Trophies, Golden Gloves, counters and Klopp hugs: One year of Alisson Becker
Looking back now, it was perhaps the first and last time we saw Alisson Becker caught off guard.
One year ago today, when the Brazilian goalkeeper arrived from AS Roma, a familiar voice called out: ‘Sorry!’
Suddenly Jürgen Klopp materialised out of the darkness in the gloom of the Melwood press room, to interrupt Alisson’s first interview as a Liverpool player and initiate that most well-established of contemporary LFC traditions - the Klopp hug.
It certainly was not the last the two would share, and in a way their embraces tell the tale of what a remarkable 12 months it has been for Alisson personally and for the club whose colours he now defends.
There was the hug at Anfield last December, when they leapt into each other’s arms to celebrate Divock Origi’s 96th-minute winner against Everton. Origi might be the one mentioned first when that match is called to mind, yet Alisson had made several outstanding saves to keep the score at 0-0 in the first half.
Then there was the one at Estadio Metropolitano in early June; their faces lighting up when they stumbled across each other in the chaos of the on-field celebrations after Liverpool defeated Tottenham Hotspur in the 2019 Champions League final.
Watch Alisson's best bits in the CL final
Once again, Alisson had laid the groundwork for a late Origi strike, repeatedly denying Spurs when the scoreline was a precarious 1-0 in the Reds’ favour.
“My God, he’s been unbelievable this season,” Andy Robertson beamed. “It was an absolute joke the way he made the saves, it’s down to him that we kept a clean sheet.”
After the season’s end, while most of their colleagues were jetting off on well-earned holidays, Alisson and Roberto Firmino were boarding a flight home; not for a break, but for a major international tournament on home soil.
By the time the 2019 Copa America drew to a close with Brazil’s 3-1 victory over Peru in the final at the Maracana, however, Alisson’s claim to being one of the world’s best footballers, never mind goalkeepers, had been further bolstered.
Before conceding that solitary goal - a Paolo Guerrero penalty - in the final, the 26-year-old had gone 890 minutes without conceding, a run spanning nine-and-a-half matches for club and country, including the Champions League final and that semi-final second leg against Barcelona at Anfield.
It’s no easy feat for a goalkeeper to win the Ballon d’Or, hence why only one has ever done it - legendary Russian Lev Yashin in 1963 - but having been recognised for keeping the most clean sheets in the Premier League, the Champions League and the Copa America with a hat-trick of Golden Glove awards, there has been a groundswell of support for Alisson’s candidacy this year.
Brazilian football expert Tim Vickery is amongst those to have suggested the shot-stopper should be in contention when the 2019 edition of the game's premier individual honour is handed out in December.
Part of Alisson’s popularity stems from his personality, from the bond he’s forged with the fans and the way he lives through matches so intensely, but statistics provide the cold, hard facts to back it all up.
His overall save percentage of 77.08 per cent in the Premier League leaps off the page, the best of any goalkeeper to have made five or more appearances in the top flight.
Alisson, who will take Liverpool's No.1 jersey this season, was a major factor behind the Reds smashing through their own records as a club: 97 points for a 38-game league season and 22 goals conceded in a Premier League campaign, to mention just two.
The 21 clean sheets that won him that Premier League Golden Glove was also a record for a Liverpool goalkeeper in the English top flight, pipping the 20 registered by Pepe Reina in 2005-06 and 2008-09.
The cherry on the cake of all those clean sheets and saves is Alisson’s aptitude with his feet. The man from Novo Hamburgo recorded 1,076 passes in the Premier League last season - another division high - while maintaining an impressive rate of 80.3 per cent passing accuracy.
It’s one thing being comfortable in possession and redistributing the ball, but Alisson’s quick-thinking and perfect execution when it comes to long kicks and throws has lead to goals at the other end more than once.
Against Fulham at Anfield last November his quick pass to Trent Alexander-Arnold left the Londoners exposed and led to Mohamed Salah converting Alexander-Arnold’s pass seconds later. The following month he repeated the trick in the build-up to Xherdan Shaqiri’s crucial third goal away to Burnley - immediately after performing an acrobatic save from Ben Mee’s header.
“When we were 2-1 up he made a brilliant save - that’s only one thing,” Klopp opined at Turf Moor. “That’s his attitude, he doesn’t stand on his line or wait, he goes out and catches it, and then - counter-attack. So that’s a really exciting package which the boy delivers, and it helped us a lot of course.”
When it comes to first years with a new club, they don't get much better than Alisson's with Liverpool.
Indeed, perhaps Robertson summed it up best following the Champions League final.
“He’s the man, isn’t he? He’s the man.”