“AS soon as I see he has the ball, I start making movements to get myself through on goal,” Sergej Milinkovic-Savic says of his Lazio midfield colleague Luis Alberto. “His passes are always perfect.”
Now 27-years-old and the driving creative force behind Lazio’s emergence as the greatest threat to Juventus’ Serie A dominance, Alberto has come a long way since his uneventful 12-game spell with Liverpool seven years ago.
As the Reds march unbeaten toward a first top-flight title in three decades, they could be forgiven for being unconcerned by the fact they dropped a rare transfer clanger in allowing the one-cap Spain international to leave for just £4.3m – even if they did secure a 30% sell-on clause – in June 2013.
At the time, Alberto, a £6.8m signing from Sevilla during Brendan Rodgers’ time in charge at Anfield, showed few signs of developing into one of the most consistent and creative central midfielders in Europe – his greatest contribution in Liverpool red was his only assist for the club, setting up Luis Suarez in a 5-0 win over Tottenham.
But that’s exactly what Alberto has become since arriving in Serie A, where he leads the league in assists (11), chances created (73) and expected assists (7.08) this season.
5 – Luis Alberto and Ciro Immobile have combined to assist five goals for one another in Serie A this season (four goals scored by Immobile, one goal for Alberto); more than any other partnership. Cupid.#SerieATIM #SanValentino pic.twitter.com/PXWZkEaU2z
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) February 14, 2020
And he finds himself thriving in the Lazio midfield alongside another former Liverpool man, albeit one who made a greater impact at Anfield than his own. With Lucas Leiva anchoring the middle third in Simone Inzaghi’s 3-5-2 set-up, Alberto and Milinkovic-Savic are able to play with a degree of freedom, the former to create, the latter to rampage.
It is a slightly deeper role than the one Alberto first established himself in within the Lazio first team, scoring 11 league goals and providing 14 assists when deployed behind a central striker in a breakout 2017-18 season, his second campaign with the club. But as a No.8 this term, his vision and passing have become weapons of awesome destructive beauty.
Although not an especially quick or athletic player himself, Alberto’s speed of thought and unmatched eye for a through-ball mean he is able to conduct Lazio’s thrillingly rapid transitional play, acting as a pivot from which they sweep from defence into attack. Then, when the Biancoceleste are faced with a deep, tightly packed opposition, Alberto can be found sauntering around the edge of the final third, prodding openings with slick, punchy passes between the lines.
“The secret of making assists is many hours of training and the feeling you get with your team-mates,” Alberto says of his chance-creating ability. “The head plays a very important role also in keeping your nerves steady and being able to clearly see where you must put the ball in a game.”
15 – Luis Alberto , in 2019, has delivered the joint-most assists in Serie A in a single calendar year (15) over the last 15 years, along with Cassano (2009), Cossu (2010) and Mertens (2017). Fantasy. pic.twitter.com/D7b6JclVDP
— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) December 9, 2019
A cursory perusal of his recent statistics might mislead one into believed Alberto’s form has dipped dramatically of late – he has not scored in his last eight games and has gone 11 without an assist.
But his performances have remained of the highest order in this time, with his lack of direct goal involvements simply a result of team-mates not finishing the chances he has created. For example, in last week’s 3-2 win over Genoa, Alberto was the best player on the pitch, creating five scoring opportunities for colleagues. The week before that, he created four chances in a 2-1 victory over Inter which rubber-stamped Lazio’s status as Juventus’ primary title challengers.
Lazio’s rise to title contention has been something of a slow build under Inzaghi, but Alberto’s standing as one of the finest creative midfielders on the continent is nothing new. As such, it is remarkable that he has been stuck on one senior Spain cap since his 16-minute cameo in a 5-0 friendly win over Costa Rica in November 2017.
“I hope to continue like this,” Alberto says of his superlative form this season. “I would like to go to the European Championships with Spain, but it’s not up to me.”
Just one point separates Juventus and Lazio with 13 games to play. The eyes of the football world will be locked on the tightest Serie A title race in years over the next three months. Luis Alberto will be hoping Spain manager Luis Enrique is taking notice.
