‘It helped me a lot’: Liverpool star admits he owes his ‘world-class’ playing style to Pep Guardiola

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Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker says Pep Guardiola was indirectly a major influence on his style of football. The Brazilian is now one of the world’s best.

There’s little question that Alisson Becker is one of the world’s best goalkeepers. In fact, we’d have him down as the outright best – no one boasts the complete game that he does.

We saw a part of that against Arsenal last week. Alisson kept out a goal opportunity for the Gunners with elite goalkeeping. It was a moment that earned the highest praise from Jamie Carragher.

But that’s only a part of his game. Alisson’s ability on the ball and his desire to be involved in play boosts Liverpool dramatically. They’re never shy to go back to him and he’s able to maintain an unreal level of composure under pressure.

And the Brazilian says that’s down to early development inspired by a rival of Liverpool’s – Pep Guardiola.

“I have the skills that are needed but I worked a lot on it when I was playing for my youth team,” Alisson told Liverpoolfc.com.

“I had a manager once who loved the Guardiola team from Barcelona which used the goalkeeper a lot, so he tried to do that with his team in the U20s and it helped me a lot.”

Alisson Becker at Liverpool

Guardiola’s influence on modern football – and players at Liverpool – certainly extends far beyond this. He rejuvenated the False 9 position at the elite level, something we see with Roberto Firmino, and moved the top end of the game towards possession.

Again, that’s something Liverpool use, particularly under Jurgen Klopp. You can also argue that the way Guardiola used Dani Alves in his Barcelona team directly influenced Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson’s style of play.

Guardiola certainly didn’t invent any of these principles but he put them together in a highly successful way. Liverpool, and Klopp, built a team on a similar style using players like Alisson. Players who perhaps wouldn’t have been quite so highly rated 20 years ago.