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creating the opening two goals for Salah and netting two past
future team-mate Alisson in a stunning 5-2 win. But Firmino’s
wait for a first piece of silverware would continue as the Reds
lost the final to Real Madrid in Kiev.
Even so, Bobby scored 11 Champions League goals in
2017/18 and assisted nine others.
That summer he also netted his first goal in a World Cup,
scoring in a 2-0 win against Mexico.“There’s something that the Kop want you
to know...”
It was during a Champions League trip to Serbia, to play Red
Star Belgrade, that the Bobby Firmino song was written by
LFC season-ticket holder Ben Stevenson.
The tune – Y dale alegria a mi corazon (‘And give joy to my
heart’) by Fito Paez – was made popular by followers of River
Plate en route to winning the 2018 Copa Libertadores.
Thanks to a rewrite, it’s now an Anfield anthem.
There’s something that the Kop want you to know, the best
in the world is Bobby Firmino. Our number nine, give him the
ball and he’ll score every time. Si senor, give the ball to Bobby
and he will score [clap, clap, clap].
By then Bobby had scored winners at Leicester City,
Tottenham Hotspur and at home to Paris Saint-Germain in
the Champions League, celebrating by covering his eye after
injuring it against Spurs at Wembley.
His first Liverpool hat-trick came in a 5-1 demolition of
Arsenal at Anfield in December 2018
and he netted the Reds’ 100th goal
of the 2018/19 season against Crystal
Palace, but of course Klopp’s men
narrowly missed out on the title to
Manchester City.
However, after scoring home and
away against Porto in the Champions
League quarter-final, Bobby returned
from injury to play for 60 minutes in the
final against Spurs in Madrid. He ended
the night as a champion of Europe.Campiones
You wait four years for a trophy and
then four come along at once. First64
the Champions League, and Bobby has since
added three more medals to his collection, the
first picked up in Istanbul.
On as a half-time substitute in the UEFA
Super Cup final with the Reds behind against
Chelsea, he created a couple of goals for
Mane and, after the game finished 2-2, scored
Liverpool’s first penalty in a successful shoot-
out to claim another trophy. The FIFA Club
World Cup followed in Qatar.
The Redmen were heading for semi-final
penalties against Mexicans Monterrey when
Firmino came off the bench to net a last-
minute winner, and in the final against fellow
countrymen Flamengo it was Bobby’s extra-
time goal that made Liverpool FC club world
champions for the very first time.
He was still doing the business in the
Premier League too, scoring winning goals
at Southampton, Chelsea, Crystal Palace,
Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Wolves, plus a
couple in a 4-0 win at Leicester. Bobby’s goal at
Burnley was also his 50th league goal for LFC
and made him the Premier League’s all-time
leading goalscorer from Brazil.
A first Anfield Premier League goal of the
season awaits, but when your number nine
produces outrageous assists such as the back-
heel flick that allowed Salah to score at home to
Newcastle United, no Kopite under-appreciates
his value. Which is perhaps best summed up
like so.
Since Jürgen Klopp has been Liverpool
manager, no player has appeared more often
(230), been involved in more goals (130),
provided more assists (53) or won more
matches (140) than Firmino.
Now, at the age of 28, Bobby is also a Premier
League champion.
What a five years it has been.