The enduring image was committed to memory after the drama. After the late goals and unlikely stars and unsavoury allegations of racist abuse. Even after the emotion that was always going to flow under and through such an occasion.
It was of Mohamed Salah after the final whistle, standing alone before the Kop, bottom lip trembling, then wiping away tears with his sleeve as he clapped along with the Diogo Jota song. Salah was the last to leave the field, turning for the tunnel when it all got too much.
This was not the night’s first rendition of ‘He’s a lad from Portugal, Better than Figo don’t you know, Oh, his name is Diogo’ - it was the soundtrack of Liverpool’s English Premier League opener at Anfield. Even the visiting Bournemouth fans sang it, unveiling a banner in tribute to the Reds and Portugal player killed in a car accident alongside his brother André Silva last month.
But it was the most moving. Perhaps because it was more difficult to watch with each replay, and maybe also because it was an unanticipated depiction of why this title defence will be so heavy for the reigning champions.
The tributes throughout Liverpool’s 4-2 defeat of Bournemouth were many. Florals, banners, silences and songs. This time the minute’s silence was flawlessly observed. The players stood arm in arm, heads bowed, the ‘Forever 20’ emblem visible on their shirts. A big banner on the Kop welcomed Jota’s wife, Rute Cardoso and her children, reading: “Rute, Dinis, Duarte, Mafalda - Anfield will always be your home. You’ll Never Walk Alone.” Cheers rang out in the 20th minute.
These were the expected - the formal. Then there were the unrehearsed, the spontaneous.
Salah, whose overcooked pass had resulted in Bournemouth’s 2-2 equaliser, atoned by providing the cross for Federico Chiesa’s 88th-minute winner. Then the Egyptian did what he always does on day one of the season and scored one himself in the 94th (he is now the first player to score 10 opening-day Premier League goals).
Salah celebrated by recreating Jota’s Baby Shark celebration, then broke down in tears once the full-time whistle confirmed the victory looking unlikely just seven minutes earlier.
Grief is a harrowing genre of inspiration. For all the statistics used to measure success in football, there is no way to quantify the adequate commemoration of a lost friend. No trophy to say ‘this is enough’. ‘Enough’ will not even be a question for those who played alongside, worked with or supported Jota, just a fluctuating, personal experience over which they wield little control.
And control is an interesting word in this context, given Arne Slot’s side have lacked that famous control here and during the pre-season. The champions, in transition and trying to bed in new signings, are conceding goals uncharacteristically. These defensive frailties, already acknowledged by Slot, were clear as day when Antoine Semenyo twice capitalised on a loose backline to claw the well-performing Bournemouth back to 2-1 and then 2-2.
On another day, the drama may have been the fact that Semenyo’s brilliant brace came after the Ghana international had reported to referee Anthony Taylor he had been subject to racist language by a spectator, who Cherries manager Andoni Iraola said was later identified. A clearly affected Semenyo had to be consoled by teammates.
Before that narrative played out, the drama could have been that Bournemouth defender Marcos Senesi was fortunate to avoid a red card in the 13th minute for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity with his fingertips.
And on another night the highlight might have been the promising performance of the much-heralded Hugo Ekitike. Or the improbable rescue act of Federico Chiesa, Slot’s only signing last season who’s been rarely sighted until coming off the bench here to relieve Milos Kerkez, the debutant who struggled against his former club.
On this night, however, all of these worthy headlines paled in comparison to the figure of a distraught Salah - a symbol of a squad who will spend the next nine months attempting to navigate the everydayness of another season but reminded this will be anything but.
“They sang for him [Jota] before the game,” Slot said afterwards. “In the first minute, after 20 minutes, and again at the end. It was so impressive, so powerful. His wife is here, his children are here, and for them it might be special to hear how much he’s loved over here.”