At the end Anfield bounced with joy. A game seemingly thrown away was rescued with two minutes to spare by the balance, deftness and timing of substitute Federico Chiesa.
On a night of very good goals, the Italian’s was much smarter and tougher to execute than it first looked. After that came something altogether more common, an opening day goal in added time from Mo Salah. This was his tenth such goal in his years at Liverpool.
It all gave Arne Slot’s defending champions a victory on a night when they wanted to win so badly for their fallen soul mate Diogo Jota.