No more lies, reveal the reason for Liverpool debacle

Roberto Firmino gave Liverpool great joy, but his departure last summer for Saudi Arabia confirmed the end of a cycle for the Brazilian at Anfield and also for a generation of players who made the Reds the best team in Europe. In an autobiographical book to be published on 9 November, the player recounts some of the details of that unforgettable team: "It's no secret to anyone. We had conquered Europe, we conquered the world, but something was missing: we had not yet conquered England and that Premier League trophy was the one the fans wanted most. I have no doubt that we were the best until March 2020, when the planet came to a standstill because of the pandemic.

In particular, Firmino names Diego Pablo Simeone as one of the architects of the end of the great Liverpool: "After 26 wins in 27 games, it was clear that the title was only a matter of time and the goal had already changed: now we wanted to win the league unbeaten. We discussed this among ourselves - and why not? After all, it was win after win every week, and that finish line approached with no sign or intention of slowing down.

But then we had a slump in the season; a small one but enough to cost us dearly. And one that perhaps, in the long term, contributed to us losing our European and global dominance. In February 2020 we travelled to Madrid to face Atlético in the last 16 of the Champions League. Diego Simeone, Atlético's coach, identified our style perfectly and found a way to nullify us.

The best Liverpool is over 

That elimination against Atlético hurt the squad: "It was our first defeat in five months, only our second of the season (the other was against Napoli in the group stage) and the truth is that we were surprised. At that stage of the season we felt we were invincible, with a united and strong squad. But we weren't really invincible. Shocked by the Atlético result, we found out the hard way. After Madrid there were three more defeats, which ended up being even more significant than we could have imagined. We lost 3-0 to Watford, which ended our run of 18 consecutive Premier League wins and a run of 44 games unbeaten."