‘Saved them’: £25m Liverpool man was his country’s best player last night despite heavy defeat

A Liverpool player has received positive reviews from the media despite suffering a heavy defeat while playing for his country last night.

Arne Slot will get an opportunity to assess his Liverpool squad over the coming weeks, with plenty involved at Euro 2024 and the Copa America.

The Dutchman is likely to have a keen eye on compatriots Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch and Cody Gakpo in particular after all three were named in Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands squad.

However, a host of Liverpool players will get the opportunity to impress Slot during pre-season while some of their teammates are on international duty.

One man who will be hoping to catch Slot’s eye is Caoimhin Kelleher, who will be aiming to establish himself as a regular at Anfield.

The goalkeeper has long been Alisson Becker’s understudy but did step up well in the Brazilian’s absence when called upon last season.

Kelleher was in action for Ireland on Tuesday evening and was helpless to prevent a 3-0 defeat to Portugal, with Cristiano Ronaldo netting twice.

Despite the defeat, Kelleher was rated as his side’s best player by the Irish media.

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What the Irish media have said about Liverpool’s Caoimhin Kelleher

The Irish Sun rated Kelleher as Ireland’s best player on the night with a match rating of seven out of 10.

The outlet wrote: “Fine save with foot to deny Bruno Fernandes, could do nothing about the goal and relieved to see deflected Ronaldo free-kick hit the post.”

Kelleher also received the same rating from The Irish Independent, making him the joint-highest-rated Ireland player.

“Saved Ireland in the first half and was left exposed by his defence for Portugal’s first goal, there was little he could do about the goals that came after that, two saves in the final phase of the game meant Ireland kept the score down,” they wrote.

Balls.ie were slightly less generous with their assessment, handing Kelleher a 6.5, but the outlet did note that Kelleher was let down by the Ireland backline.

They wrote: “Came out well early on to stifle Portugal’s first break. Made a great save from Bruno Fernandes in the early stages, though his defence let him down by allowing Felix to roam free from the resultant corner.

“Couldn’t have done much more for either of Ronaldo’s second half goals. Portugal could have had a few more had it not been for Kelleher’s strong interventions.”

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Kelleher’s stats vs Portugal

With speculation surrounding Alisson’s future at Liverpool, Kelleher will undoubtedly be keen to impress his new boss.

The 25-year-old was rated as Ireland’s best player by Sofascore, picking up a 6.8 match rating.

The £25 million-rated goalkeeper made a series of saves to deny Portugal and the scoreline could have been much worse without him between the sticks.