The match was listless. Liverpool huffed, Wolves puffed and, by the end, the reigning champions had done just about enough to creep over the line.
There was a goal for Florian Wirtz, at long last. It was the decisive one, too. The German, all £116million of him, treated the crowd to some beautiful touches, often giving the impression the ball was made of cloth and his boots were covered in Velcro, such was his ability to make things stick.
Wirtz tried to lift Liverpool above the ordinary but it wasn’t easy and Wolves made things difficult.