Liverpool midfielder Gini Wijnaldum impressed once more as he started against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, lining up in a midfield two alongside captain Jordan Henderson.
Against Pep Guardiola's side, which contained in midfield Kevin de Bruyne, Jurgen Klopp was asking a lot from the pair he selected, boldly playing with four attacking players to include both Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota.
Wijnaldum is no closer to signing a new deal that would see him stay at Anfield beyond the end of the season, but the trust placed in him in what could be the biggest match of the season shows that the Dutchman remains a crucial cog.
Thiago Alcantara was absent through injury, while other options like Naby Keita were only just back from knocks, but Wijnaldum and Henderson are probably the only two players Klopp would have trusted defensively in a midfield two home or away in that fixture.
It is not only in the big games that Wijnaldum comes into his own: he has featured in 80 of Liverpool's last 84 Premier League matches, not starting on only 10 of those occasions and so the reliance on him for almost every match is clear.
On the Blood Red podcast, Ian Doyle said: "It is amazing how many of these big games that he plays in.
"That is why it was such a big deal the other year when he didn't play against Barcelona - and we saw what happened when he came on in the second half.
"He is someone that Klopp trusts and he has quietly stepped up this season, even though he has still not signed his contract - I would be surprised if he did sign it now.
"If he goes on a free transfer, no one could blame him. He has been much better than any of us thought he could be when he arrived and he wasn't necessarily a central midfielder.
"People weren't sure where he was going to play but he has ended up playing everywhere - in the first game against Barcelona he was up front.
"He is somebody who when the big games come along he will always be there because he will always get a seven or eight out of 10 no matter what.
"He went a bit missing in big away games when he first arrived but since then he has been a really important player for them."
That is what makes his contract standstill all the more perplexing: there is an argument that statistically he is the most important midfielder for Klopp right now, yet no contract talks are in place.
In 2018/19 as Liverpool amassed 97 points, Wijnaldum played 3705 league minutes while last season he played 3644. So far this season he has already played 950 minutes in the Premier League.
In all three of those time periods - the last two full seasons and the start of this - he has played more minutes for Liverpool than any other midfielder.
Keita, meanwhile, to use the Guinean as an example, has only managed just over 3500 minutes in all that time - a figure Wijnaldum has beaten in single seasons in both of the last two campaigns.
Wijnaldum is no closer to to agreeing a new contract at Anfield but his importance to Liverpool and Klopp could not be more clear.
