It perhaps says everything about the understated brilliance of Alisson Becker that Gary Neville’s decision to single him out as the key man behind Liverpool’s impending Premier League title success raised so many eyebrows.
Speaking in his role as a pundit for Sky Sports last week, the former Manchester United man said: “I think Alisson has made Liverpool win the league.
“When people talk about Van Dijk being the missing piece, I think that there is an element of that.
“But when I go back to two years or three years ago, I was very critical of the goalkeepers that were at Liverpool.”
We are so used to the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane being billed as the Reds’ star man that it felt unusual for any other candidate to be put forward - a fact that was perfectly illustrated by headlines teasing Neville’s ‘surprising’ pick.
But the work of truly great goalkeepers always tends to go unnoticed, and Alisson is without doubt one of those.
The Brazilian proved as much once again on Sunday, as Liverpool got their Premier League title charge back underway with a 0-0 draw away to local rivals Everton.
For much of the 90 minutes at Goodison Park, Alisson watched on from afar as his teammates pressed and probed a typically obstinate Toffees backline.
However, as the clock ticked down the hosts sprang to life; unfortunately for them, so did the man between the sticks for the visitors.
The unrivalled reflexes of Liverpool’s No.1 ensured that neither Dominic Calvert-Lewin nor Richarlison were able to turn promising chances into both three points and local bragging rights at the death.
Those saves also helped the Reds move a point closer to that long-awaited league championship, a fact which you’d think would have etched them firmly into Jurgen Klopp’s mind.
Not quite.
As the German explained at full-time: “I saw the save but I forget it, so that probably says most about him and how we take that for granted – we should not. Outstanding.
“A difficult goalkeeper game. He had the ball much more in his feet than in his hands but he's good with his feet as well, so that's good.
“That's what a world-class goalie is, nothing to do for 90 minutes pretty much and then in one second you have to be there and he was there. It obviously saved us a point – it was not the first one.”
What Klopp and several others had also failed to notice was that Alisson had just clocked up his 11th clean sheet of the season, moving joint-top in the race for what would be a second straight Premier League Golden Gloves award.
And what makes that achievement all the more remarkable is that he has played eight games fewer than fellow frontrunners Nick Pope and Dean Henderson this term due to injury problems.
It is those figures that mark Alisson out as the real leader in his field; as not only the best in the Premier League but quite possibly the best in world football at this moment.
They are also likely to lead Liverpool fans to wonder whether this season might have been ending with a shot at a League and European League double were it not for their first-choice ‘keeper missing that Champions League last-16 return leg against Atletico Madrid prior to lockdown.
Still, it is not hard to imagine that there will be plenty more opportunities for such success with Alisson around for the next few years, whether his genius continues to go under the radar or not.
