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Alisson Becker made sure to voice just how good Federico Chiesa is after the Italian's impressive performance in the Carabao Cup.
The 27-year-old was awarded the man of the match award after Liverpool's 2-1 win over Southampton on Tuesday secured the passage of the Premier League champions into the fourth round of the competition.
Chiesa got the assists for Alexander Isak's debut goal and later Hugo Ekitike's winner in what was an all-round stellar showing from the forward. His brace of assists makes it three goal contributions in just 137 minutes of action this season, showing that he's an effective player for Arne Slot when he's on the pitch.
A fan favourite at Anfield, the Genoa-born star came in for praise from the goalkeeper who was resting at home with Giorgi Mamardashvili making his debut between the sticks.
Alisson, 32, took to Instagram to celebrate the win and pointed out Chiesa in particular as he wrote: "Well done lads, which was accompanied by the love heart and strength emoji, while also adding: "What a player @fedexchiesa".
After a disappointing debut season at Anfield where he played just 466 minutes across all competitions, the Italian has started off the season strong with his mentality and attitude long being praised by his team-mates.
It was Alisson again who discussed Chiesa's unwavering drive to succeed at Liverpool following his opening-day winner against Bournemouth last month.
Speaking in an interview with Men in Blazers, the Brazilian said: "It means a lot to us when a player like him, who is not playing so often, who didn’t play as much as he wanted to play, is not in the best moment of his life, personally.
"So when he comes in and he scores that goal, the satisfaction he showed us in his celebration shows a lot of his character, his personality. He’s a guy who works so hard every day with us, he’s always trying to help. He complains sometimes, every Italian does that, but he’s not a guy who complains in a negative way!
"He complains to make things better, to try to make things better for everyone, not only for himself, and I think he shows that nothing is impossible, that you can believe until the last second."
Alisson was joined by his manager in those who made sure to give Chiesa his flowers with Slot paying a particular focus on the winger's work ethic and how that translated to his side winning the match.
"I can accept completely that a team that plays for the first time together, players that haven’t played for a long time, that they don’t play as a team perfectly," the Dutchman said after the game.
"But what I always want to see is players that try and work hard. So I said at half-time, for me it is completely not a coincidence that Federico picked the ball and assisted on the first [goal] because he was the one, in my opinion, that was most involved in the game, tried the most, worked the hardest
"And then it wasn’t a coincidence again that he was the man that made a deep run, great ball by Robbo [Andy Robertson], by the way – who also has won so much at this club and also understands how to play this game: not underestimate it, just always be ready to play."
Chiesa could be in for increased minutes in the Reds' trip to Crystal Palace on Saturday with Ekitike now suspended after picking up a red card on Tuesday while Isak continues to build up his match fitness.
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