Roberto Firmino is one of the good guys.
Sure, he might be guilty of the odd bit of unnecessary showboating once in a while, but, as we learned on a cold Wednesday night in Stoke, he’s really a decent fella.
The opening goal of the night at the Bet365 Stadium was scored by Liverpool’s Sadio Mane. It could, however, have very easily been the Brazilian who had his name on the scoresheet instead.
As these poor quality screen grabs illustrate, Mane attempted to chip the ball over an advancing Lee Grant in the Stoke goal.
The ball glances off Grant’s shoulder on the way, taking much of the speed off the chip.
With the ball trickling towards the goal line, it now seems certain that Firmino will make absolutely sure of the goal as he accelerates towards it.
Then, having clearly thought better of it, Firmino slows down, allowing Mane to take the goal.
It was a move that was well received by most Liverpool supporters watching the game…
What a splendid human being Roberto Firmino is! Hahaha! #notouch #NoGoalPoaching #ManeGoal #LFC pic.twitter.com/EJQ8xx5yKr
— Paul (Maych) Machin (@ThePaulMachin) November 29, 2017
https://twitter.com/xabee04/status/935967284463464448
Love how Bobby could have tapped It but he loves Mane and believed he deserved his goal 🔴❤️
— – (@Szob8szlai) November 29, 2017
Firmino could have tapped that in but he let Sadio claim his goal Beautiful character
— Zaheer (@dxtroo) November 29, 2017
…although for the sake of a bit of balance, we should also add that plenty of fantasy football players weren’t quite so pleased about it.
Firmino is my FPL captain, and he lets it roll like that 🙂
— Mohammed (@MaestroMohd) November 29, 2017
Admire Firmino for leaving that but also you’re my fantasy captain tonight so fuck you bobby
— Andrew Kennedy (@andy09k) November 29, 2017
Infuriating seeing Firmino let that roll in when he's my fantasy captain.
— Kevin Coleman (@kvn_clmn) November 29, 2017