As this match ticked into its final half-hour, one statistic told several stories in one. Across 60 minutes at Anfield, Romelu Lukaku managed just 18 touches of the ball.
That was fewer than any other starter. Fewer, even, than both goalkeepers. So much for the striker’s titanic tussle with Virgil van Dijk.
What had been billed as the duel which could tip this early staging post one way or the other was instead rendered another shred of debris, left from the chaos of first-half stoppage time.
That is, of course, exactly what Liverpool would have wanted.