Alisson Becker hailed after 'incredible' return but Arne Slot 'far from pleased' despite Liverpool win | OneFootball

The Brazilian was outstanding on his return to action

Liverpool boss Arne Slot says Alisson Becker proved why he is “the best goalkeeper in the world” against Girona.

The Reds maintained their 100 percent winning record in this season’s Champions League league phase as a second half penalty from Mohamed Salah was enough to seal all three points.

Though, the visitors didn’t have it all their own way at the Estadi Montilivi and had Alisson to thank for preserving their lead en route to keeping a first clean sheet away from home across all competitions since the 1-0 win over RB Leipzig towards the end of October.

Back in the Liverpool starting line-up after a two month absence, the Brazilian was kept busy on his return to action. Keeping out efforts from Arnaut Danjuma, Alejandro Frances and Yaser Asprilla, in particular, he certainly showed no signs of rust.

And when delivering a verdict on Alisson’s performance, Slot was full of praise for his number one goalkeeper, claiming the 32-year-old is the best player in his position across the entire world.

“No, he definitely didn't. I said a bit of a joke that maybe the players wanted to see how fit he really was, so to give him so much work,” the Dutchman told reporters. “But, of course, that was not our plan.

“He showed again today why I said so many times that he's our first goalkeeper. That has nothing to do with Caoimhin [Kelleher] – he did so, so well. But Alisson has been so important for this club for so many years, for his country as well.

“[He] showed today that he's probably one of the best, in my opinion the best goalkeeper in the world.

“And let's hope he can keep continuing to bring these performances. Let's hope even more that he can stay fit.”

Ultimately, Slot’s decision to hand a recall to Alisson was vindicated, even if it came at the expense of Caoimhin Kelleher who excelled in the Brazil international’s absence.

However, the Dutch tactician was not pleased with the overall performance from his side.

“If you ask me about all the six games, I'm really pleased with all the results, I am really pleased with the five [other] games with the way we played. I'm far from pleased about the performance tonight,” he added. “But we have an incredible goalkeeper.

“The other part was every time we lost the ball we were not aggressive enough, so every time we lost the ball they could almost every time go all the way to our goal, having a shot or a blocked shot, and then we could attack again.

“Hardly any control at all over the game; maybe the second half was a bit better, but then I am trying to be positive.”