The enthralling capriciousness of football. On one side, there was Jurgen Klopp’s interpretation: “When the player jumps before there is contact it cannot be a penalty.”

On the other side, there was Carlo Ancelotti’s: “It was fairly clear the penalty from where I was in the dugout.”

There’s then the reality of what actually happened either side of Jose Callejon’s controversial fall.

Liverpool were actually enjoying their best spell of the game, as it seemed as if Ancelotti’s subs had ceded all of Napoli’s initiative. They’d lost their verve, and looked on the verge of losing the game.

It was instead when they won it.

Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Show all 23 1 /23 Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Napoli vs Liverpool: Player ratings Soccer Football - Champions League - Group E - Napoli v Liverpool - Stadio San Paolo, Naples, Italy - September 17, 2019 General view as Napoli and Liverpool players line up before the match REUTERS/Ciro De Luca Reuters Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Meret - 8 Man of the match. SSC NAPOLI via Getty Images Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Di Lorenzo - 7 Napoli's Giovanni Di Lorenzo controls the ball during the Champions League Group E soccer match between Napoli and Liverpool, at the San Paolo stadium in Naples, Italy, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Gregorio Borgia AP Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Manolas - 6 Napoli's Greek defender Konstantinos Manolas (L) defends against Liverpool's Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Salah during the UEFA Champions League Group E football match Napoli vs Liverpool on September 17, 2019 at the San Paolo stadium in Naples. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images ANDREAS SOLARO AFP/Getty Images Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Koulibaly - 7 Napoli's Senegalese defender Kalidou Koulibaly (R) defends against Liverpool's Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Salah during the UEFA Champions League Group E football match Napoli vs Liverpool on September 17, 2019 at the San Paolo stadium in Naples. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images ANDREAS SOLARO AFP/Getty Images Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Mário Rui - 7 NAPLES, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 17: Mario Rui of SSC Napoli vies with Mohamed Salah of Liverpool FC during the UEFA Champions League group E match between SSC Napoli and Liverpool FC at Stadio San Paolo on September 17, 2019 in Naples, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images) Francesco Pecoraro Getty Images Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Callejón - 7 Napoli's Jose Callejon, left, and Liverpool's Andrew Robertson fight for the ball during the Champions League Group E soccer match between Napoli and Liverpool, at the San Paolo stadium in Naples, Italy, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Gregorio Borgia AP Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Allan - 7 Napoli's players Lorenzo Insigne, right, Allan, center, and Dries Mertens, left, celebrate their victory at the end of the Italian Serie A soccer match between ACF Fiorentina and SSC Napoli at the Artemio Franchi stadium in Florence, Italy, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2019. (Claudio Giovannini/ANSA via AP) Claudio Giovannini AP Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Insigne - 6 Napoli's Italian forward Lorenzo Insigne (C) challenges Liverpool's English defender Trent Alexander-Arnold during the UEFA Champions League Group E football match Napoli vs Liverpool on September 17, 2019 at the San Paolo stadium in Naples. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images ALBERTO PIZZOLI AFP/Getty Images Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Ruiz - 7 Soccer Football - Serie A - Napoli v Sampdoria - Stadio San Paolo, Naples, Italy - September 14, 2019 Napoli's Fabian Ruiz in action with Sampdoria's Alex Ferrari REUTERS/Ciro De Luca CIRO DE LUCA REUTERS Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Mertens - 8 Napoli's Belgian forward Dries Mertens (L) challenges Liverpool's English defender Trent Alexander-Arnold during the UEFA Champions League Group E football match Napoli vs Liverpool on September 17, 2019 at the San Paolo stadium in Naples. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images ALBERTO PIZZOLI AFP/Getty Images Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Lozano - 6 NAPLES, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 17: Hirving Lozano of Napoli battles with Joel Matip and Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool during the UEFA Champions League group E match between SSC Napoli and Liverpool FC at Stadio San Paolo on September 17, 2019 in Naples, Italy. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images) Laurence Griffiths Getty Images Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Adrian - 8 Napoli's Belgian forward Dries Mertens (R) challenges Liverpool's Spanish goalkeeper Adrian during the UEFA Champions League Group E football match Napoli vs Liverpool on September 17, 2019 at the San Paolo stadium in Naples. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images ALBERTO PIZZOLI AFP/Getty Images Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Alexander-Arnold - 7 Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Matip - 7 NAPLES, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 17: Hirving Lozano of Napoli battles with Joel Matip and Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool during the UEFA Champions League group E match between SSC Napoli and Liverpool FC at Stadio San Paolo on September 17, 2019 in Naples, Italy. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images) Laurence Griffiths Getty Images Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Van Dijk - 7 Liverpool's Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk (R) defends against Napoli's Belgian forward Dries Mertens during the UEFA Champions League Group E football match Napoli vs Liverpool on September 17, 2019 at the San Paolo stadium in Naples. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images ALBERTO PIZZOLI AFP/Getty Images Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Robertson - 6 Getty Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Milner - 6 Soccer Football - Champions League - Group E - Napoli v Liverpool - Stadio San Paolo, Naples, Italy - September 17, 2019 Liverpool's James Milner in action with Napoli's Jose Callejon and Allan Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge ANDREW COULDRIDGE Action Images via Reuters Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Henderson - 7 NAPLES, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 17: Hirving Lozano of Napoli controls from Jordan Henderson of Liverpool during the UEFA Champions League group E match between SSC Napoli and Liverpool FC at Stadio San Paolo on September 17, 2019 in Naples, Italy. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images) Laurence Griffiths Getty Images Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Fabinho - 7 Liverpool's Brazilian midfielder Fabinho (C) defends under pressure from Napoli's Mexican forward Hirving Lozano (L) during the UEFA Champions League Group E football match Napoli vs Liverpool on September 17, 2019 at the San Paolo stadium in Naples. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images ALBERTO PIZZOLI AFP/Getty Images Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Salah - 6 Getty Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Firmino - 6 Liverpool's Roberto Firmino takes a shot during the Champions League Group E soccer match between Napoli and Liverpool, at the San Paolo stadium in Naples, Italy, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia) Gregorio Borgia AP Player ratings: Napoli vs Liverpool Mane - 7 Napoli's Brazilian defender Allan (L) tackles Liverpool's Senegalese striker Sadio Mane during the UEFA Champions League Group E football match Napoli vs Liverpool on September 17, 2019 at the San Paolo stadium in Naples. (Photo by Andreas SOLARO / AFP)ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images ANDREAS SOLARO AFP/Getty Images

