You really have to think of Caoimhin Kelleher; he must be the only pi**-off person under Arne Slot at Liverpool.
Despite helping his team to the top of the table in both England and Europe over the past two months, winning ten games and drawing two, the Irish goalkeeper was dropped from the team as soon as number one keeper Alisson was fit.
Kelleher, who has announced his intention to leave Merseyside, was forced to sit on the bench here in Catalonia and, predictably, watch Alisson prove why he is certainly the best goalkeeper in the world.
On a night when Slot's team underperformed, Alisson proved there was no rust in his game with five important saves.
Slot's surprisingly toothless attack was helped by VAR on the hour mark when it emerged that former Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek had been on Luiz Diaz's heels.
Mo Salah, who barely managed a kick all evening, delivered a textbook penalty, meaning that of Liverpool's last 23 goals, 20 came in the second half.
Alisson has produced some exceptional performances for Liverpool in the Champions League over the years.
He will never beat stoppage time, except for Napoli's Arkadiusz Milik in December 2018, who kept Liverpool in the Champions League – and they beat Tottenham in the final.
But Alisson has proven that he has improved even further six years on and the only concern is his dodgy hamstrings.
There were also moments against Spain's third-best team last year, when the 32-year-old was equally good with his feet, playing tight passes with his defenders and at one point delivering a brilliant chip over the head of an onrushing player. .
FOOTBALL FREE BETTS AND SIGN UP DEALS
Despite Kelleher's good performances – his only outlier came against Newcastle six days earlier – Alisson was always going to be parachuted back into the team.
And now he finds himself back on a team that has only lost once all season.
Four points clear in the Premier League and now it seems certain that he will finish in the top eight of the Champions League.
This means they will miss the play-off round with two more games in February.
Crucially, the second leg of the matches will be played before Liverpool's scheduled Prem trip to Manchester City on February 23.
While Slot's team can put their feet up that week, City – possibly – has a play-off match.
Nevertheless, it looks like City are out of the title race and Liverpool will have to make some stops in all competitions.
Slot also has the added bonus of being able to rest all players with pain and tension for the remaining group matches against Lille and PSV Eindhoven in January.
But the Dutchman will be slightly concerned about the performance of his team.
In a crowd of around 10,000 people – limited because UEFA does not allow temporary seating – there were only 492 Liverpool fans.
To qualify for points, fans had to have attended 27 European away games, including Spartak Moscow in September 2017. Talk about dedication.
One player who made his 235th appearance for Liverpool was Joe Gomez and remarkably he is still looking for his first goal.
He was denied the moment he must have been dreaming about in the fourth minute when Paulo Gazzaniga, who worked at Spurs and Southampton, among others, showed good reactions to push a header over the crossbar.
Gazzaniga then denied a well-struck drive from Darwin Nunez, who was then guilty of wasting a few other chances in the first half, especially one before half-time.
It was exactly the kind of performance from Nunez that makes him such a frustrating player.
The best chance of the first game – until the goal – came in Girona's first attack.
Unfortunately for the home side, Daley Blind caught the eye, although it will come as no surprise to United fans that he missed the ball completely from six yards.
Alisson saved Alejandro Frances' successor and then threw out a desperate arm to avoid being beaten at his first post by Miguel Gutierrez.
The Brazilian kept out an effort from an offside Bryan Gil, but his finest moment came before half-time when he used both hands to prevent a decent strike from former Watford midfielder Yaser Asprilla.
Just seconds into the second half, Alisson was at it again, saving at his near post to keep out Arnaut Danjuma.
Girona's defense certainly had little trouble with Liverpool's attack, which seemed to have run out of ideas when Diaz fell to the ground after colliding with Van de Beek.
French referee Benoit Bastien told Diaz to get up as he thought it was a dive.
But after Andy Robertson's shot was saved for a corner, VAR checked the collision.
Bastien was called to the screen and it wasn't long before he pointed to the spot and Salah avoided the penalty by sending the keeper the wrong way
Liverpool avoided any late drama and still recorded an 18th win in 21 games for Slot.
When he landed on Merseyside, at no point did he think it would be this easy.
Comments