LIVERPOOL, England — There was a hint of melancholy in Jürgen Klopp’s voice as he talked about fairy tales.
Klopp, the Liverpool manager, had just seen Virgil van Dijk, a defender he waited six months and paid a king’s ransom to sign, conjure the most perfect start imaginable. In one fell swoop, the man who cost $101 million had ticked every box: He had scored a winning goal on his first appearance; he had done so in front of the Kop, where Liverpool’s hard-core fans gather; he had done it in a derby match with Everton; and in doing so, he had knocked Everton, Liverpool’s great foes, out of the F.