On Wednesday night, Liverpool number 9 and Brazil forward Roberto Firmino spoke to the press after his side thrashed Rangers 7-1 at Ibrox Stadium in the UEFA Champions League group stage match.
Uncharacteristic as it was for him to do an interview to start with, fans on Twitter were left enchanted upon seeing a video doing the rounds of Firmino speaking in English after his man-of-the-match performance.
Ever since he joined the Reds in the summer of 2015, the 31-year-old has rarely been seen speaking publicly other than few isolated words in media engagements.
Even so, Firmino is known to be one of the most popular members of the Liverpool squad but the lack of him being seen conversing in English has only added to his enigma.
On the night, he was central to Liverpool turning the game around after finding themselves behind to a well-worked Scott Arfield strike.
Firmino featured heavily during the time he was on the pitch and equalised in the 24th minute off of a Kostas Tsimikas corner before finishing off a swift counter-attack in the 55th minute, from a Trent Alexander-Arnold-esque cross from makeshift right-back Joe Gomez.
In his typical fashion, he then proceeded to set up Darwin Nunez for the third with an ingenious back heel to give the Reds breathing space.
What followed was the Mo Salah show as he came on and completed the fastest hat-trick in Champions League history – in the space of 6 minutes and 12 Seconds.
When asked about it, Firmino quipped that as soon as Salah toe-poked in the first, he knew that he would go on to score the hat-trick.
“Amazing, when he scored the first goal, I told Darwin on the bench âhe will score a hat-trick, 100 percentâ. I could feel it on the bench, and thatâs exactly what he did, and Iâm so happy for him.â
Firmino has had a resurgence in goal-scoring form for Liverpool this season and is the clubâs top scorer in just 11 appearances with 8 goals and 4 assists.
He is widely regarded as a technically gifted forward with characteristic selflessness in his play, which helped shape one of the most destructive front-threes in world football in Salah, Mane and Firmino under Jurgen Klopp – who has previously described the
Brazilianâs false-nine play as something that âpeople will write books aboutâ.
Speaking to UEFA.com, he added: “I am very happy. I always try my best to score goals and to help the team win. I play for the team first. Good things will come, 100% I believe this”.
Speaking about the Reds’ performance, he added, “It was a very tough game but we knew that beforehand. We tried our best to score goals. We did that and we won and we’re very happy about that“.
His team now sit comfortably second in their group behind Napoli and looks like favourites to progress ahead of Ajax. They next face Manchester City in an intriguing battle at home on the weekend in the Premier League.
The âBobby dazzlerâ, as he is called by the Reds, is in the last year of his Liverpool career unless a contract extension is in the works.
No hints of one have yet been dropped, but his performances show just how much he has to offer which should certainly warrant lengthening his stay at Anfield beyond this season.
