There are more obvious occasions to experiment than a Champions League quarter-final.
Jurgen Klopp, though, threw a curveball nobody would have seen coming – not least because so few were aware of the uniqueness of the situation.
Alongside Fabinho, both Naby Keita and Thiago Alcantara were selected in midfield for this first leg at Benfica, the first time the duo were named in the same starting line-up by the Liverpool boss. Remarkably, only four times previously had they even been on the pitch together at the same time - at Chelsea last season, and this term against Newcastle, Burnley and Inter Milan. The sum total came to 95 minutes.
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AS IT HAPPENED: Updates and analysis from Benfica vs Liverpool
Both had difficult experiences when Liverpool were at this stage of the Champions League last term, Keita hooked before half-time against Real Madrid never to play again until this campaign, Thiago benched for both legs. Klopp, though, called exactly how Benfica would approach this game, and knew the greater the creativity in the engine room, the more opportunity there was for Liverpool to wrest the initiative and wear down the Portuguese outfit through sheer weight of pressure.
He was proven gloriously correct during a first half in which the only disappointment was the Reds had not scored more than goals from Ibrahima Konate and Sadio Mane, home goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos ensuring his team weren’t beaten out of sight a quarter into the tie.
And integral to that outstanding Liverpool effort was Keita.
The Guinean’s high pressing allowed the Reds to constantly win the ball back high up the field, while his reluctance to pass the ball anything but forward kept the visitors on the front foot, most notably with one delicious throughball that cut through the Benfica back line and sent Luis Diaz scampering clear for a dinked effort repelled by the busy Vlachodimos.
When the substitutions came shortly after the hour with the Reds wobbling a little after Darwin Nunez pulled a goal back, it was Thiago who was instead replaced, Keita asked to continue. And that was justified three minutes from time when the midfielder won the ball inside his own half then carried possession 40 yards before again playing in Diaz, who this time went around Vlachodimos and slotted home.
Liverpool have taken a giant stride towards the Champions League semi-finals. And Klopp’s bold midfield decision and faith in Keita paid dividends.
