Liverpool’s Alisson: ‘My header was special but the clean sheets are better’

O n Tuesday it will be two years since Alisson scored the soaring, stoppage-time header that maintained Liverpool’s late surge towards Champions League qualification at the end of a troubled campaign. Liverpool will have their goalkeeper to thank again should history repeat itself this season, albeit for the Brazil international’s outstanding contribution in his own goalmouth.

Jürgen Klopp presented Alisson with a goalkeeper’s jersey with 100 printed on the back following last Saturday’s 1-0 win over Brentford, secured by Mohamed Salah’s 13th-minute goal. The gesture was in recognition of the 100th clean sheet of the Brazilian’s Liverpool career, although his manager had a point when joking that: “This is actually for 100 life-saving saves this season.” To which Alisson replied: “It might have been more.”

This is the first season that Alisson has had to make over 100 saves in his five years at Liverpool. It is not a statistic that Klopp or his defence will be proud of but the frequent exposure has simply reinforced the Brazilian’s brilliance on a regular basis. No Premier League goalkeeper has saved more “post-shot expected goals” this season than Alisson, with 9.3. Fulham’s Bernd Leno is second on the list with 9.2 but the drop off to Jordan Pickford in third, with 4.4, is stark. However this campaign ends, with Liverpool heading to relegation-threatened Leicester on Monday night, it is Klopp’s 30-year-old keeper who has provided the platform for a European salvage operation and is their undoubted player of the season.

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“I haven’t put the shirt on the wall yet, I haven’t had time yet, but it