Liverpool’s week has been defined by a centre-back. It was neither Dejan Lovren nor Ragnar Klavan, but two men who could be reduced to the rank of spectators when the world’s expensive defender is deemed ready to make his debut wrestled back the attention from Virgil van Dijk by combining to defeat Burnley in dramatic style.

Newcastle delighted as Ayoze Pérez sinks Mark Hughes’ struggling Stoke Read more

On the day the Dutchman’s £75m move from Southampton was ratified, it was a rather cheaper stopper who turned match-winner even if, amid the confusion of a chaotic finale, he did not realise it himself. Klavan was a £4.2m buy from Augsburg and, if there is a temptation to say his first Premier League goal may prove his last if he becomes Jürgen Klopp’s fourth-choice centre-back, at least it increased morale and momentum alike.

When Emre Can chipped a free-kick into the penalty area in the fourth minute of added time, Lovren leapt highest to meet it. His header may have been going in. Klavan made sure, thrusting himself forward to apply the last touch. A self-effacing figure ended up asking: “Is it true that it is my goal? Oh good. It was on the line so I wasn’t sure.”

If it brought back memories of Lovren’s injury-time winner in 2016’s extraordinary comeback against Borussia Dortmund, it was another reminder that while Liverpool’s centre-backs can be found wanting at set-pieces in their own box, they occasionally fashion victories in the other.

“A crazy game,” Klavan concluded. More to the point, it was a crazy ending, constructed by two teams with a refusal to be cowed by fatigue or inclement conditions. “We need the wins on the not sunny days,” said Klopp, and he was not just referring to the incessant rain. “It was not fantastic football but it was a fantastic attitude. You need to win with attitude when you are not 100%.”

Burnley’s mentality was impeccable but Sean Dyche was left with a “horrible feeling” at the end. It is also a familiar one after his side conceded a stoppage-time equaliser at Old Trafford on Boxing Day. Yet their own fightback was a sign of their relentlessness and their fitness levels.

Burnley had provided continuity and Liverpool change in a clash of selection policies. “I like rotation,” said Klopp, whose 87 alterations to his league starting XI are by far the most in the division, but rotation produced frustration in last month’s draw with Everton and more beckoned until Klavan’s intervention. He began as Joël Matip was rested. Klopp also started with Roberto Firmino on the bench, while he was without the sidelined Mohamed Salah and Philippe Coutinho. Although cynics suggested the Brazilian’s convenient summer back injury had flared up again as the transfer window reopened, a thigh problem accounted for his absence.

Liverpool were not at their blistering best, shorn of both rhythm and Salah’s explosiveness. A dull match, when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had drawn the only meaningful save from Nick Pope, was enlivened by the lone member of Liverpool’s supposedly “Fab Four” to start. If Sadio Mané had been the least fabulous part of the band, he prospered as a solo artist with a sweet hit. Mané accepted Trent Alexander-Arnold’s pass, span and unleashed a ferocious shot.

“The whole team applauded Sadio Mané when he came in,” Klopp said. The Senegalese has been upstaged by Salah this season, the Egyptian taking on the mantle of the prolific, electric winger. Yet there have been glimpses of his virtuosity, such as his backheel to set up Salah’s leveller against Leicester on Saturday and this was another instance of excellence at a pivotal moment. “We need him, we need him so much,” added Klopp. “He is not playing at his most fluent but a great goal.” Dyche put their absentees into context by arguing: “Four of their front five moved for £28m-plus.”

One of them, Adam Lallana, made his first start of an injury-interrupted season and was outstanding, Klopp said. Lallana even produced what may have been a potentially goal-saving challenge on Johann Berg Gudmundsson.

Lallana’s Burnley counterparts were decidedly cheaper. Scott Arfield, signed on a free transfer, had twice threatened to open the scoring and the £450,000 recruit Ashley Barnes came close to an equaliser.

Pope, another bargain, also denied first Alexander-Arnold and then Oxlade-Chamberlain a second goal, allowing Burnley to draw level. Charlie Taylor delivered a cross, Sam Vokes flicked it on and Gudmundsson headed in. “A sniffer’s goal,” said Dyche. The Icelander impressed again, but in vain, courtesy of Klavan.

“Six points in two days; I’ve never had that before,” grinned Klopp. He was left with four days to consider whether to introduce Van Dijk against Everton. “No rush,” he said. “He is on fire, really wants [it] but we have to make sure he can perform. Centre-half is a position which depends on the others in the pitch. That means you have to tune it so you work together. Pre-season is for that usually. It is not important when his first game is but how many good games [he has].” Perhaps, then, there will be a reprieve for Lovren or Klavan before they cede the limelight to their costlier colleague. They may be displaced but on Monday they showed their defiance.