Lucas Leiva makes dumbest mistake of the season (Video)

Liverpool were 2-0 up against Leicester and looked like adding a third. Then Lucas Leiva happened.

Lucas Leiva was a late inclusion in Liverpool’s starting XI ahead of their match with Leicester. Dejan Lovren got injured in training, so Lucas stepped in at center-back. It didn’t feel like a huge piece of news at the time. The midfielder has played at the back plenty of times before and while he’s not exactly Franco Baresi, he’s a competent reserve.

Well, now may be the time to reassess that stance. The Reds were dominating Leicester through the first half hour. Roberto Firmino opened the scoring, before Sadio Mane added a second after a nice combination with Daniel Sturridge. Jurgen Klopp’s side looked well on their way to a dominant win. Then Lucas happened.

The second half is now set up nicely for the close match many expected before kickoff. Klopp will have his work cut out to help Lucas rediscover something resembling confidence for the second half.

The atmosphere at Anfield went flat after Jamie Vardy’s goal, and Liverpool’s players stopped playing with the same confidence and intensity. The good news is they’re still winning. The bad news — besides the fact their lead has been cut in half — is that Lucas is still on the pitch.

Vardy will presumably hound the Brazilian makeshift center-back on every touch, trying to force him in to more mistakes. Lucas is an experienced player, and should be able to shake the mistake off. But that doesn’t take anything away from how mind-numbingly stupid the error itself was.

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It’s hard to come up with the words to describe the play. Every player makes mistakes, but some mistakes are better than others. And as Lucas now knows, some are much, much worse. Here’s to an exciting second half.