Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez exchanged high fives after another clean sheet and Jurgen Klopp could scribble down his dream central defensive pairing for the rest of his Anfield reign.

That was the start of December last year. Then, Gomez fractured a leg at Burnley, wrecking his season because – in Klopp’s words – “with a very good team, the train does not wait”.

Gomez may still be checking the timetable if Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren were fit. Now he has the platform to re-establish himself alongside the Dutch maestro whose game he occasionally mirrors.

“These two, Joe and Virg, they like each other a lot, and they can play sensationally well together,” Klopp said.

“Last year, at the start of the season, they did exceptionally well. That bad injury took Joe out for a while. Other players showed up, and I don’t think anybody thought really we should put Joel on the bench. It is just that the boys are incredibly talented.”

Gomez, 22, is extraordinarily young to be a key component of a Liverpool defence who may win the Premier League title. He finds himself judged to the highest standards because that is what he set, only for freakish injuries to intervene at the most inopportune moments. Lest we forget, established in the starting line-up as a teenager, he damaged cruciate ligaments in the same week Klopp was appointed in 2015.