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I’m not here to ruin your buzz about goalkeeper Alisson Becker’s incredible, match-winning, last second headed goal. I am, in fact, the most buzzed, even a month later. For Liverpool fans, that goal will go down in history as one of those “remember where you were when...” iconic moments.
LFC goalkeeping coach John Achterberg isn’t trying to harsh your buzz either. It was, after all, Achterberg who motioned for Alisson to leave his goal and go down to the other end of the pitch so that his head was in place for that fateful delivery from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
“It was an unbelievable, magic moment,” Achterberg said. “After everything he’d been through this year off the field as well, it was a nice way but also at that time an important thing for us as a team and as a club because we were chasing the Champions League.
“It was great that he finished it with an unbelievable header. It was a great moment for him and I’m happy for him for that.”
Despite the praise, don’t expect Alisson to start competing against Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane for the Golden Boot next season.
“I hope [another goal from him] is not needed because then the score is not right for us. Hopefully we’re always on the right side of the score! We never know. He’s not the first goalie to score but for Liverpool he was and that was a really important one.
“Hopefully he can just have to focus on the goalie side and try to win games by keeping the team in the game.”
The dichotomy of most magical, famous sports moments is that they happened because one team needed to claw their way back to victory in the first place.
“Cushioned header from Gerrard - !”
“Oh, you beauty!”
“Corner taken quickly!
All of these were heroic acts of brilliance and ingenuity which were required because the team needed to climb out of a hole that they’d dug for themselves. And for as much pleasure as these fond memories provide us, every coach and manager would likely say that they’d take the comfort of Liverpool’s 2-0 Champions League final victory over Spurs instead of another Istanbul any day.