The master of the no-look goal is looking back once more and sadly, for the legions who cherish the joy that Roberto Firmino has brought to Liverpool over the past eight years, for one final time. “I am trying to focus on the game,” Firmino says of his Anfield farewell against Aston Villa on Saturday. “But after it I will cry 100%.”
Firmino has avoided media interviews as artfully as opposition defenders throughout his Liverpool career, and also with a beaming smile whenever politely declining another request. But today he makes an exception. He should not, and will not, go quietly. One of the most important and popular figures in Liverpool’s recent history and success under Jürgen Klopp is bowing out with, thus far, 360 appearances and 109 goals, and after seven winners’ medals and countless moments of audacious skill and selflessness. The parting will be painful.
