Following an exceptionally strong start to the 2024-25 season and life under new manager Arne Slot that culminated in back-to-back 2-0 victories over Real Madrid and Manchester City last month, the past week hasn’t seen the Reds at their best.
Sloppy, inconsistent play resulted in a 3-3 draw with Newcastle last week and they returned to Champions League action on Tuesday with a performance against Girona that they can count themselves lucky ended with a 1-0 victory and three points.
In the first half in particular Liverpool played an open game, bordering on naive, and on multiple occasions counted on returning star stopper Alisson Becker to bail them out. Thankfully, unlike the rest of the team, the goalkeeper was in top form.
“I was looking forward to this moment,” Alisson said of his return. “Nine weeks working so hard. It was worth every moment, to go back on the pitch and deliver a good performance, to help the team with the points, a clean sheet. This feeling is so good.”
It should be noted even with Liverpool clearly not at their best on Tuesday they were still the better side, with the visitors having more possession, taking more shots, and creating nearly two expected goals worth of chances to their La Liga hosts’ one.
Without Alisson’s outstanding performance, though, it’s hard to imagine Girona not getting the goal their play deserved—and on that night that would have meant no clean sheet, two dropped points, and an end to the Reds’ perfect record in Europe.
“I think when you make the first save you want to keep doing your best,” Alisson added. “I wanted tonight to be perfect, and for a goalkeeper perfect means three points and a clean sheet. Of course the performance we know we could have been better.
“But for tonight I will be glad anyway because it was hard work for me to come back and I just want to keep this feeling, enjoying every game from now on, and stay fit.”