Lucas Leiva, a young Brazilian midfielder, joined Liverpool from Gremio back in the summer of 2007. Although he is often hidden behind the luxury of midfielders Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano, and Steven Gerrard, he continued to contribute to the team for a long time with his consistent performances.
Used as a defensive midfielder and sometimes as a center back, the former Brazilian midfielder spent 10 years at Anfield before departing for Lazio in the summer of 2017. Two years earlier, he helped former Hoffenheim forward Roberto Firmino, who joined from the Bundesliga, with his life.
In October 2015, Jurgen Klopp took over as coach and the team changed dramatically, but he confessed that pre-season in the summer of 2016 was one of the toughest of his career, and he found it very difficult to get through the first 10 days.
“I think I’ve done 18, 19 pre-seasons in my career, I’ve just retired so maybe in two years’ time I will miss that, but at the moment I will be glad to be outside and watching them running.”
“As we know, Jürgen’s teams play with intensity that is different to another manager. But the first pre-season was really tough. Lots of running. Especially in the first 10 days, two weeks, I think it’s the most difficult.”
“Jürgen likes to work as after the pre-season you don’t have too much time to train, so it’s a really important part of the season.”
Liverpoolfc.com
In 2022, he left Lazio and returned to his old club, Gremio. However, midway through the season it was discovered that he had a heart condition, and at the age of 36 he decided to retire from soccer.
He was a much-loved figure at Liverpool, and although he does not know if he will be able to play, as an alumnus of the club, he is looking forward to the day when he will be back on the Anfield stage in a charity match.