Alisson Becker experienced a hugely traumatic experience when news that his father had passed away in 2021 rocked the world of our goalkeeper and his entire family, most of whom were still in Brazil.
Reflecting on this tough moment in his life, our No.1 spoke with UOL (translated) and shared some further details on what happened: ‘I remember that the time he passed away was the height of the pandemic and I was unable to attend the funeral. I participated online, it was my decision. Liverpool offered me everything to travel there, my teammates offered to charter a flight so I could go straight to Porto Alegre. They would do it for me if I wanted to, but I couldn’t go right now.
‘My wife was pregnant, she was at risk, and I couldn’t put her in danger. I couldn’t leave her alone. She suffered as much as I did. My concern was my mother, but my brother managed to be with her. It was a rational decision to stay away at that time.
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‘Liverpool was also going through a difficult time, fighting for a place in the Champions League, and if I had gone to Brazil I would have had to spend some time isolated and I don’t know if I would have had time to return in time to finish the season. My teammates also needed me’.
When most Liverpool supporters think back to this part of the Brazilian’s life, we are likely to selfishly think about his famous header against West Brom and how it aided our qualification for Champions League football.
As much as this was a major reason as to why the former Roma man remained on Merseyside, it still would have been such a tough time for him and his interview after the goal at the Hawthorns was a perfect encapsulation of that.
To also hear that his teammates were so generous with an amazing gesture to fly him back home to Porto Alegre just shows how well respected he is in the dressing room and how close the whole squad is with each other.
We will always reflect back on this time as fans and think he made the right decision for us but it was such an amazing show of strength from the 30-year-old and one that he made for the football club, the supporters and his friends within the dressing room.
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