Of the 15 Liverpool players who featured (either as a starter or as a substitute) in the 2-0 win over Burnley on Boxing Day, Alisson Becker was perhaps the one who escaped people’s attention the most.
The 31-year-old has often been his team’s saviour during his five-and-a-half years with the Reds, but had a relatively quiet evening at Turf Moor as the home side failed to land a single shot on target (Sofascore).
However, the goalkeeper didn’t completely escape the attention of one journalist whose eye he caught at the full-time whistle on Tuesday.
In a piece for the Liverpool Echo detailing snippets from the game which might have been missed in TV coverage, Ian Doyle wrote: “Burnley failed to manage a shot on target as Liverpool, with better officiating and finishing, should have made sure of the win long before [Diogo] Jota’s 90th-minute strike.
“That didn’t stop Alisson Becker becoming a little agitated at his clean sheet being threatened as the home side pressed for a consolation in additional time of injury time.
“After the final Burnley attack fizzled out, the goalkeeper had the ball in his hands and began to fire an angry message to whoever was listening nearby that was halted by the sounding of the final whistle, at which point Alisson instead opted to release his tension by booting the ball straight up in the air.”
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For most Liverpool fans, the tension which had been building throughout the game was released when Jota’s 90th-minute goal finally made sure that the three points were heading back to Merseyside.
However, we got a glimpse into the elite mindset of Alisson with his visible frustration over the chance that Burnley created right at the end of stoppage time, taking it out on the ball that he had in his hands when Paul Tierney blew for full-time.
The Reds goalkeeper had refreshingly little to do at Turf Moor, taking the second fewest touches of any starter in his team with just 37 and not having a single save to make all evening (Sofascore).
Even had the Clarets found a route to goal in the final minute, you can be sure that he’d have been fuming to see him being deprived of his seventh clean sheet of the season despite Liverpool having the result sewn up (Transfermarkt).
Ideally Alisson will be just as idle against Newcastle on New Year’s Day at Anfield, and that there’ll be no need for full-time frustrations either!
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