Alisson Becker has revealed that Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola sent him a letter of condolence after his father passed away in February 2021.
The goalkeeper was struck by tragedy midway through the 2020/21 season when his father, Jose Becker, died after drowning in a lake near his family home in Brazil.
However, Alisson could not attend the funeral in his homeland due to the travel restrictions that were in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. As a result, he had to watch his father’s ceremony via FaceTime.
After missing his side’s 2-0 win over Sheffield United in February 2021, Alisson returned to the squad for the final 12 games of the Premier League season before scoring a remarkable, last-gasp winner at West Bromwich Albion in May to put the Reds on course to qualify for the Champions League.
Now, more than three years later, Alisson has revealed that it was only because of the support of his Liverpool team-mates and, surprisingly, City manager Guardiola and Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti that he found the strength to return to the field.
When he died, it destroyed me. I could not even think about football. I had to keep remembering that I even played football, and that we were fighting for the Top 4,” recalled Alisson in an interview with The Players Tribune. “It was even more complicated, because it was right in the middle of the pandemic, and the logistics of getting home were a nightmare.
My wife was pregnant with our third child, and Covid was exploding again in Brazil. Her doctor said that it was risky for her to travel, so she had to stay in Liverpool with our kids. That was total anguish for her, because she loved my father so much.
“We always joked that he loved her the most. If we ever had a little disagreement in front of my father, he would always say, “I think Natália is right. She was the daughter he never had. I was going to have to fly to Brazil alone.
The following two or three days were a blur. The next thing I remember was all the flowers coming to our house. From Virgil, Andy, Fabinho, Firmino, Thiago…. on and on. All my brothers. Everyone sent us flowers with a note of condolences.
And not just from my teammates, but even Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti sent me a condolence letter. It really touched my heart. Every 10 minutes, there was another knock at our door, with a delivery man holding flowers.
“I don’t think those people can understand how much something small like that means when you’re suffering. It was a reminder that even your biggest rivals recognise the human behind the name on the kit.
I’ll never forget, Jürgen called me, and I was feeling so guilty about missing training, because we were outside the Top 4, and we needed every point. But Jürgen told me to take as much time as I needed.”
Alisson added: “Without my teammates and without the club, I would not have been able to deal with that time in my life. When I returned to training a few days after the funeral, I would think about my father at random times.
“I couldn’t help it. I would have a flash of him standing on the sidelines when I was a kid watching me play, standing there like a true stoic, not saying a word. Or fishing with him at the lake, or sitting around the barbeque with him drinking chimarrão, saying a couple words every five minutes.
Or him smashing his whole face into a birthday cake in celebration when Taffarel made that famous penalty save in ’98. Or him laying on the couch after a long day, still having just enough strength to crawl under the couch and pretend to be Taffarel….
I would have these flashes and I would start crying. Right there in training. Imagine trying to sort out the wall to stop Trent’s free kick, and you have tears clouding your eyes! It’s hard enough when you’re not crying, man!
“But my teammates were unbelievable. They never once judged me. They acted like they were all a part of my family and they were in mourning, too. Being able to train again brought me a sense of calm. I always say that I did not “choose” football. You cannot choose what is unconscious, what is already in your bones.”
