Tom Stanley retweetledi
Alisson Becker: “When I received the news that my father had died, I was an ocean away from home. In Liverpool, during the 2020–2021 season. His death was sudden. A total shock. It felt like the ground beneath my feet disappeared. Jürgen Klopp gave me time to deal with my pain and struggles. Few coaches would be so understanding. To me, that’s the Liverpool way.
Ray Haughan, who was the club director at the time, texted me and said the boys had come together and agreed to pay for a private flight so I could attend the funeral, so I didn’t have to worry about anything. It was an impossible situation, because at that time, leaving the country meant having to quarantine in a hotel for 14 days upon return.
The idea of coming back from my father’s funeral and being locked in a hotel room alone for two weeks was hard, but the worst part was imagining my wife alone for so long. She was in the final months of pregnancy, and anything could happen.
I called my mother and brother and explained the situation. It was the most brutal call of my life. We cried a lot, but in the end I decided that my father would want me to stay with my children and his ‘favorite daughter’ and protect them, no matter how hard it was.
Every chance I had to hug him, I did. Every opportunity I had to tell him I loved him, I took it. There was nothing more to say. He knew.”
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