It’s fair to say that very few Liverpool fans would have shed a tear had Jurgen Klopp decided to sell Alberto Moreno this summer.The Spanish full-back, who arrived at Anfield from Sevilla in 2014, only featured sporadically for the Reds last term following two full seasons of unconvincing performances.Fans had lost all faith in Moreno’s defensive ability, believing the 25-year-old was actually a left-sided winger rather than a left-back - the position Liverpool had signed him to occupy.Former Liverpool centre-back Jamie Carragher has been extremely critical of Moreno on numerous occasions over the past three seasons.The nadir of Moreno’s Liverpool career came on 18 May 2016, when he produced an abject individual display in the Europa League final against his former employers, Sevilla.
Moreno has been blasted by Liverpool fans over the years
“Jurgen, transfer committee, anyone sign a f****** left back,” Carragher wrote.
His angry post was retweeted thousands of times by Liverpool fans who were all thinking the same thing.
Moreno’s Liverpool career, it seemed, was coming to an end.
But he's survived - and his slowly changing fan's opinions
However, 16 months later and he remains a Liverpool player.
And to the surprise of many, he’s enjoyed a pretty decent start to the season.
Moreno will have been desperate to impress in Liverpool’s Champions League match against Sevilla on Wednesday night.
This was an opportunity to make amends - to a small extent - for his performance against the same opponents back in May 2016.
And he performed pretty well, even getting himself an assist for Liverpool’s first-half equaliser scored by Roberto Firmino.
Riise and Moreno exchange classy tweets
This sparked a reaction from former Liverpool left-back John Arne Riise, who tweeted: “And my man @lfc18alberto is on it tonight ðŸ‘🻠So happy for that guy âš½ï¸Keep up the hard work mate 😓
After the match finished, Moreno responded with a classy tweet of his own: “Thank you very much John. ðŸ‘ðŸ»ðŸ‘ðŸ»ðŸ”´ðŸ”´ #YNWA“
He’s not used to being praised by former Liverpool players, so that must have meant the world to him.
“Anytime my man!“ Riise added. “Well deserved ðŸ‘ðŸ»ðŸ”⚽︓
Liverpool fans agreed with Riise
Liverpool fans then followed Riise’s lead and heaped praise on the much-maligned Spaniard.
Perhaps he does have a future at Anfield after all.