Klopp’s selection risk pays off as Liverpool close in on final

The dream is alive, the dream is still tantalisingly feasible yet agonisingly remote. Liverpool are in a third Champions League semi-final under Jürgen Klopp and if a fantasy for a plethora of reasons but mainly its sheer, basic difficulty, a historic quadruple remains on for the German’s band that blends artists and artisans.

On Wednesday it was the turn of the latter coterie. Well, kind of. Klopp rested seven of the star turns who started last week’s 3-1 first leg win at Benfica. There was no Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, Thiago Alcântara or Fabinho. And this after their manager had said: “You can never feel entitled. Clubs and teams who are planning the next stage before a particular round is complete are inviting problems.”

Related: Liverpool to face Villarreal in semi-final after thrilling draw with Benfica

This was the big news before kick-off. It wouldn’t backfire would it? Surely not. Especially when Klopp could draft in Roberto Firmino, Joel Matip, Jordan Henderson, James Milner, and Diogo Jota along with Kostas Tsimikas and Joe Gomez. Yet there was a certain rustiness initially. The awkward stutter of gears that usually mesh smoothly. By way of example: a Jota swoop into the area ended with his backside hitting turf; a Milner free-kick lollipopped into the wall; Firmino’s angled tap back to Tsimikas proved a geometrically awry.

But, then, Klopp’s pack-shuffle began to cast him as a sagacious seer via an opener that was close to a carbon of Liverpool’s first in Portugal. A corner, from the left? Check. A downward header at the far post? Check. From Ibrahima Konaté? Check a third time. Seventeen minutes at Estadio Da Luz, 21 here at Anfield. The only