~ Rafa Benitez, December 2008.
The above quote came from the darkest days of Lucas Leiva's career to date at Anfield, in the aftermath of being booed by his own supporters in late 2008. Liverpool fan's on the whole like to see themselves as different, rightly or wrongly, dating back to the old adage of The Liverpool Way. To hear a player donned in famous red booed inside L4 like the Brazilian was stands out as a particular low in recent times, in stark contrast to the belief and values that fuel such an ethos.
That is for me, even lower than the booing of Hodgson, Konchesky and the like, during arguably the darkest days of the last twenty years. At least that was understandable, almost inevitable. Almost necessary. The Liverpool Way was a dying myth, the life blood (and £110,000 a day) being drawn out of the club, bringing it to it's knees. The discontent of the 45,362 was heard no more vehemently than during the home defeat to Wolves, but that felt a necessary act. The mistreatment directed at Lucas, albeit not half as universal, wasn't necessary, and only served to highlight the misgivings of the new age of The Liverpool Way, and the fickle nature of the lesser educated fans - the Sky Sports generation.
When Lucas signed for Liverpool in the summer of 2007 for £6m (yes, six million) from Gremio in Brazil, he had quite the pedigree, and as was the trend with new signings from far and distant lands (i.e. people's limited knowledge stemmed from three minute YouTube clips) - quite the hype.
The captain of the Under 20's Brazilian side, and youngest ever recipient of the Bola de Ouro, Brazil's best player award, previously given to Tevez, Kaka, Romario and Zico - i.e. not a bad judgement of quality. Whilst young, Lucas showed maturity and a mentality above his years, and moved to England as a 20 year old. But Lucas didn't look like your typical Brazilian flair players, he looked more like a teenage member of a failed boy band.
I vividly remember his debut, in the caldron of the Goodison Park derby, coming off the bench to replace Steven Gerrard.
Steven Gerrard. Liverpool captain. In the derby. Mad.
Had it not been for Phil Neville's out stretched hand on the line, Lucas would have won the game in the final minutes, and been a hero. Instead, that honour went to Dirk Kuyt from the penalty spot as Liverpool ran off in to the distance with three points. Rafa Benitez went on to explain his decision which had fans aghast with shock; "I had Lucas on the bench and I could explain to him what I wanted, I couldn't explain to the players on the pitch with the temperature at 180 degrees. I wanted less passion and more calm. Someone that could analyse the game and say 'we are not in a hurry. If you play 15 minutes with calm and you have possession you will have four or five chances."
It was clear that Benitez rated Lucas, and saw a number of qualities not immediately apparent to the watching fans. He was young, and still had a lot to learn, never mind adjusting to the rigours of the Premier League. Lucas wasn't the flamboyant, creative attacker that our minds jump to when we hear the term 'Brazilian Footballer', he was what seemed to be a timid character who was fearful of the stature and reputation of his team mates. Lucas was unfortunate, he made a series of high profile mistakes that cost himself and the team greatly, and gave Sky Sports and the like the opportunity to crash down on this un-Brazilian Brazilian. His foul against Wigan to give away a penalty in the dying embers of the game, and subsequent red card against the blue half of Merseyside in the FA Cup game which saw a Tic-Tac advert mask the misery of seeing Everton score the winner, stand out particularly.
The lowest ebb. During this stage of his career, Lucas look inhibited by the crippling fear of exasperating the dislike held by a large proportion of the fans, and giving the easily influenced general football fan more ammunition to laugh and say "he's shite".
This was the turning point. A haircut and stirring performance in the demolition of Manchester United at Old Trafford, playing in place of an injured Xabi Alonso - something that few know, such was the assumption that the Spaniard was at the heart of such a memorable victory. After the departure of Alonso in the summer of 2009, Lucas played 35 of 38 league games, and growing in stature, it was the time when fans began to see Lucas in a different light. As a strong, and powerful defensive midfielder, who given the opportunity to get forward could excel, as nights particularly in Europe showed.
The darkest 5 months in two decades followed the removal of Benitez, yet Lucas shone under Hodgson, taking greater responsibility and performing to a such a level perhaps only his former manager believed he could reach. "People just don't know how good Lucas is. He is a fantastic player, he was captain of his club side at 19... he has a very good mentality... He can tackle, he can pass the ball and he can win in the air."
The depature of Hodgson and arrival of Dalglish did not change his performance and standing within the team, winning the Player of the Year Award and making the most tackles in the England, Spain, Italy and Germany during the 2010-11 season.
Lucas has arrived and now must be considered the premier defensive midfielder in the Premier League, if not Europe. His domination of Yaya Toure and quietening of David Silva against Manchester City on Sunday can only serve to emphasise his quality and importance to the Liverpool side. His ability to break up the play is second to none, his passing range is getting better and better, whilst his tenacity and energy is mind blowing. He has learnt from those around him, creating some kind of Mascherano-Alonso hybrid, the absolute definition of a modern day defensive midfielder.
It shows how far Lucas has come over the last four years, that the united concern that his potentially serious injury could deal Liverpool a blow greater than losing their captain for nearly a year, fingers crossed the prognosis is less debilitating both for Lucas and the club.
Whether or not he is ruled out for a considerable period of time, I look forward to the day the Lucas wears the captains armband at Anfield, and leads Brazil out across the world.
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