Brazil World Cup winner Taffarel joins Liverpool coaching staff
Written by Training Ground Guru — December 1, 2021
BRAZILIAN World Cup winner Claudio Taffarel is joining Liverpool’s backroom staff as they look to build their “own philosophy in goalkeeping”.
The 55-year-old joins goalkeeper coaches John Achterberg and Jack Robinson on the Liverpool staff. He will continue to work with the Brazil national team during international periods up to the 2022 World Cup.
Taffarel claimed 101 caps for Brazil and won the 1994 World Cup, before claiming a runners-up medal four years later.
Manager Jürgen Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com: “The idea is that, in our opinion, we have now in a lot of positions the best we can imagine. In terms of goalkeepers, it means we have Alisson Becker, who for us is the best goalie in the world. We have Caoimhin Kelleher, who we really think is an exceptional, exceptional player.
“We have Adrian, who has shown his qualities since he arrived here. Then we have Marcelo Pitaluga, then we have Harvey Davies, so we have five goalies in different age groups, which is great but we want to have even more of these guys.
“We want to build kind of our own philosophy in goalkeeping because we all agree it’s its own game, so that’s why we wanted to have another completely different view on it.
“We spoke to Ali because two of the best goalies in the world are Brazilians and so we found a solution with bringing in Taffarel as a really nice addition to our whole coaching staff. We really think it can give us just a different view again, to look at different things.
“We really want to really be a proper goalkeeping school in world football and so that’s why we’re bringing in a third very, very experienced goalkeeper coach.”
Liverpool’s senior goalkeeper coach, John Achterberg, has been with the club for a decade. Number two Jack Robinson joined from the Football Association in September 2018.