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Roberto Firmino could break Liverpool tradition after emotional Anfield goodbye
Roberto Firmino had just played 86 minutes of a 4-1 win against Norwich City when he was asked for a couple of minutes to reflect on an impressive season-opener inside Anfield’s media mixed zone in August 2019.
He initially stopped, took a step back and asked for a repeat of the question. Then, in what has since become trademark fashion, Firmino simply flashed his beaming, megawatt smile before walking away. It wasn’t the first time Liverpool’s No.9 had given those trying to man mark him at Anfield the slip and it wouldn’t be the last.
“You’ve got no chance asking Bobby!” came the response from another member of the press who had more experience of the polite Firmino rejection. Over the years, the former Hoffenheim man has made a habit of turning down requests to chat about the games of football he had just taken part in.
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He did, however, famously break the habit of his eight-year Anfield career a few moments after he had been crowned a European champion in Madrid when Liverpool beat Tottenham 2-0 in the Champions League final on June 1, 2019.
“I am very happy. I just want to say thank you for this,” those speaking to him at the time have since insisted the conversation went. Over the years, it has become something of a running joke between the Reds star and the gathered media hoping for a minute or two of post-match insight.
The ECHO asked Firmino after the recent 4-1 defeat to Manchester City if he would in fact end his self-imposed vow of silence on the day of his final Anfield appearance, at home to Aston Villa on May 20. Typically, the question was met with more smiling than nodding.
It remains to be seen if the 2015 summer signing does indeed spring a surprise after what is sure to be an emotional afternoon this weekend, but Firmino, it seems, is a man of few words. To the English football press, at least.
On the pitch, the brilliant Brazilian has said enough to last a lifetime. When the Jurgen Klopp era is spoken about in decades to come – when they talk about a sixth European Cup; a first league title in 30 years; the domestic cup double of 2022; a first-ever Club World Cup in 2019 – perhaps it is Firmino who they will speak about the most. The man who has personified this glittering period.
There’s a reason that no player has played for Klopp more than Firmino across a managerial career that surpassed the 1000-game mark in January. It’s 352 now, for those keeping count. That may yet be the final total if he cannot shake off a muscle problem that has sidelined him for the last half a dozen games.
But whether he is fit or not for Saturday, Firmino is sure to be reserved a hero’s welcome from the Kop, much like those in the away end of the King Power Stadium on Monday, who spent the second half of that 3-0 win expressing their appreciation for what the South American has done on Merseyside.
There won’t be a dry eye in the house this weekend, one suspects, as fans aim to give a modern-day great a suitable send-off. “A cast-iron legend,” was how one senior staff member at Liverpool branded him a few weeks ago. There won’t be anyone arguing against that assessment.
The 31-year-old will be able to thumb through a catalogue of memorable moments, goals and achievements when he looks back on his time too. Like that dipping, vicious volley he struck on a scorching hot day at Stoke in 2017. Or the guided finish to secure a Champions League quarter-final win over Manchester City in 2018. There was a double at Leicester on Boxing Day of 2019 that went a long way towards anointing the Reds as champions, while another goal against City in 2018 – when he outmuscled John Stones before lifting it over Ederson – bore a passing resemblance to a famous Robbie Fowler goal at Manchester United in 1995.
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Then there’s the celebrations: the one-eyed salute that downed Paris Saint-Germain after he had suffered an eye injury at Tottenham in the previous game; the forward roll in a game that saw him register a hat-trick against Arsenal; the kung-fu kicks, the air machine guns; the shirtless posing. He has been a rare breed.
But for all the no-look passes, the silky skills and that quintessential fun-loving outlook, he also possesses a string of more functional aspects to his game that have helped make him the highest scoring player from Brazil in the history of the Premier League. His most recent effort, in that 7-0 hammering of Manchester United, was his 78th.
Just one of those came at home in the 2019/20 campaign when Liverpool ended that three-decade wait for a league crown but it was his performances on the road that put the Reds on the path to that historic achievement. His winning goals away from Anfield – against Southampton, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Tottenham and Wolves – were worth 15 points alone that season.
That same season saw the Selecao star stand up to be counted in Qatar as Liverpool won their first-ever Club World Cup by beating Flamengo after emerging past Mexico’s Monterrey. He scored against both to secure a trophy that continues to be curiously treated with indifference in England. It meant the world to Firmino, though, rest assured. Rightly so, too.
In total, he has registered 108 times for the Reds and sits 17th in the list of all-time scorers. But boiling down his output to raw numbers does a disservice to what his legacy will be when he walks away at the end of the month: the megawatt smile; the dyed hair; the vast assortment of tattoos – they have marked out Firmino as one of the most flamboyant to ever grace the Anfield turf and that’s before you’ve factored in his conspicuous yellow Ferrari, the string of memorable goal celebrations and the fact that he is an accomplished piano player. He is truly one of a kind.
It initially came as a surprise to Klopp and his staff when he informed them of his decision to walk away after eight years but despite the heavy hearts and the string of platitudes that will inevitably come his way, a parting of ways just about makes sense.
Despite being just 31, Firmino has found it increasingly difficult to stay fit. His most recent muscle problem has kept him out for the last six matches, while an injury that was picked up before Christmas left him on the shelf until mid-February. The niggling issues have evidently been harder to shake off and with Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo all supplementing the forward department since January last year, Firmino’s importance has steadily dwindled, despite something of a renaissance at the start of this term.
“Roberto is amazing as a player and a person,” Harvey Elliott said after the 7-0 win against Manchester United. “He has helped me out massively. He always has a smile on his face no matter the situation and for me he’s been a big help, trying to learn things off him and he’s one of a kind. Wherever he goes next in his career, that team is going to be truly blessed with an amazing human being and an amazing player.”
Speaking on the same day, Virgil van Dijk added: “I think that position of a false 9 is Bobby Firmino’s. He is the one that showed over the years how difficult it is for any other player to perform it but also for others to defend that.
“As a player, you can’t deny how important he is for the success that we had; for Mo, for Sadio in the past but also for the players that still are here, for example, in Cody (Gakpo) to learn from him each and every day. But as a human being as well, he’s a great guy and I wish him obviously all the best after the summer.”
“Bobby is a big part of the squad and he is an amazing guy,” Jordan Henderson said on Monday night. “He will obviously be missed along with the other lads who are leaving as well.”
But, in a break from tradition where Firmino is concerned, it is best to give the man himself the final say on the record as he gets set up for most stirring of send-offs this weekend. “It’s a beautiful legacy with a beautiful history, at such a big club,” he reflected to ESPN Brasil recently. “I’m very happy and grateful to God for everything we have built here.”
Roberto Firmino Barbosa de Oliveira. Or Bobby, for short. There won’t be another like him.
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