LOCAL HEROES
I think if people outside football would adapt the way we adapt as footballers, we would have a better world for sure
Liverpool’s Lucas Leiva and Crystal Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni are the antidote to overseas mercenaries who take the Premier League money and run. The two South Americans meet at Anfield today as their club’s longest serving players with 23 years’ service between them, and spoke to JOE BERNSTEIN about their fascinating journeys
LUCAS LEIVA has played in the Premier League with 114 different players from 34 different countries in his 10-season stint with Liverpool. When local heroes Jamie Carragher and then Steven Gerrard departed, the boy from Brazil took over the mantle as the club’s longest- serving player, a stunning achievement for a young player who came over at the age of 20 with barely a word of English, and spent two years being derided as not good enough.
Today, Lucas is one of the most admired members of Jurgen Klopp’s squad and is playing an important role in the club’s bid to return to the Champions League following injuries to Adam Lallana and Sadio Mane.
He has played 26 times already this season and will be important again against Crystal Palace at Anfield this afternoon, most likely as a holding midfielder in a 4-3-3.
The issue of foreign players and their impact on English talent was a thorny one before Lucas signed from Gremio of Porto Alegre.
While the 30-year-old can see the arguments on both sides, having played with stellar names such as Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez, he believes there has been a net gain to English football by the influx of overseas imports.
‘ It can be difficult for young English players at big clubs like Liverpool. Teams have money to buy and want results straight away so they go out on loan to the Championship or League One,’ he said.
‘But overall I don’t think bringing in foreign players holds them back. I think it actually helps because we can share our experiences and way of playing, and you see a lot of English players doing really well in the Premier League.
‘In Brazil, you don’t have many foreign players, so the league is good but not as good as when you can attract more players from around the world.
‘ Football can be a very good example for everyone with the different nationalities, religions and cultures in the same dressing room. The respect always has to be there otherwise it doesn’t work.
‘I think if people outside football would adapt the same way we adapt as footballers, we would have a better world for sure.’
Most Brazilian players choose Spain or Portugal as their first port of call in Europe. But Lucas found it impossible to turn down Liverpool when Rafa Benitez made his move.
‘The first two years didn’t go as well as I would have liked,’ says the midfielder with some understatement. ‘I left Brazil at a very good level but I got here and started at zero. I had to get stronger and be able to cope with the intensity of games. We also had a lot of worldclass players. Of course, when you are young you are not very patient but Rafa kept positive with me.
‘When Xabi Alonso left in 2009, the comparisons they made between us weren’t very fair, he was at a different level and was going to Real Madrid. But my opportunity came and I started to play a little bit more and change opinions.’
What helped Lucas is that Liverpool is a relative small city, so overseas players can live close to each other but in London they become isolated. Lucas was part of a Latin football community in Liverpool.
‘ Pepe Reina was a neighbour, Fernando Torres. I had a very good relationship with Alvaro Arbeloa as well, he was someone who helped me a lot when I first came.
‘The language barrier was difficult so you get closer to people you can speak to more often. I’ve had Brazilians here with me. Fabio Aurelio, Doni t he goalkeeper. Liverpool is a smaller city, you probably don’t go out as much as you would in London, so you get close and help each other.
‘As the years have gone on, I’ve tried to make others comfortable. I knew Philippe Coutinho from the national team, we played together a couple of times, I knew what it was like coming to England.
‘We go to dinner, to each other’s houses, you can advise him which places to go to or where he can buy things if he needs to. Of course we have people at the club who do everything for you if you want, but sometimes you want to interact with people from your country. It’s the same with Roberto Firmino, Alberto Moreno, the guys I feel I can help off the pitch, I like to do it because that’s the way I am.’
Liverpool had just appeared in their second Champions League final in three years when Lucas arrived in 2007. They are not at those heights now but Lucas has been able to play at the top end of the Premier League for the duration of his time at Anfield.
‘ I am really proud. It i s not normal for a foreign player to be at the same club for 10 years. It is a massive achievement,’ he said.
‘Of course in this journey, you have a l ot of ups and downs, challenges and difficult moments. But I think it’s helped me a lot as a person, as a player as well. At times I probably wanted to leave, but it didn’t work for the club. Then sometimes the club might have wanted me to go but it wasn’t the right opportunity for me. But one thing I never doubted was the respect the club had for me, and I for them.
‘I have never been in a rush to leave. I know at some point it will happen [Lucas has a year left on his contract] and it will be the best for both sides. As I said, the respect is there, and the fans as well. That is what I wanted to achieve when I first came in and I think I have achieved that.’
Lucas reels off the names of some fantastic players he has lined up alongside. Not just Suarez and
Torres but Alonso, Coutinho, Javier Mascherano, Reina. Even in that exalted company, one stands above them as the best in his time at Anfield. I can mention a lot of players but it's an easy question to answer because Steven Gerrard was an allround player. I was lucky to work with him for eight years and I have seen him do unbelievable things and having unbelievable seasons. He could score goals but was also a complete player. He is the one who is always in my mind. "Sometimes in England, you don’t follow other leagues so when a young player comes through you build him up as world- class too quickly. But Steven showed for a long time how good he was. 100 per cent he would have made the Brazil national team. 'He did it in the biggest games, not just the Premier League. I remember beating Real Madrid 4-0, the goals he scored and the performance he gave. 'I think he could mix the way a foreign player plays with the passion and quality as well that the English players have.’ Besides the Real Madrid romp, Lucas has a special fondness for the 4-1 win at Old Trafford in 2009 and t he Europa League comeback against Bor ussi a Dortmund. Equally memorable but for different reasons were going out of the Champions League despite a 4-4 draw with Chelsea, and being booed at Anfield during a game against Fulham in the early difficult days.
He cares as much now as he ever did, possibly even more. ‘My debut was against Everton. I played against them again a couple of weeks ago and was more nervous now than I was back then,’ he says.
‘You don’t get nerves when you’re that young. Now you understand what it all means not just to the club but the supporters as well.’
Like Speroni, who he will see sitting on the away bench this afternoon, Lucas has become a family man in England.
‘My plan was to go back to Brazil but there is a big chance now we will continue to live in England. We all have British passports, the kids were born here so why not. They know here as home. They go to Brazil for holidays, that is the reality. In the future, there could be a big chance we stay here, yes.’