on England’s south coast was in keeping with an astonishing season in which the lead switched hands time after time.

Liverpool drew first blood on Sunday, with Sadio Mane striking in the 17th minute to put them mathematically top of the table and on course for their first English top-flight title since 1990, before the Premier League era even started.

City fans’ nerves were shredded even further when Glenn Murray put Brighton in front from a corner in the 27th minute, drawing a huge roar at Anfield.

But those cheers were quickly muted, with Guardiola’s side level just 83 seconds later, Sergio Aguero staying onside and keeping his cool to finish after a brilliant ball from David Silva.

Ten minutes later, the unmarked Aymeric Laporte rose to head in Riyad Mahrez’s corner to complete the turnaround for City and second-half goals from Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan put the result beyond doubt.

– ‘Hardest Premier League’ –

“We have to say congratulations to Liverpool and thank you so much –- they pushed us to increase our standards,” Guardiola told Sky Sports.

“It’s incredible, 98 points, to go back-to-back. We made the standard higher last season and Liverpool helped us –- to win this title we had to win 14 in a row. We couldn’t lose one point.”

“It’s the toughest title we have won in all my career, by far,” added the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss.

City jetted back north to celebrate with around 10,000 of their own fans at their Etihad Stadium late into the evening, with supporters singing along to “Wonderwall” by Oasis.

Players took it in turns to hoist the Premier League trophy, with club captain Vincent Kompany and Guardiola last to lift it, together.

“I’m so, so proud,” said Kompany as the party got underway at 22:45 local time. “This team is amazing. We’re able to fill this place at this time of night. Thank you so much.”

City finished a record 19 points clear of Manchester United last season, but this term has been a totally different campaign.

Guardiola’s side had to dig deep to see off the relentless challenge of Liverpool, who lost just one Premier League game all season.

The outcome was cruel on Liverpool, who are second behind only United in the all-time list of English champions with 18 titles.

– Klopp vow –

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp praised City but vowed his side would be back.

“City got the points they have because we were there,” he told the BBC.

“They have 198 points in two years, that’s special. We made such big steps. It’s only the first step. Always after a good year we lost key players (in the past) but we won’t (this time) so we’ll be there again.”

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah shared the Premier League Golden Boot award with teammate Mane and Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after they all scored 22 goals.

The Merseysiders’ points tally is the third-highest in Premier League history.

Klopp’s side travelled to face City at the Etihad in January with the chance to open up a 10-point lead but the defending champions won 2-1 in what turned out to be the pivotal match of the campaign.

Liverpool suffered a blip in late January and February, held to a series of draws, but they found their form again and relentlessly harried City, finishing with nine straight league wins.

Klopp’s team will have to put the disappointment behind them as they prepare to face Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League final in Madrid on June 1.

Elsewhere on the final day of Premier League action, Spurs made mathematically certain of a place in the top four, drawing 2-2 against Everton.

Arsenal beat Burnley 3-1 while fellow Europa League finalists Chelsea were held to a goalless draw at Leicester but secured third place.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United finished their season with a whimper, losing 2-0 at home to relegated Cardiff — a side he once managed.

There were also wins for Crystal Palace, Newcastle and West Ham. Southampton and relegated Huddersfield drew 1-1.

Surat Thani-based Prawit crossed the line first in 1:26.58  hours, several minutes ahead of Rattananit Buathong who had to be content with the second best with his time of 1:30.25 hours. It was one of his biggest wins after he won the 10km event at this tournament last year.

“I’m quite happy with my time with an average of 4.12 minute per kilometer,” said the 44-year-old worker of a palm oil company. “I did quite well judging from the tough route with so many hills. My strategy is to run with short step on the hills,” added Prawit a former National Junior Games athlete who had to resume running when he was diagnosed with allergy five years ago.

“I couldn’t breathe properly back then. Doctor suggested I should exercise get rid of allergy. I also stopped smoking and drinking from then on,” said Prawit whose has his eyes firmly fixed on a full marathon in Hat Yai on May 26.

“I used this event as a  warm up before my first full marathon tournament. I train quite hard every day ( two in the morning and three in the afternoon) to make sure that I can compete with others,” Prawit added.

In the women’s event, Nikitas of Ukraine produced her personal best of 1:32.36 hours to beat Thailand’ , Naleewan Rattanaphan who came far second in 1:47.22 hours.

“I’m quite happy because this is the best time for me in 21km. I spend six months in Thailand for running and the rest of the year in Ukraine,” said the 36-year-old from Laviv who has posed top three finishes in nine events over the past five months. She also won in Surat Thani and Phannga ahead of the Sunday’s victory.

More than 3,500 athletes competed in the opening stop of all six Bangkok Airways Boutique Series. The next series is due in Samui on June 2 while the remaining four are in Lampang on July 7, Phuket on August 4, Chiang Rai on September 15 and Chiang Mai  on November 3