Defining games and critical meetings loom for Rafael Benítez but it demonstrates the relaxed air of the Liverpool manager that preparations have this week involved laughing at himself on the internet.

“I was watching a video on YouTube the other day of a person imitating me,” said Benítez, demolishing the belief that Premier League managers have no free time, while increasing the suspicion they all have a touch of vanity. “It is a comedian imitating [Jose] Mourinho and Benítez. They are asked about a recipe and a result and I say, ‘We scored two goals, they scored one, so we won. They scored two goals, we scored one, so we lost. We both scored three goals, so it is a draw’. I could recognise Mourinho but I couldn’t recognise myself, maybe Mourinho recognises me but not himself! But it was funny.”