Five things you may not know about Liverpool-bound goalkeeper Alisson

Alisson’s brother Muriel is also a professional goalkeeper. As boys, they watched their father, who was a keeper for a team in their home town of Novo Hamburgo in Brazil. The brothers came through the ranks at Internacional together, but in the early years Alisson trailed behind his brother, who is five years older. “When I entered my teens, I wasn’t even the best goalkeeper in the family,” he told the Players’ Tribune. Muriel now plays in Portugal for Belenenses. Alisson said he has his brother to thank for everything he has achieved for inspiring him to become a goalkeeper.

Late bloomer

While in the youth set-up at Internacional, he came close to quitting football. Alisson said he was a late developer, which left him smaller and weaker than the other goalkeepers. He became the third choice keeper and did not get picked to play in the biggest competition of the year for 14- to 15 year-olds. “Honestly, I thought about packing it in,” he wrote in his Players’ Tribune article. Thankfully he persevered and over the next year he grew by around seven inches, giving him the physicality to match his technique.

Tough competition
If competing with his brother for a starting place was not hard enough, Alisson also had to contend with former Brazil shot-stopper Dida at Internacional in 2014-15. The World Cup and two-time Champions League winner spent one year at the Porto Alegre club before retiring, age 41. He also had to wait a year behind the established Wojciech Szczesny after joining Roma, making just 10 Europa League appearances in his first season before taking over as number one after Szczesny’s departure to Juventus. Alisson admitted he was close to leaving Roma if he was not promised regular football.

Family man
The 25-year-old has been with his wife Natalia Loewe since 2012 and they got married in 2015. She was often seen cheering on her husband from the stands in Russia at the World Cup, donning a Brazil shirt. The couple have a one-year-old daughter together, Helena.

Music man
Alisson is an accomplished singer and guitar player, regularly travelling with the instrument and once rounding off an appearance on Brazilian talk show ‘The Noite with Danilo Gentili’ with an acoustic performance in the studio. His other hobbies away from the pitch include video games and fishing.