Coutinho, Firmino Shortlisted for Award

Despite having both existed for over 120 years in the footballing landscape, there hasn't been much overlap between Liverpool FC and Brazilian football, with a mere 6 Brazilians representing the club through its entire history. Some of the reasons are obvious; the geography, for instance, and the fact that Brazilians are quite sparse in the British Isles in general. In the 90s, English football was not shown on Brazilian television, famously leading to athletes looking to play for the Seleção choosing the Italian and Spanish leagues over the PL.

In all, these factors add up to the fact that in its 23 years of existence, the Greatest League in the World™ has only seen 61 of its players originate from the world's most dominant footballing nation.

In addition, it has (and probably is, right now!) been argued that Brazilians' penchant for individual brilliance wouldn't go over well with Liverpool's socialist roots. Thankfully, this notion has been thoroughly debunked, as after a slow start with a brilliant but oft-injured defender, a couple of back-up goalkeepers and the least Brazilian Brazilian to ever pull on a pair of white boots, we finally have our mercurial maestros in Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino.

Those latter two have now been shortlisted for the 2015 Samba Gold Trophy. Voted forth by fans online, 11 journalists and 11 Brazilian former internationals, the Samba d'Or boasts previous winners like Kaka, Thiago Silva and Neymar. And while it may seem a foregone conclusion that Luis Suarez's current teammate is a shoe-on for a repeat, it should be worth noting that Felipe Melo finished third in the votes last year; stuff can happen, is what I'm saying.

So vote! They're probably not taking the Premier League trophy home this year, but I'm sure a big golden ball will help them get over that.