Even the most positive Liverpool supporter would admit a top-four finish now looks increasingly beyond their team this season. But if there’s one player who knows a thing or two about helping an unlikely bid for Champions League qualification, it’s Alisson Becker. Everyone knows what happens next. And, with the anniversary of that remarkable goal – the last one to ever be scored in lockdown football in England – approaching on Tuesday, the keeper admits it’s a moment which will never be too far away.
Allison said: “A lot of times when I look on Twitter for news, all the time it appears in my timeline, that goal. I don’t remember where exactly but recently, this week I watched it already. It’s good, it made me feel good. It makes me think how crazy it is that I scored a goal.”
Liverpool went on to secure third place over the final week, setting in motion a series of events that led to them almost winning the quadruple last season. And Alisson hasn’t given up hope of another unexpected intervention propelling the Reds back into the Champions League this time around.
Alisson said: “It was kind of a sign for us that something special was coming. Because I can be 100 times in the box, I don’t know if I will score again. I know now I can head a ball in a good way, but hopefully we are not going to need it again. I think this season we are having special moments, Jota’s goal is a really special one against Tottenham, last minute as well. Every goal, the last match (against Brentford) with Mo’s goal as well. Every goal that we are scoring now and that from now on is leading us to win games, it would be special. It depends on what we do the next season. That’s what makes my goal even more special. Not the goal which makes the season special but it was the season that made my goal even better.”
Liverpool, even after a run of six successive victories, are in a more difficult position at this stage of the campaign, with four points separating them from Newcastle United in third and Manchester United in fourth with just three games remaining, two of which are away, starting at relegation-threatened Leicester City on Monday night.
Alisson said: “It is difficult to compare one season to another but we are having similar challenges I think and maybe if you go to compare the numbers the seasons can be really similar as well. The situation we are in, we need teams in front of us to drop points to get in the Champions League. That season it was the same but we still needed to do our jobs. At that time we had no supporters for a long time, this season we had them so this season is better from that point of view. But I think it is never the same even if you have some similarities. This season, now we have the full team, we are playing much better. You can take away maybe one game or two but we are playing a really consistent game. The last match we were defensively really solid and this is what we need, not only for this moment of the season but next season as well.”
Alisson’s clean sheet in last weekend’s 1-0 win over Brentford was his 100th for Liverpool, making him only the seventh goalkeeper to reach such a landmark. He was given a special shirt by the Reds to commemorate the event.
Alisson said: “I haven’t put it on the wall yet, I haven’t had time yet, but it means a lot to me even if I don’t realise how big is 100 clean sheets now. Maybe in the future I will. I am not the guy who is really obsessed with numbers.”
