Three years after a fateful injury in a League Cup quarter-final at Chelsea, the Brazilian is back at the Bridge in a semi-final with Wembley on his mind

Liverpool’s last League Cup visit to Stamford Bridge cost Lucas Leiva nine months of his career, the chance to play in two cup finals and to appear at Wembley three times under Kenny Dalglish. It will not be vengeance that fuels the Brazilian’s return in the Capital One Cup semi-final on Tuesday, however, but a promise made to him by Steven Gerrard almost three years ago.

On Sunday 26 February 2012, while Liverpool are en route to Wembley for the Carling Cup final against Cardiff City, a contest Dalglish’s team will eventually win on penalties, a message arrives on Lucas’s mobile. The midfielder has no part to play in the final, having ruptured a cruciate ligament in the 2-0 quarter‑final win at Chelsea three months previously, and is downbeat.

As he recalls: “It was hard for me and I was a little bit down because I wanted to be part of things on the pitch but I remember, when we were on our way to the stadium, Stevie sent me a text which said: ‘Don’t worry, we will get here again.’ It is something that I always remember, something nice, and hopefully we will make that come true.”

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Lucas did not receive a winners’ medal at Wembley. Instead he was handed one at Liverpool’s Melwood training ground after Dalglish and the then director of football, Damien Comolli, arranged an extra delivery. The medal, the midfielder’s only one in almost eight years at Anfield, remains a source of pride despite missing the final.

“I might not have played the final but my first medal for the club is important, I always look at it,” says the 28-year-old. “Other players may have won more but that first one was very important to me. I played until the quarter-final and I felt I deserved it because football is a team sport. That is the way I think.” And the way he plays.

What appeared an innocuous collision with Ryan Bertrand in November 2011 cost Lucas more than a Wembley bow. He was overlooked by Brazil for almost two years after the injury, missed a once-in-a-lifetime World Cup on home soil after playing a bit-part role in Liverpool’s title challenge last season and believes it is only now, three years after being taken off against Chelsea on a stretcher, that he has recaptured his optimum level.

Lucas admits: “I had a few problems after the injury and it is probably now that I am feeling my best in terms of sharpness and the way I want to play. The issues were about confidence and sharpness, confidence with myself really. With the way I play the injury was probably on my mind. I didn’t think about it when I made a tackle but, automatically when you have had an injury like that, maybe you don’t go as hard as you can.

“Now I feel like myself again and how I felt before the injury, which was probably my best moment for the club. I felt very well in the last 15 games I’ve played and it is a question of keeping going. Hopefully we can have another good win at Chelsea like when I got the injury, but without the injury this time. I am looking forward to it.”

Not for the first time in his Anfield career Lucas has defied the doubters to demonstrate his importance to Liverpool. He has underpinned a steady recovery from the depths of November and Liverpool’s only defeat in their last 16 matches came when the midfielder was on the bench throughout the 3-0 reverse at Manchester United.

Liverpool have taken 11 points from a possible 33 without Lucas in the starting line-up this season, 24 from a possible 33 with. There is arguably more satisfaction from his latest renaissance as the manager, Brendan Rodgers, was among the doubters until turning to the Brazilian after the dreadful 3-1 defeat at Crystal Palace.

“The performance I had against Madrid [two games before] was probably good for me,” says Lucas. “We lost but I played well. I spoke with the manager after that game and he said he was very happy with how I played. When we got the defeat against Palace, it was on his mind that I deserved a chance. Then Joe [Allen] got injured which opened another chance for me to keep playing and I tried to take it. I think I have nothing to lose. I have been here eight years and I am not trying to convince people, especially those on the outside, that I am good or bad or whatever.”

Napoli and Internazionale have both shown an interest in Lucas and, despite Rodgers’ insistence that the midfielder will not be sold this month and that he does not want any other senior figures following Gerrard out of Anfield this summer, uncertainty reigns over his future.

“We all know the relationship I have with Rafa,” says Lucas of Benítez’s interest in a reunion in Naples. “If it wasn’t for Rafa I probably wouldn’t be here. Rafa was so important for me, as Kenny was as well, and it is normal when you are out of the team. There are always rumours in the transfer window and it will be like that until the 2nd. I just have to focus on what I can control at the moment and see what happens.

“I would be lying if I said I never thought about something new but I can’t tell you what is going to happen because it is football and we really don’t know. I just focus on the day and leave the future to take care of itself.”