Who is Steven Alzate? Things to know about the Brighton midfielder

After a 68-game unbeaten streak at Anfield that the Undertaker would have been proud of, the loss to Burnley became the loss of Liverpool’s flawless home form.

Burnley’s blip was followed by another 1-0 Premier League defeat at Brighton, with Steven Alzate scoring at home his first Premier League goal for the club and securing the Seagulls their first victory at Anfield since 1984.

Did he know all this about the goal? Of course not. But you make your own luck and the 22-year-old can use the lucky goal to start and establish himself as a key player in Graham Potter’s midfielder for the remainder of the season, having clearly impressed the coach- chief.

Who does is Steven Alzate however? And what does it bring to Brighton? Here is all you need to know.

Although he was born in Camden, London, and played in England his entire life, Alzate represents Colombia internationally with his two Colombian parents.

He received his first call to the Colombian national team in November 2019 and has won four caps since.

Pacy but also comfortable on the ball, Alzate is able to be deployed in a number of positions which makes him an asset to Potter’s setup.

A professional midfielder, Alzate’s quality means he’s also more than capable of playing as a full-back – something Potter has used him to do recently.

Before Brighton, the Colombia international was on the books at Leyton Orient, where hard work saw him make his first-team debut in February 2017.

Alzate signed for Brighton at the age of 18 in 2017 after being closely watched by Under-23 coach John Rusk but had to earn his stripes. He was loaned to Swindon for a season in 2018, which ended prematurely due to injury.

Since then, Alzate has slowly but steadily made his way into the plans for the first team at Brighton.

There are always a lot of stories that tell us how bad footballers can be, but Alzate has a wise head on young shoulders.

He sent funds to Villavicencio, his father’s hometown, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure families could purchase groceries.

His brother Lisandro runs a foundation in the city under the name of Alzate to also help underprivileged children.

The man who brought Alzate into the national squad was Carlos Queiroz – Sir Alex Ferguson’s right-hand man over two spells.

Queiroz worked as Sir Alex Ferguson’s assistant at Manchester United during the 2002/03 season and returned in 2004, before finally leaving in 2008 to take up head coaching positions.

Queiroz was “excited” by Alzate in an interview in 2019 and included him in the national team because of his qualities, despite being so young.