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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Charlotte Coates

Alisson Becker takes first step to completing remaining aim after changing Liverpool history

July 2018 is the month that changed Liverpool's history for the better after the signing of Alisson Becker was announced and the final piece of the puzzle was complete.

A calamitous display from Loris Karius in the Champions League final just months prior forced the hand of Jurgen Klopp and, despite saying that a new No.1 wasn't on the radar, in came Alisson for a world-record fee for a goalkeeper at the time.

The rest, as they say, is glorious history. But having won every major honour there is to win at club level with the Reds, the 30-year-old is now chasing the big one with Brazil - the World Cup.

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Any debate over who Brazil's first-choice keeper would be for the tournament in Qatar was ended tonight when the Liverpool hero, and not his Manchester City rival Ederson, started in goal for Tite's team.

Brazil kicked-off their pursuit of a sixth World Cup - and first in 20 years - with a routine 2-0 win over Serbia, given to them by a brace of goals from former Everton forward Richarlison. At the other end of the field, Alisson was his assured self throughout and the South Americans fully justified their favourites tag.

Alisson was given an introduction into what life would be like at Anfield when his Roma side were beaten 5-2 in the Champions League semi-final first-leg back in April 2018 - a match he has gone on to say helped make his mind up when Chelsea were also in for his services.

Once Alisson arrived on Merseyside, it was clear Liverpool had a goalkeeper with the kind of talent they hadn't seen for many years. As Gary Neville once said, the Reds were "never going to win the Premier League in a million years" with Simon Mignolet or Karius as the number one.

Liverpool went one better than the season before and lifted their sixth Champions League in Madrid with Alisson putting in a man-of-the-match display to keep a clean sheet against Tottenham Hotspur. The huge fee had already been justified.

The next season, a first league title win in 30 years followed and Alisson cemented himself as an Anfield legend with the numerous goal-saving stops he made during that campaign.

Perhaps the most memorable moment in Alisson's Liverpool career was the match-winning header he scored away at West Brom in May 2021 - helping the club secure a crucial Champions League spot in the trickiest of seasons. The best goalkeeper in the world even turned goalscorer.

Liverpool's level this season has dropped, that is clear for all to see, but Alisson has been better than ever and a World Cup win could put him among the very best the game has seen between the sticks.

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