To understand Alisson, you have to start with his father. His biggest inspiration, his quiet hero, and the man whose sudden death changed everything.
In a heartfelt piece for The Players’ Tribune, published two days after he helped his team to win the Premier League title, the Liverpool goalkeeper opens up about grief, and the support he received from the football family...
Early memories
"I have this vision of my father as a younger man. It is deeper than just a memory. Memories are hazy, you know? This is different. This is colourful. It’s warm. Almost like a dream.
"I think I am probably three years old, but I’m already kicking a mini football in our living room with my brother Muriel. He’s eight, and I’m already following him everywhere. I have “the rope tied around his waist”, as we say.
"My father just came home from a long day of work, and he’s laying down on the couch, fully reclined. You know how fathers lay down after a long day, like they weigh 400 pounds? "Ahhhhhhhh…. Tô cansado pra caramba…."
"In Brazil, it’s a certain posture. He’s got the pillow under his head, and he’s got his right arm hanging down over the couch.
"Me and my brother come running into the room, and we start shaking him. 'Paaaiiiiii! Come on!'
"He protests for a few seconds, and then he rolls off the couch and onto the carpet. 'Yesssss!'
"Then my father rolls all the way under the couch. He disappears. All you can see are two big arms coming out from the darkness, waving around like mad. 'You’ll never score today. I am Taffarel!'
"It’s the World Cup. The carpet is our pitch. The gap under the couch is our goal. My father’s big hands are Taffarel.
"My brother is Rivaldo, Bebeto, Ronaldo, Dunga….
"I get to be whoever he doesn’t pick. (The fate of all little brothers.)
"It’s so vivid that I can even smell it. I can smell the couch. I can smell my mom cooking dinner. I can smell my father’s clothes.
"I can see his big hands waving back and forth, trying to make a heroic penalty save in the World Cup Final. Every once in a while, he pops his head out from under the couch and pulls his clown face. My brother and I are laughing like crazy.
"Not only can I close my eyes and see it …. I can feel it, like it was just yesterday."
Father's death
Alisson was left heartbroken in February 2021 when his father tragically died in a lake near their family house in Brazil. The sudden death shocked him to the core, as he recalls in The Players' Tribune piece.
"When I got the call that my father died, I was an ocean away from home.
"I was in Liverpool, and we were in the middle of the 2020/2021 season. His death was sudden. A complete shock.
"My mother called me and told me that there had been an accident and that my father had drowned at the lake by our house. All I remember was I felt so lost. It did not seem possible that someone like my father could actually be gone. He was a 'man’s man', as they say. As strong as they come.
"When he died, it destroyed me. I could not even think about football. I had to keep remembering that I even played football, and that we were fighting for the top four.
"It was even more complicated, because it was right in the middle of the pandemic, and the logistics of getting home were a nightmare. My wife was pregnant with our third child, and Covid was exploding again in Brazil. Her doctor said that it was risky for her to travel, so she had to stay in Liverpool with our kids.
"That was total anguish for her, because she loved my father so much. We always joked that he loved her the most. If we ever had a little disagreement in front of my father, he would always say, 'I think Natália is right.' She was the daughter he never had.
"I was going to have to fly to Brazil alone."
Support from Liverpool and the world of football
Football is so much more than just a game. When Alisson was reeling from the shock of losing his father, he received the unstinting support of his Liverpool team-mates and manager Jurgen Klopp. But beyond Anfield, the global football community set rivalries aside to also offer the grief-stricken Brazilian a wave of love, respect and support during one of the toughest moments anyone can endure.
"The following two or three days were a blur. The next thing I remember was all the flowers coming to our house. From Virgil [van Dijk], Andy [Robertson], Fabinho, Firmino, Thiago…. on and on. All my brothers. Everyone sent us flowers with a note of condolences. And not just from my team-mates, but even Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti sent me a condolence letter. It really touched my heart. Every 10 minutes, there was another knock at our door, with a delivery man holding flowers.
"I don’t think those people can understand how much something small like that means when you’re suffering. It was a reminder that even your biggest rivals recognise the human behind the name on the kit.
"I’ll never forget, Jurgen called me, and I was feeling so guilty about missing training, because we were outside the top four, and we needed every point. But Jurgen told me to take as much time as I needed.
"I said, 'Yes, but, but…'
"He said, 'No, no. Do not worry about anything.'
"I think everyone could see that, from the moment that he came sprinting like a madman half way across the pitch to jump into my arms when Origi scored against Everton. I pull up that clip on my phone once in a while, and I laugh every time. But there were so many moments that the public never sees, where we would sit on the bus after away matches and toast the wins with a beer, like a proper German and a proper Brazilian.
"Jurgen allowed me to take the time to grieve, and not a lot of managers would have been so understanding. To me, it’s the Liverpool way. It’s just different here."
The day I scored for my dad
Alisson has become one of the world's best goalkeepers during his seven seasons at Liverpool, helping the club to win two Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup by shutting out opposition attacks and keeping clean sheets. But he also once made an impact at the other end of the pitch, remarkably scoring an injury-time winner as his team beat West Bromwich Albion 2-1 - three months after his father's death - to boost their hopes of a top-four finish.
"We were playing a crucial match against West Brom. We were fighting for our place in the Champions League, and we had to win that match. It was one of those days where it feels like nothing is working, and it was 1-1 with a few seconds remaining. As a keeper, you are just standing in your box in those moments, feeling helpless.
"But then we won a corner. And our goalkeeping coach shouted for me to run up the pitch. There was nothing to lose. So I ran up the pitch as fast as I could, and I arrived in the box just as Trent was taking the corner. To be honest, as a keeper, you never, ever, ever think that you are actually going to score.
"Just get into the box and create chaos.
"The next thing I know, the ball is coming at my face. I flick my head and I fall to the ground. Then I am just surrounded by a warm glow. That’s the only way I can describe it. Everyone is hugging me. Thiago is hugging me and crying. Firmino is hugging me and crying and laughing at the same time. Mo [Salah] is celebrating like a little kid, jumping up and down. I have never seen him so happy after someone else scored a goal, hahaha! Complete joy.
"It was almost more special that we were still playing in the empty stadiums, without the roar of the fans, because the only thing that I could feel was the love of my teammates, who had gotten me through the hardest time of my life. Our whole bench, the staff, and the kitmen were all cheering so loud that it felt like we were back in front of the Kop again.
"I remember I looked up to the heavens, and it was one of those grey rainy days in England. But for me, the sky was filled with light. I said, 'Pai…. pai…..'
"It’s for you, Dad!"
To learn more about Alisson, his family and fatherhood, read the full article on The Players' Tribune website here.
