Caoimhin Kelleher had long been handed League Cup duties and Jurgen Klopp never second-guessed the move, but it is the reaction of Alisson that speaks volumes about the team.
Liverpool’s No. 2 shone at Wembley, keeping the Reds in the fight with a handful of top-class saves before finishing off the game with the winning penalty.
Alisson proudly watched on from the sidelines and was quick to get around the 23-year-old after his big day, with the occasion to mark a special new addition at the Kirkby training centre.
A mural stands on a wall where Liverpool’s goalkeepers train each and every day and it is adorned by the club’s goalkeepers to have lifted a trophy, including Alisson and Adrian.
And while Thomas Tuchel opted for his No. 1 before making the swap for the penalty shootout, which did not quite go as planned, Klopp stuck to his guns and revealed Alisson‘s class response to knowing he’d be on the bench post-match.
“I think, even in professional football, there should be some space for some sentiment, to be honest,” Klopp said to Sky Sports of selecting Kelleher to start.
“He’s a young boy, we ask him to do a lot. He gets the competition, he starts and then in the final I tell him, ‘No, you don’t play?’
“I’m two things, a professional football manager and a human being, and a human being won this time. It’s so nice that it pays off, he deserves it.
“We have a wall at the training centre at the goalkeeping area for all the goalkeepers that have won something.
“When I told Ali he would not play, he said, ‘Oh, great. If we win, we can put Caoimh on it as well’. So that’s exactly how it should be.”
Pure class.
Goalkeeping coach John Achterberg commissioned local mural artist John Culshaw for the piece, which reads ‘In safe hands’ late last year and while the Champion’s Wall will get an update, you suspect this will not be too far behind.
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