Anyone wanting to know how Florian Wirtz is faring at Liverpool need only witness what happened shortly before the half-hour mark here. After Real Madrid coughed up the ball inside their own half to free Wirtz into space down the right, the pinpoint cross from the Reds man invited Dominik Szoboszlai to score only for visiting goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to produce the best of his many saves on the evening.

That has been the story so often for Florian Wirtz. While the first to admit he isn’t quite reaching the levels he achieved when with Real boss Xabi Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen, the perception could have been much different had his team-mates put away just a smattering of the many opportunities he has been serving up this campaign.

Wirtz, though, was undeterred. Recalled on the left wing – and sticking more to the position than during the wayward 45 minutes at Crystal Palace on the flank back in September – the 22-year-old...