WatchLucas Leiva interview: Retirement, future plans and his decade with Liverpool

The former midfielder, who made 346 appearances for the Reds before leaving in 2017, last month announced his immediate retirement from the game after a heart issue was detected during pre-season testing with Gremio in December.

Lucas joined Peter McDowall and Jason McAteer on this week’s edition of Extra Time and, on the decision to end his career at the age of 36, said: “I’m great, I’m healthy, that’s the most important thing. It was a big surprise for me because I never had any problems, always 100 per cent.

“Now I am in a period in my life where I need to know a lot better myself, my body: I need to control how much I run, how much exercise I do.

“But I’m healthy, I’m adapting to this new cycle, I would say. I’m spending time with my family, taking my kids to school, being close to my family, to my parents. Now I am also speaking with Gremio to see if I will stay in a role inside the club, which will be important for me, and I will find a role that I like the most and keep going in my career.

“For sure I will stay inside football because football has been my life since I was born. But I am fine, I am healthy. That’s the most important thing. I just cannot play football but apart from that I can do everything. Well, I cannot play football professionally – maybe I’ll come for the legends game and walk around in Anfield!”

During a wide-ranging chat, Lucas also talks fondly of his time on Merseyside and explains what it was like to play for managers including Jürgen Klopp – from whom he receives a surprise video message.

“You could feel his presence,” recalls the Brazilian of his earliest impressions of Klopp.

“A very open guy. One day I went to his office to speak with him, I wasn’t happy with something and he said, ‘Lucas, I can tell you what I think, not what you want to listen [to].’ [From] that day, for me, he was the man.

“The way he managed the club and the group I think is a unique way. He’s very open; he always says, ‘I’m your friend but I’m not your best friend.’ As soon as he arrived we could feel something was changing for good, and he proved [to] us that he was the right man.”

Lucas adds: “Jürgen is very special. He texted me when he saw the news. The relationship I created with him was fantastic and he’s right: when I was on the bench my mood used to change completely! I agree with him! ‘It won’t happen again, it won’t happen again!’”

Subscribers can watch the full interview in Extra Time on demand above now.

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