‘We have the quality to do better’ – Lucas Moura
He clocked up a half-century of appearances, playing everywhere from a pitch adjacent to a row of back gardens on Merseyside to a cup final at Wembley, yet Lucas Moura couldn’t help but rue “lost opportunities” as he reflected on a rollercoaster season at the Club.
The Brazilian speedster appeared in 30 of our 38 Premier League matches over the course of the season and featured in every single one of our European and domestic cup games as we went from topping the pile in December to a crushing Europa League exit at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb in March, then a narrow Carabao Cup Final defeat to champions Manchester City before securing continental football once again with an uplifting final-day win at Leicester.
A consistent performer throughout, Lucas even had a successful spell operating as a number 10 at one stage during the season, but any individual achievements weren’t at the forefront of his mind as he sat and reflected on our 2020/21 campaign.
“It’s always difficult to speak personally, but collectively I think the season was very, very tough,” said the 28-year-old.
“We have the quality to do much, much better and we lost several opportunities. Personally I can see it in a good way, I can take positive things, I’m happy with my performances but it’s not enough because I wanted to help the team qualify for the Champions League, I wanted to win a trophy and it was not possible. But that’s football, we need to learn from our mistakes and do better next season.
“I can say that I am very happy in this group with my team-mates and I always say that my dream, my objective is to win trophies with this team, this club – especially because I think we have the quality for this and the talent for this.”