Tbat book will be worth a read. hughes is a decent writer.
[SIZE=6]Lucas Leiva: I can’t see myself playing for another team than Liverpool[/SIZE]
Midfielder talks about his debt to Liverpool, the moment he thought his career was over and his return to the Brazil squad
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[][U]Fernando Duarte[/U]
[LIST][][U]theguardian.com[/U], Friday 18 October 2013 08.14 EDT[/LIST]
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Lucas Leiva says he proud to have established himself at Liverpool but that he will only be remembered if he wins some trophies. Photograph: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Lucas Leiva was driving his car when his mobile suddenly started buzzing with an alarming frequency. With his wife expecting the couple’s second child imminently, the [U]Liverpool[/U] midfielder pulled over to see whether she had indeed gone into labour.
She had not. The messages flooding into his phone were from fellow professionals, friends and family, congratulating him on his return to the [U]Brazil[/U] squad after a two-year absence. There had been times Lucas thought the moment would never come.
Lucas’s Liverpool career has already comprised more highs and lows than most players experience in their whole careers. He arrived from Grêmio in 2007 but initially struggled and was even booed by his own fans [U]in a home game against Fulham the following year[/U][/URL]. Then came the haircut, the resurrection and, with that, the adulation. Then, finally and disruptively, came the injuries. In November 2011, at a time when he had more caps for Brazil than Neymar, [URL=‘http://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/nov/30/liverpool-lucas-cruciate-ligament-injury’][U]he tore his cruciate ligament[/U] in a League Cup tie at Chelsea and missed the rest of that season.
Upon his return, in August last year, he tore a hamstring [U]during the warm-up before a league game[/U] against the same opponents. Amazingly he still tried to play but lasted only five minutes before being replaced by Jonjo Shelvey. The injury left him depressed and fearing from his career. “I had to search really deep for some strength, because there were a couple of days I could barely move and the doctors did not even allow me to hold my baby son,” he says.
But it was also during that time that his fondness for his club, who face Newcastle United in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off, reached a new level. "The club was amazing to me, supporters met me on the street and told me that things were going to be OK. And all the support I received then is the reason why I don’t really see myself playing for any other club if I have the choice. I’d love to have my testimonial at Anfield.
“I have played under four managers at Liverpool and I am grateful for everything they have taught me,” the 26-year-old continues. “The thing with Brendan [Rodgers] is that he was here during the worst time of my career. His encouragement was crucial for me to come back from a bad place.”
Rodgers was not the only person at the club who supported Lucas during those dark days. The England captain, Steven Gerrard, was another. “When I was injured he sat down to talk to me a couple of times and was very encouraging,” Lucas says. “He is a vital player for this club. He is a legend at Liverpool and it is easy to see why he is also the England captain. He is also not as serious as people seem to think and I’m delighted to be playing alongside him.”
Liverpool have had their best start to the season since 2008-09 and take on Newcastle second in the table, level on points with Arsenal. Lucas is encouraged but not carried away. "Look, we have obviously got some encouraging results from the first games and no one will complain about being top of the table. But we would be silly to get too excited after seven games.
“The Premiership is a long and tough journey and we just have to look at our defeat to Southampton to see that. But I’ll give you one thing: maybe we would have lost that game to Sunderland last season [Liverpool won 3-1 at Wearside before the international break]. There’s a feeling that a couple of things went our way [this time around]. But ask me again how I feel in January, because that’s when we will really know what we can achieve this season.”
A potential title charge has been mentioned but Lucas, for the time being, wants to focus on a place in the top four. “I don’t see why we should get ahead of ourselves. The race for the top four will be extremely close this year and I still think we are underdogs, given how much money some of our opponents have invested. We also lost some important players like [Pepe Reina] and have already had injuries to players such as Philippe [Coutinho].”
Lucas’s cautiousness is down to having seen signs of green shoots fade away before. He is now Liverpool’s third-longest serving player behind Steven Gerrard and Daniel Agger and when he arrived at the club in 2007 they had just played in a second Champions League final in three seasons. Since 2009, Lucas and his team-mates’ only experience of big European nights have come from the television or game consoles. That hurts.
“Liverpool are still a massive institution in English and European football and we need to get back into the Champions League. Those nights are unforgettable for players and supporters. It’s about time we all felt that buzz again,” he says. Keeping Luis Suárez last summer was key for the club’s ambitions and Lucas, who is a close friend to the Uruguayan, is understandably delighted that his team-mate stayed. “Luis is one hell of a player and I know him well enough to say that maybe he’s competitiveness sometimes comes out too strong. But he’s been one of the best players in the Premiership since he arrived, so it’s great that he stayed with us.”
