Liverpool: Adrián can have the house for f*** all! – Carragher offers home to goalkeeper
If Liverpool goalkeeper Adrián is having trouble house hunting on Merseyside, he need not fear - Jamie Carragher says he can have his.
Liverpool great Jamie Carragher joked that Adrián could buy his house on the cheap after the goalkeeper's heroics in the UEFA Super Cup against Chelsea.
Adrián's Cup
Adrián made the only save in a 5-4 penalty shoot-out win for Jürgen Klopp's men in Istanbul, where the Premier League giants drew 2-2 on Wednesday. Yet the circumstances behind his arrival at Anfield and place in the starting XI last night, made it a remarkable night for the Spaniard.
Adrián was brought in as an emergency signing after second choice keeper Simon Mignolet decided to accept an offer from Club Brugge just three days before transfer deadline day. When he received that fateful phonecall from Liverpool, he was on the dole - without a club and had been training voluntarily with an old friend for the previous fortnight at Andalucian Regional Division side UD Pilas (he thanked the club with a cheque as a token gesture so that they could buy new sporting materials). Before being offered a lifeline by Liverpool, Adrián must have occasionally wondered whether his professional career was over.
The next twist of fate came in Friday's opening Premier League game against Norwich when Klopp's first choice keeper Alisson Becker ruptured his calf muscle; Adrián, who had been sat with the rest of Klopp's substitutes on the bench, was suddenly thrust into the limelight.
First final, first medal
Loris Karius' Kiev clangers - a not too distant memory for Liverpool fans, only added extra pressure on Adrián, who made just five appearances last season (the last of which in January). Before last night, he had never even played in a final. Apart from a couple of rash decisions (a quickly-taken goal-kick and the move that led to the penalty), he put in a solid performance against Chelsea. And his big moment arrived when the game went to penalties after extra-time. He blocked Tammy Abraham's spot-kick in the shoot-out to hand Liverpool the trophy - Klopp's second piece of silverware in almost four years at the club and for Adrián, his first medal of any kind during his career.
Carra rolls out the red carpet
In nine days, Adrián has gone from wondering where his next job might come from to writing himself into Liverpool FC folklore. It has all happened so quickly that he is still staying in a hotel until he finds a place of his own on Merseyside. After last night's heroics he needed worry - there will be no shortage of offers when he resumes his house hunting - including a very generous one from ex-Reds skipper Carragher, who joked he is welcome to have his place for free.
"Adrian can have the house for f*** all!!," Carragher tweeted.