Liverpool used to be the best, now they can only thrive by beating the best

There is a reason why Jurgen Klopp won’t be getting carried away by Liverpool’s victory over in-form Napoli

There is a theme of Jurgen Klopp’s footballing philosophy. He doesn’t want his side to be the best team in the world, he will say, but he wants them to beat the best. Go back a few months and there was a case for anointing Liverpool the planet’s finest. Not now, when they have lost to Nottingham Forest and Leeds, when they are below Fulham and Brighton in the table.

But twice in an otherwise troubled campaign, Liverpool have defeated possibly the outstanding side in the global game. Like Manchester City, Napoli came to Anfield unbeaten: in their case, with 13 straight victories, including away wins at Lazio, AC Milan, Ajax and Roma, with a historic demolition of Liverpool in Italy, with 50 goals already this season. They departed with their now familiar loss: much as it does for City, Anfield feels the final frontier for the Neapolitans.

None of which definitively means Liverpool are back. Their season has been too much of an obstacle course to suggest as much. They may fall flat on their faces again. They could be tripped up at Tottenham on Sunday. Their victory over Napoli was nothing like as emphatic as their evisceration in the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. It took two late goals at Anfield whereas they were four down after 47 minutes in Italy and it could conceivably have been seven.