Alisson Becker has lifted the lid on the heartwarming gestures he received from various figures across soccer following the tragic death of his father – including from Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola.
The Liverpool goalkeeper is of course part of this season’s Premier League title-winning side under Arne Slot. Alisson has played a big role in the Reds’ successes over recent years, and was seen celebrating emotionally following the 5-1 win over Tottenham that confirmed the club’s crown on Sunday.
The Brazilian has now gone into detail about the impact his father had on his football career, and the effect his death had on him just a few years ago.
Writing for The Players’ Tribune, Alisson described the moment his mother called him in the middle of the 2020/21 season to tell him his father had drowned at the lake near their family home.
The turmoil felt by the goalkeeper was exacerbated by the difficulties amid the Covid pandemic at the time, making it extremely difficult for him to travel back to Brazil to see his family, while his wife Natalia was pregnant with their third child.
Alisson though was comforted by the gestures sent to him from his Liverpool teammates, as well as elsewhere from the world of soccer.
(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
“The following two or three days were a blur,” Alisson said. “The next thing I remember was all the flowers coming to our house. From Virgil, Andy, Fabinho, Firmino, Thiago…. on and on. All my brothers. Everyone sent us flowers with a note of condolences. And not just from my teammates, but even Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti sent me a condolence letter. It really touched my heart. Every 10 minutes, there was another knock at our door, with a delivery man holding flowers.
“I don’t think those people can understand how much something small like that means when you’re suffering. It was a reminder that even your biggest rivals recognise the human behind the name on the kit.”
Alisson also detailed how Jurgen Klopp helped him during that difficult period, while his Liverpool’s teammates showed their support by agreeing to pay for a private flight in order for him to attend the funeral – an offer the goalkeeper ultimately had to turn down due to the long quarantine period he would have had to undergo.
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“I’ll never forget, Jürgen called me, and I was feeling so guilty about missing training, because we were outside the Top 4, and we needed every point. But Jürgen told me to take as much time as I needed.
“I said, “Yes, but, but…. He said, “No, no. Do not worry about anything.”
“Jürgen had lost his own father around the same age, and he understood my pain very well. He was not just a manager to me, but more like a second father. I think everyone could see that, from the moment that he came sprinting like a madman half way across the pitch to jump into my arms when Origi scored against Everton.
“I pull up that clip on my phone once in a while, and I laugh every time. But there were so many moments that the public never sees, where we would sit on the bus after away matches and toast the wins with a beer, like a proper German and a proper Brazilian.”
