Alisson: ‘If I were a Manchester United player, I would be on fire’
Liverpool once sent Alisson to the same dark place at Anfield where Manchester United descended in March. It is why, despite strong evidence to the contrary, he is convinced the only way Erik ten Hag’s players can return on Sunday is “on fire”.
Alisson’s abiding memory of last season’s record 7-0 humiliation of United as it unfolded says a lot about the consummate goalkeeper. “To be honest I was worried about not conceding, as I always do in every game,” he says. So much for enjoying the moment.
But the result did take him back five years to the night when, keeping goal for Roma, he conceded five goals in 33 minutes to Jürgen Klopp’s team in the first leg of a Champions League semi-final. Roma were 5-0 down before two late replies gave them a glimmer of hope that they almost realised with a 4-2 victory in the second leg. Torment at Anfield was Roma’s motivation to succeed at the Stadio Olimpico in 2018. Despite United’s Champions League exit on Tuesday, and their disgraceful surrender at Anfield nine months ago, Alisson expects Ten Hag’s team to channel the same anger when attempting to atone for the club’s heaviest defeat in 92 years.
“I would be on fire and I would try to set my teammates on fire as well,” said the Liverpool goalkeeper when asked to put himself in United’s boots on Sunday. “I played against Liverpool and I know how strong this team can be at Anfield. It wasn’t a good experience in terms of the result but this is the kind of game you want to play in. Players from Liverpool FC, from Chelsea, from Man United, from Man City, are players that have to enjoy playing in this kind of game. I enjoy it a lot when we play against big opponents.
“As a football player, as an elite athlete, you are going to try to use it [the 7-0] to motivate yourself. I don’t know much about the Man United players but I’m sure they are coming here to try and get the result from us.”
The contrast in preparations for English football’s biggest fixture may increase United’s anxiety. Before the corresponding game last season they were supposedly in the ascendancy having lifted the Carabao Cup the week before while Liverpool struggled for consistency. Klopp’s side followed the 7-0 with three consecutive defeats. Now Liverpool are top of the Premier League for the first time in two years. United, for all their woes, remain a marker for title ambitions at Anfield, as they were when Alisson’s pin-point assist for Mohamed Salah enabled Liverpool to truly believe they would win it in January 2020.
“It was a different time and a different moment for that team,” the Brazil international cautions. “We have to slow down, not our pace, but talking about the title race because we are a team that is rebuilding. That is what we are doing here – rebuilding a team. Of course we want to win the league, of course we want to beat every opponent, but we have to be always focused on the closest thing we have now.
“That game was amazing for that time. It sent a message for our supporters. The supporters felt it. We were feeling as players at that moment that we had a big chance to win the league. Beating Man United, one of your biggest rivals, at home, with that atmosphere and scoring goals like Mo’s with my assist; it makes you feel really good. But I think now it is not that case. We are in a different moment. We want to win in a consistent way. We have to perform better as well, better than what we are doing, but I think we will get there.”
Liverpool are getting there thanks to the continued excellence of Alisson, who returned from a hamstring injury to make a vital contribution to last Saturday’s stoppage-time win at Crystal Palace. The 31-year-old boasts the highest save percentage in the league this season (80.4%) and his goals against per 90 minutes (0.86) is lower than any regular top-flight keeper. Is one of the world’s finest goalkeepers improving?
“If the numbers talk then maybe.” says Alisson, laughing modestly. “I feel in a good way myself, in good shape. I’m working for that – to improve each year as much as I can. I started to play [firstteam] football at a young age for a goalkeeper, 21 or 22 years old, so I’ve already played 10 years in the posts. That’s a lot of time, but I’m still young for a goalkeeper. If you see goalkeepers now they are playing until they are 38, 39 and sometimes going over that.
“I think now I am getting to my highest point of my career, mixing physicality, experience and a big desire to keep doing good and to keep improving. I’m pretty happy with what I am doing on the pitch but I want to keep improving. If improving means just keeping this consistency then, for me, I am happy with that.”
Alisson’s reassuring, decisive presence is another contrast between Liverpool and their great rivals. His opposite number at United, André Onana, has endured a troubled debut season following his £47.2m arrival from Internazionale. While Alisson sees parallels in their pathways to the Premier League, and offers support to Onana, he also recognises a crucial difference between them: only he joined an English giant with stability and most of the pieces already in place to fulfil expectations.
“Onana is a really good goalkeeper,” insists Alisson. “The way he performed in the Champions League last season was amazing. I went through something similar to what he is living now, coming from an Italian club to England, to a big club, for a lot of money. This is a lot of responsibility over your shoulders and he came here with the responsibility to be the replacement for [David] de Gea, who maybe was not in the best shape of his career but was still delivering. To replace him is a big step in your career.
“He is capable of this responsibility, but sometimes it takes longer with some than others. You are changing team, you are changing leagues, you are trying to adapt and that can affect you a lot. I was lucky in that I was coming to a team that had everything already going in a different way, that was building. I think he will get there. In this moment he needs the support of everybody.”