Liverpool unveiled a new mural at their training ground this week that pays tribute to the goalkeepers who have lifted silverware for the club down the years.
The painting was commissioned by John Achterberg, the goalkeeping coach, and Alisson is among 13 players to feature alongside the likes of Elisha Scott, Ray Clemence and Bruce Grobbelaar.
Emblazoned across the artwork are the words “In safe hands”, which has become a maxim that Liverpool, thus far this season, have been thankful that Alisson has wholeheartedly lived by.
Scratch below the surface of an unbeaten start to the season and the Brazil goalkeeper has been forced to make an array of crucial saves. That had been evident in his side’s opening group B outings, while in the Premier League he has been called upon more than at the same stage in any of the previous three campaigns he has been on Merseyside.
The reality is that Liverpool have, at times, been too easy to play against, too open on occasions, and it has been a defect that Jürgen Klopp has been eager to rectify.
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Along with progression to the knockout stage of the Champions League last night, the biggest positive from a feisty success over Atletico Madrid is that the performance his players served up would have been far more to his liking.
Liverpool are at their best when abiding by the mantra “our identity is intensity”, to quote the assistant manager, Pepijn Lijnders, and the dismissal of the visiting defender Felipe after 36 minutes should not detract from the fact that they had swarmed over Diego Simeone’s side when 11 faced 11.
The protection, balance and structure they lacked returned. Fabinho, restored to midfield after injury and playing for an hour, helped to win the ball higher up the pitch as seen in the tenth minute when his sheer determination turned what threatened to be a bone-shuddering collision with Rodrigo De Paul overwhelmingly in his favour. The Anfield gallery roared its approval and the touchpaper was lit for an absorbing passage.
Fabinho’s importance is clear. He brings a sense of assurance yet, as with many of the club’s midfield options, durability has become an issue for the Brazilian with niggling injuries disrupting his rhythm. Here, though, he liberated those around him.
Having lamented his side’s body language after seeing them surrender a two-goal lead against Brighton & Hove Albion last Saturday, there would be no such complaints from Klopp.
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Jordan Henderson was always alive to the threat of the Atletico wing back Yannick Carrasco and split his time between shuttling back towards his own goal to help out as well as breaking forward.
While alongside Fabinho and Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also combined hard running with intent as he made his first Champions League start since facing Atletico in the last-16 defeat in March 2020, the game after which football shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Oxlade-Chamberlain’s struggle to re-establish himself after the terrible knee injury he sustained three years ago has been clear, but this was a night when he would have endeared himself to his manager. It was a timely reminder of his qualities.
Diogo Jota’s opening goal rewarded Liverpool’s early endeavour, but it was the second strike through Sadio Mané on 21 minutes which underlined a role reversal.
Mané wriggled away from a posse of Atletico players before continuing his forward run and applying a deft touch to Alexander-Arnold’s shot-cum-cross to leave goalkeeper Jan Oblak with no chance.
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In the aftermath, a Spanish inquisition raged with Luis Suárez berating those team-mates who had failed to halt Mané’s run at source. This was Liverpool benefiting from the lack of a challenge where on several previous occasions this term they have been guilty of not getting to the ball.
Alisson looked on from the other end of the pitch approvingly.
Felipe would belatedly follow Suárez’s orders, cynically targeting the back of Mané’s leg as he sought to launch a counterattack and giving referee Danny Makkelie the chance to brandish a red card.
For the returning Suárez, cast in his second favourite role as pantomime villain, this was a frustrating affair in which he was marooned on the periphery even before Liverpool’s numerical advantage distorted the second half.
The Uruguayan’s last act was to see his somewhat muted celebrations cut short as a volley, which wrong-footed Alisson when deflecting off Joël Matip, was ruled out for offside. Simeone took him off immediately afterwards.
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His toils had been witnessed by the striking Gods. Sir Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush looked on from the directors’ box, while Fernando Torres was also present, having earlier seen the Atletico youth team of whom he is assistant manager lose 2-0 at Liverpool’s academy.
Across the field from Suárez, Mohamed Salah represented Liverpool’s present and was a nimble threat throughout. In total, the great and the good had plundered 821 goals for the club.
Yet for all that attacking talent, Klopp would have been pleased with a clean sheet. There was a moment of sloppiness when Thiago Alcântara, another midfielder returning from a spell out, was dispossessed and Atletico broke into open ground.
The finish from substitute Hector Herrera was wayward to leave Alisson under-employed once again. Liverpool will hope it stays like that.
