While the 32-year-old Brazilian is reminding everyone of his quality, his supposed successor is having to apologise for his poor form
Harvey Elliott wasn't the least bit surprised by Alisson Becker's history-making heroics at Parc des Princes last Wednesday night – but he was still blown away by them. "I've got no words, to be honest," the forward told while standing alongside Liverpool's No.1. "This guy, he's just unbelievable, the best in the world. Each and every game he shows it, [he] keeps us in so many games. Without him, I don't know where we'd be."
They certainly wouldn't be going into the second leg of their last-16 tie with a 1-0 lead over Paris Saint-Germain, who peppered the Reds goals with shots for 90 minutes. Alisson made nine saves in a shockingly one-sided first leg and, as a rueful Luis Enrique admitted afterwards, five of them were "amazing".
"Their best player was the goalie," the Spaniard said. "Alisson decided which way this game went." Peter Schmeichel wholeheartedly agreed, as the Manchester United legend said on that Liverpool would have lost 3-0 had it not been for "one of the best goalkeeping performances I've seen in my life."
Given Alisson is only 32 – relatively young for his particular position – it feels a little strange that there is a chance that he could be usurped as Liverpool's first-choice shot-stopper this summer – or even leave the club. After all, the Reds have already put a succession plan in place, with Giorgi Mamardashvili set to belatedly arrive at Anfield this summer from Valencia. However, while the presumption was that the Georgian would immediately take over in between the posts from Alisson, their contrasting form right now could well prompt a rethink…
Getty Images SportNot a priority, but prudent
Liverpool's recruitment team are rightly copping an awful lot of flak for allowing key trio Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold to enter the final year of their respective contracts. However, they were praised for moving so quickly to agree a deal with Valencia for Mamardashvili that will see him move to Merseyside at the end of the 2024-25 campaign.
A new goalkeeper didn't feel like it should have been a priority for the Reds at the time – particularly as they arguably have the world's best No.2 in Caoimhin Kelleher – but it was hard to argue with the level of prudence at play.
If the decision had already been made that Kelleher wasn't quite good enough to be Alisson's heir, then the club was right to line up an alternative sooner rather than later, and Mamardashvili was unquestionably a strong candidate to become Liverpool's next No.1.
AdvertisementAFPInjury issues
At just 24, Mamardashvili had already made a name for himself at Mestalla and was also coming off the back of a string of sensational showings for Georgia at Euro 2024. For an initial £25 million ($32m), he undoubtedly had the makings of a bargain buy – and that's still the case, in fairness.
Furthermore, while there were few doubts over Alisson's form, his fitness was an increasing cause for concern, with his injury-enforced absences becoming frustratingly frequent. By contrast, Mamardashvili had already racked up an impressive amount of appearances for Valencia. His best years were clearly ahead of him, while Alisson was showing signs of wear and tear.
Consequently, much was made of the fact that whereas Mamardashvili finished seventh in the voting for last year's Yashin Trophy, Alisson didn't even make the shortlist. Out with the old, in with the new and all that…
Getty Images SportDramatic dip in form
As it stands, though, Mamardashvili doesn't look like an upgrade on Kelleher – let alone Alisson.
It obviously needs to be acknowledged that Mamardashvili is not playing for a strong side. In La Liga, Valencia are just two places and one point above the relegation zone. Only basement boys Real Valladolid (62) have conceded more goals than Los Che (45) so far this season, which goes a little way towards explaining why Mamardashvili (five) has fewer cleans sheets to his name than Kelleher (eight) in 2024-25 despite playing six more games than the Ireland international.
However, there is no disguising the fact that the quality of Mamardashvili's performances have dipped dramatically since his move to Liverpool was announced just before the close of the last summer transfer window.
AFP'Not in my best moment'
Goalkeepers lining out for relegation-threatened teams are nearly always much busier than those representing title challengers, meaning they usually have the higher save stats. That's not the case with Mamardashvili, though.
He's actually averaging fewer saves per game (2.4) than Alisson (2.6), while his save percentage is an incredibly worrying 57.61 percent – that's the third-worst ratio in Europe's 'Big Five' leagues among goalkeepers to have made 20 or more appearances so far this season. To put it further into context, Alisson's tally is 75.58%.
Mamardashvili has also made three errors leading directly to goals, the most recent of which came on Saturday, with the Tbilisi native gifting Valladolid a 40th-minute equaliser by passing the ball directly to Juanmi Latasa. Valencia still went on to win the game thanks to Umar Sadiq's second-half goal, but Mamardashvili nonetheless felt compelled to issue a public apology afterwards.
"I know I'm not in my best moment now, but I'm convinced that challenges make us stronger," he wrote on social media. "I'm putting in my best effort to be the best version of me as soon as possible."