“Just when it seemed that all was lost and Liverpool had taken complete control of the game, the two goals came from curious and unusual circumstances,” Ancelotti said.

Liverpool had opened up and suddenly got caught on the break, with Callejon then catching out a somewhat rash Andy Robertson.

That is one thing that’s beyond debate. Callejon played the situation. Another description would be that he outright dived, and cheated.

Whether it was thereafter a penalty is a more difficult debate.

That the referee actually saw it that way and gave it was just unfortunate, since it could have gone the other way. VAR can never remove that ambiguity. Some decisions will forever remain unchangingly subjective.

In that sense, it was just just rank bad luck that the penalty was given.

That was what decided this opening Champions League match, even if the dive itself was genuinely an extension of Napoli’s overall sharpness.

It’s far from the first time they’ve caused Liverpool problems. That’s been the case in all of their three meetings Champions League so far in the Klopp era. There is a suggestion that Ancelotti’s specific tactics might just be suited to unsettling Liverpool’s, which is why they’ve won two of those meetings.

Even Liverpool’s sole win ultimately came down to the flip side of that luck, and the same capriciousness to the game.

Virgil van Dijk maybe should have been sent off in that game last season, and it was still dependent on a miracle save from Allison.

Dries Mertens opened the scoring from the penalty spot (Reuters)

If either of those go a different way, so does Liverpool’s entire season. So, maybe does the entire path of this team.

Allison’s save might have been irrelevant, forgotten in the way that Adrian’s here largely will because it no longer meant the same thing.

But they didn’t go a different way. They were borderline incidents, and it was that very knife-edge nature of them that actually helped Liverpool get a fuller sense of themselves as a team in the long term. They helped them become European champions, and not just in terms of actually getting through.

That was one of the more interesting elements of this defeat, even if it won’t really have any influence on the season.

Liverpool should still breeze through the group, and will of course be favourites to win the trophy again, but this was not really a display that suggested why. It felt more like one from the side when it was much earlier in development.

For once, Liverpool were guilty of a lack of sharpness (Getty)

You could see the general shape was there, and the core idea, with Fabinho particularly executing it perfectly – but he was one of the few. Liverpool were just lacking a sharpness, and felt off in so many moments when it came right down to it. Be that finishing, attacking moves and occasional defensive play.

How else to explain Robertson’s clumsiness, or Virgil van Dijk’s rare error.

In short, they were quite short of the standards they set for themselves.

It was not the performance of European champions.

This of course isn’t any cause for concern. It’s just one of those games, decided by one of those moments.

But it did emphasise that we maybe have got a little too used to them being utterly brilliant. That’s how good they’ve been.