Goalkeeper Alisson Becker of Liverpool says no one in football is close to coming up with a solution to the excessive amount of fixtures, and he says players are not being listened to about workloads.
Alisson, speaking about the new Champions League format and Liverpool’s chances in the competition this season during today’s press conference, said I think for the supporters it’s amazing—more games, more bigger games, big teams playing against each other.
For us players as well, it’s a good thing that you are going to play against the best in Europe. And it’s always a good idea to add some games to the calendar that are not busy… I’m being ironic a little bit!
But we are here to do our job. Sometimes nobody asks the players what they think about adding more games, so maybe our opinion doesn’t matter, but everybody knows what we think about that, having more games.
Everybody is tired of that, but we have to bring those kinds of things aside and stay focused on the big challenge that we have here tomorrow. And if we have a chance? Let’s see. Let’s see what we’re going to do on the pitch. A lot has changed in the last years with us; we didn’t play the Champions League last season, and we are all looking forward to that, to be back in the Champions League. And we’re going to do our best to try to win.
Alisson Becker, who played 42 matches for Liverpool and Brazil last season despite being out injured for more than two months, was also asked what he considers an ‘appropriate’ number of games in a season for player welfare during the press conference.
He said I think this is not only a question that I should answer: here, OK, the number is 30 or the number is 40. It’s a matter to sit down all together and listen to all the parties. Because we understand we have the media side, from TV; we have the side of UEFA, FIFA, the Premier League, the domestic competitions. We are not stupid; we understand that, and we understand people want games; people want more games. But the reasonable thing would be that all the sides I mention and all the people who are responsible for making and organizing the calendar sit together and listen to all the parties, inclusive of the players.
Alisson Becker added I think so many players have already spoken about that. We just need to be listened to; that’s what we would like to do—to sit together and understand what the thinking is of the direction that football wants to go. And not only adding games, adding competitions, adding this, adding that. In the end, what we want is to give our best for football; if you’re tired, you cannot compete at a high level, and what I want is to give my best in all the games I play. But we need a solution for that, and it doesn’t look like we are close to a good solution for the football’s sake and the players’ sake.
Tuesday’s Champions League match between Liverpool and AC Milan features an eight-game league phase this season, with a potential two-leg play-off before the last 16. Liverpool competed in 58 games in all competitions during the previous campaign.
The Reds would play 65 games (not counting possible FA Cup replays and the Champions League play-off round) if they advanced to the final of every competition they competed in this season.
Image credit: @Alissonbecker via X