Alisson Becker has hailed one of his Liverpool teammates as a ‘special player’ who ‘always make a difference to the team’ whenever he’s on the pitch.
Although he’s more than doubled his tally of Reds apperances from last season in the current campaign, Federico Chiesa has still been consigned mostly to a substitute role in 2025/26, making just five starts in all competitions (four of which came in domestic cups).
On the weekend of the Oscars, a series of Premier League players partook in a video for the top flight’s official YouTube channel in which they were asked to nominate teammates for specific categories.
When selecting a Liverpool player for the hypothetical Best Supporting Role award, Alisson gave the nod to the Italian forward, saying: “A special player in our team who supports me a lot and helps me go further, is Federico Chiesa.
“He brings energy to the team even when he’s not playing, but when he plays, he always makes a difference to the team, no matter what he needs to do. He is a winner for that.”
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The phrase ‘cult hero’ was concocted to describe players like Chiesa who never seem to be the star attraction of their team, but are demonstrably 100% committed to the cause and adored by the fan base because of it.
The 28-year-old seems to be perpetually linked with an exit from Liverpool given his sparsity of game-time, and it’d be understandable if he felt a desire for a fresh start elsewhere, having not played more than 15 minutes in any Premier League match since late December.
However, it’s been acknowledged privately at Anfield that the Italian forward is a consummate professional who never complains about his limited usage, and the value of such ‘team players’ should never be dismissed lightly.
With Mo Salah enduring by far his least productive season for the Reds, Chiesa would be justified if he felt aggrieved at not playing more regularly. As Alisson has said, though, our number 14 is someone who takes pleasure in doing his bit for the greater good even when he’s not on the pitch.
You can watch Slot’s full pre-Tottenham Hotspur press conference below, via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
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