There are more obvious occasions to experiment than a Champions League quarter-final.
Jurgen Klopp, though, threw a curveball nobody would have seen coming – not least because so few were aware of the uniqueness of the situation.
Alongside Fabinho, both Naby Keita and Thiago Alcantara were selected in midfield for this first leg at Benfica, the first time the duo were named in the same starting line-up by the Liverpool boss. Remarkably, only four times previously had they even been on the pitch together at the same time - at Chelsea last season, and this term against Newcastle, Burnley and Inter Milan. The sum total came to 95 minutes.
