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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Keifer MacDonald

What Alisson Becker did to Heung-Min Son as strange substitution explained

Alisson Becker was involved in a unique piece of World Cup history during Brazil's victory over South Korea on Monday evening as he was substituted for third-choice goalkeeper Weverton.

Despite the imperious attacking display put on by Tite's side in the 4-1 drubbing of their round-of-16 opponents, which was the final fixture to be played at the eye-catching 974 Stadium, the Liverpool goalkeeper impressed with a string of world-class saves to deny South Korea from finding the back of the net on more than one occasion.

Impressive strikes from Vinicius Jnr, Neymar Jnr, Richarlison and Lucas Paqueta saw the Selecao race into a four-goal lead before Seung-Ho Park reduced the deficit with a fine strike from range. However, it was what happened after South Korea's goal that saw Brazil fulfil an unanticipated accomplishment.

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As Tite readied Weverton to replace Alisson 10 minutes from full-time, the introduction of the Palmeiras goalkeeper saw Brazil become the first-ever side to use all 26 players at a World Cup.

Having made light work of Group G with back-to-back wins over Serbia and Switzerland, manager, Tite was able to ring the changes for their final encounter against Cameroon as he made nine in total for the 1-0 defeat. It meant that heading into the first knockout round, 34-year-old Weverton was the only unused member of the squad.

After the full-time whistle, Liverpool supporters were quick to notice the heartwarming moment Alisson header over to Son Heung-min to console him after being dumped out of the competition. The South Korea and Tottenham forward is a player who has drawn plenty of praise from those at Anfield due to his fine performances in North London.

In 2021, Trent Alexander-Arnold admitted he would sign the Spurs forward, alongside Kevin de Bruyne, if he had free control over any of Liverpool's Premier League rivals. Prior to the Reds' 2-1 win over Tottenham earlier this year, manager Jurgen Klopp revealed that missing out on Son's signature while he was at Borussia Dortmund was "the biggest mistake of his life".

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