Cody Gakpo applied the finishing touch to banish any doubt Liverpool would emerge from Germany with much-needed victory. But rather than engulf the goalscorer, many of his team-mates instead made a beeline for the man who had laid on the opportunity.

Small wonder. For the first time in more than two months, the hard work of Florian Wirtz had been rewarded with an assist.

Like buses, another came along shortly afterwards, although it was Dominik Szoboszlai who did most of the hard work by thumping home a simple pass from 20 yards to cap a 5-1 Champions League victory at Eintracht Frankfurt.

After such a barren run, though, Wirtz was just grateful of the contribution to quieten some of the criticism that has come his way since arriving for £116million from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer.

“I thought he was outstanding, excellent," said Liverpool left-back...