Liverpool’s No.1 missed three matches due to a collarbone injury sustained at the beginning of the month but returned ahead of schedule last weekend to help his side defeat Sheffield United 2-1.
The Reds’ focus has now immediately switched to their second outing in Champions League Group D, with Danish champions Midtjylland visiting Anfield on Tuesday night.
Alisson joined Jürgen Klopp at today’s pre-match press conference and discussed a variety of topics, including his determination to practically halve his expected rehabilitation time.
Read a summary of the Brazilian’s chat with the media below…
On returning from injury quicker than expected…
It’s good to be back, first of all. I’m really happy. I tried to give my best and I have the top physios on my side, helping me as well to accelerate the recovery process. As soon as the doctor said it was four to six weeks, I told him: ‘No, Doc, we go to two or three weeks maximum.’ He agreed with me and then we just go for it. I’m really happy to be back. I just want to thank the physios, the fitness staff, the doctors and the goalie coaches who helped me on this process.
On the absence of Virgil van Dijk and having Fabinho in front of him at centre-back…
Fab is a fantastic player, he is doing really well as a centre-back. We will miss Virgil a lot, we can’t deny that. But we have the players we need to keep playing our way and to keep doing our best. We don’t need to change the way we play, but we will miss him. He is one of the best players in the world and when you don’t have those players on the pitch, you will miss them. That’s a fact.
On Liverpool winning games without necessarily playing their best…
Sometimes it’s needed, you will not play the 60 matches in a year in the same way, all the games well. Sometimes you need a little bit of luck and luck comes together with hard work, I believe that. We are doing our hard work, so sometimes we win the games without playing the best football. But we need to have the full desire, the full passion always in the game. Sometimes you can make it happen. But this can’t be a routine, we try to play a good game, to play better and better and better, to keep improving. This will be what we will try to do in the next games.
On being ‘well placed’ in Group D…
We know our quality, we know our goals. We have big goals for the season but you have to focus on the next challenge you have in front of you. As a group stage, you think in points and everything. But for now we just have to be focused on our opponent and prepare the match the best way we can to do a good game and to get the three points.
On playing Champions League matches without supporters inside the stadium…
I mean, it will never be the same. We miss our supporters a lot, the atmosphere we have here at Anfield on European nights is just amazing. We will miss that. But it’s what we have now, we have to go through this. We are [doing it] already in the Premier League and now for the Champions League it’s the same. But I’m sure we will feel the energy from the supporters from their own homes.
On how it feels to watch games while being out injured…
It’s bad not being involved in football games. It’s the worst thing for a football player. But, unfortunately, we have to deal with those kinds of things as well. It’s part of the job. Injuries, we try to avoid them, we try to do prevention work, but sometimes they happen. I’m glad it was only three weeks but it was a long three weeks, it looked like three months. Not being involved in games – in every game – is always hard, not only the Atletico game [last season] or the Aston Villa game, it’s always hard because you want to help. You want to be involved, do what you love to do and help your teammates go for our goals.
On Midtjylland…
We do the meeting before the match after this interview, so we will know more about Midtjylland, about the players. But all I know [is] that they are a team who qualified for the Champions League, they are capable of that. They are doing really well in their league, they are coming from a win, 3-2 with a late winning goal, so this gives confidence for the team to come here and believe in their goal. I believe they come to win the game and for the three points. But the most important thing now is to focus on ourselves, prepare the games and focus on what we can do in the match to get the three points.
On how he came back from injury faster than expected…
I pray a lot! Seriously, I pray a lot. But I also did a lot of sessions of treatment. I was every day for five or six hours in the club doing treatment with the physios, working with the fitness department. After two weeks, being together with the goalie coaches already, doing some catches, not diving yet. After two-and-a-half weeks I started to dive and then, three days before the match, I started to work hard with hard shooting, hard kicks, hard catches, diving, full-range diving. On Friday, I gave the green light to the boss. I believe in my faith and obviously working hard helps me in this fast recovery.
On whether he is still feeling any pain…
Every injury that you have on the ligament – shoulder, ankle or knee – you still feel something weird. Not pain, not really pain, but it’s just weird a little bit. You feel it for a while, for a couple of weeks. But nothing that puts limits on my way to play – I’m really 100 per cent fit to play and I’m comfortable with that.
On the preparations for a Champions League tie…
Normally it’s the same preparation. Today we have our meeting, we try to know a little bit more about the opponent. We have our training session the same, doing our preparation, focus on ourselves, what we can do, what we can improve from the last match, what we can repeat on the pitch that we did well. And just prepare our minds and rest before the challenge we have tomorrow, which is really important for us in the season.