Alberto Moreno Interview
Alberto's Aim
Outside of England, Scotland and Wales, Spain has produced more first-team players for Liverpool Football Club than any other. Beginning with right-back Josemi in 2004, a total of 21 different Spanish-born players have appeared for LFC, yet only five of them have made over a century of appearances.
Pepe Reina (394) leads the way followed by Xabi Alonso (210), Fernando Torres (142) and Luis Garcia (121), but Liverpool FC's fifth Spanish centurion is still adding to his tally. Alberto Moreno made his 100th start for the Reds against Manchester United on 14th October and his 120th appearance in the 7-0 away win in Maribor and the left-back has got his sights set on adding significantly to that total in the coming years.
“I’m young, I’m 25 years old and I still have two years at Liverpool to go,” he said. “I don’t know if that will be extended or not but I don’t like to think of the future too much – I live in the moment. I go from game to game, I work on a day-to-day basis but of course, I’d love to reach 300 or 400 games for Liverpool, for me and my family that would be something huge.”
Signed from Sevilla in 2014, Moreno made 91 appearances during his first two seasons at Anfield but only 18 in 2016/17 with James Milner preferred at left-back. The summer arrival of Andy Robertson appeared to put his future in further doubt – “yes, it’s true that there were many offers, the offer from Napoli came through and some others, but my first reaction was to stay and fight for my place at Liverpool,” – but after an impressive pre-season Moreno forced his way back into Jürgen Klopp's side and now intends to stay there.
“Last season was a very, very hard year for me,” he admits. “I worked very hard to play for Liverpool and to help the club but the manager decided not to pick me, he decided to play James Milner as a technical decision.
“I am very strong-minded and I could see that I could play for Liverpool despite the arrival of Robertson and Milner and so I have worked hard to get into the starting eleven and I have now done that so what I have to do is carry on down this line and work so I don’t get dropped.
“The truth is that I believe in myself and I want to play for Liverpool. Last season was hard. I didn't play much at all and in my head, I said to myself: 'Alberto, you need to work very hard and please the manager' and that's what I've done. I've worked very hard with the aim of fighting hard to get back into the line-up.”
