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View image in fullscreenAnalysisVitinha is nobody’s idea of an action hero but he’s perfect for Luis Enrique at Anfield

The PSG midfielder covered every blade of grass at Anfield as his side frustrated Liverpool for 120 minutes

Afterwards, they carried on running.

Then, after they had dispersed, he simply stood in the centre circle for a few moments, as if finally claiming the turf for which he had spent the whole night fighting.



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This was an incredible game of football, really an incredible two games of football, during which it was hard not to suspect that we were watching the potential champions, however it ended.

All the same, he was everywhere: one of those players who manages to cover every blade of grass without ever seeming to run at all, the game’s shadowy guiding hand, its secret conspiracy, its deep state.

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“The perfect midfielder,” is how Luis Enrique describes him, and not just because he makes his own team better, but because he makes yours worse.

In total he completed 103 passes, João Neves alongside him 85, and when the comparison with Xavi and Andrés Iniesta is being made by Slot himself, then it is probably worth taking seriously.

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Of course there were other supreme performers in Paris blue.

All were defensive players, and for the sustained excellence of Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, this was a triumph built on solid foundations.

Of course they rode their luck a little, too: from the referee, from the inside of the post, from the litany of blocks and scraped clearances as Liverpool began to lay siege in the second half.

In this respect, and many others, Luis Enrique is changing the very fabric from which this club is fashioned.

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