It seems extraordinary that Lucas is still only 26. Brazilian journalists often joke that he has been a veteran since his Youth Academy days and there is some truth in that. When he signed for Liverpool, he had just become the youngest ever winner of the Bola de Ouro, Brazil’s version of the Ballon d’Or. His name pops up in a list alongside legends such as Zico, Falcão and Ronaldinho. Back then, when Rafael Benítez paid £5m for him, he was an attacking midfielder with an eye for goal.
In England, however, he was immediately switched to a more defensive role by Benítez as way into the Liverpool team. “Well, Liverpool had Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso ahead of in the pecking orders. In football and in life you have to adapt to survive,” he says.
Since then, the team has gone through a lot of changes, including the retirement of Jamie Carragher. By the time Carragher retired, Lucas had developed a way to understand the defender’s thick Scouse accent and now enjoys watching his former team-mate on TV. “I think he’s been very comfortable and funny. It didn’t suprise me he could talk about the game, but he really adapted fast to it. It means we’ve got a good match for Gary Neville now!”
The return last week to the Brazil squad for the matches against South Korea and Zambia was confirmation that the midfielder has rediscovered some of his best form. Before the surprise call-up the selecão coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, checked with an old friend from Stamford Bridge whether the midfielder was ready to return to the fold. Rodgers, who worked with Scolari at Chelsea, told the Brazilian that Lucas was ready. “The call-up came out of the blue,” says the 26-year-old. “It’s not that I had given up my dream to play in a World Cup at home for Brazil, but it was just that time was running out with every game I wasn’t picked for.”
As it were, Lucas flew back to England on Wednesday having been praised in the Brazilian press for his performance alongside fellow Premiership players Paulinho, David Luiz and Ramires against Zambia in Beijing. Scolari said Lucas had played well and selecting he Liverpool player ahead of the success story of the Confederations Cup, Luiz Gustavo, was encouraging. “Lucas plays regularly in the Premiership and has been together with many of the selecão players here,” Scolari said. “He is tactically sound and his protection of the back four is very important in the kind of football I like my teams playing.”
With that in mind it sounds as if Lucas may well become the first Liverpool player to represent Brazil at a World Cup, which would be a truly special moment for the Leiva family as Lucas’s uncle, João Leiva, was part of Brazil’s 1974 squad, which made it to the semi-finals. “My grandma would be so proud,” says Lucas. “It’s not bad to have had a son and grandson playing in a World Cup.”
Before that, the Liverpool midfielder can achieve another milestone, to become the Brazilian with the most Premier League games to his name. He is currently 15 behind Gilberto Silva, who played 170 league games for Arsenal. “Yes, that would be nice but Gilberto won the league twice, didn’t he?” Lucas says. “Much as I am honored to have established myself in England, it’s the trophies that will make people remember you.”
A nice guy, I don’t know if he has lost some of his mobility post injury, or because Gerrard is next to him in midfield but he is not quite at the standard he was before the cruciate.
Allen,Coutinho and Cissokho are all back and a great boost to the squad. If they can hang in around the top until crimbo they will make top 4, and i aint looking beyond that.
Newcastle gone one up to a nice goal from cayabe…you would still think Liverpool will win this one though…early doors…
They should win it if they keep getting corners. Newcastle are atrocious at defending them. Every time Liverpool get one, Newcastle shit themselves.
Very soft goal to concede, here’s a decent link for anyone interested
Lads you can get good links to all games every week on fsi
Should kick on and win this now with Newcastle down to 10 men.
Stevie g from the penalty spot…Suarez was off side in the build up.pool getting the breaks again…
1-1 Newcastle down to 10 men…
I hate that sour cunt pardew…
That’s Stevie’s 100th Barclays Premier League™ goal for Liverpool.
What a hero.
Stevie is treading water here, one more mistimed tackle and Mariner will be only too happy to make it 10-a-side.
2-1 down :rolleyes:
2-1 Newcastle. Liverpool have been shit, they don’t deserve anything from this game.
We have them on the ropes now.
Three good chances missed in quick succession since the equaliser.
Bad result for the pool v a ten man Newcastle…sturridge missed enough to win three games…
Pool return to the top for a few hours…
The most notable thing from a Liverpool perspective so far this season is they’re been putting the lesser lights to the sword, something they haven’t done in many a year. Mind you they haven’t beaten a team placed higher than 8th placed Manchester United. They’ve only faced two of the title contenders so far, Southampton and Arsenal and have lost both games.
With Everton drawing and Arsenal and Manchester City losing, it means all of our title rivals bar Southampton have dropped points this weekend. A good two days for us, certainly.
Arsenal will fall away. Its looking like the 1983/84 season all over again with Liverpool and Southampton slugging it out for the title.
Hopefully we can keep this run going and then get some good results over the christmas/new year period when we play Chelsea and Man City away. If we can get something in both those games then I think we can take a spot in the top 4. 