By the time the architect of much of Liverpool’s recent success took the field, Jurgen Klopp’s side were 3-1 up. Philippe Coutinho has contrived to acquire a reputation as the Pete Best of Klopp’s Liverpool, the man who left before the glory years; if, that is, Pete Best had been sold for a transfer fee that enabled the Beatles to buy a new rhythm section.
As it was, Coutinho’s reunion with Liverpool came in a match when Alisson and Virgil van Dijk offered another illustration that the £142million proceeds of his 2018 sale to Barcelona was well invested.
