Alisson, the former most expensive goalkeeper ever, pulled off a last-gasp save worth $10 million

Reuters

Alisson Becker.

• Alisson Becker made himself a Liverpool FC hero when he produced a last-gasp save to retain his team's 1-0 lead on Tuesday.
• Had Alisson fumbled the shot, then Napoli would have equalised in the crucial UEFA Champions League group stage match and taken Liverpool's place in the next round of the competition.
• The Champions League is a lucrative tournament and Liverpool's involvement in the next round, regardless of whether it wins or loses, is already worth an astonishing $10.8 million in UEFA revenue.
• Read all of Business Insider's coverage for the 2018-2019 European soccer season right here.

Alisson Becker's save on Tuesday is already worth millions to Liverpool FC.

The Liverpool goalkeeper was tested in the dying moments of a tense Champions League group stage match against Napoli, a game the English club was leading 1-0 at the time.

The Napoli forward Arkadiusz Milik found himself in front of goal in the last moments and tested Alisson with a predator's shot from a near point-blank range, but the Brazilian shot-stopper got a limb in the way and somehow blocked the shot.

Had Milik's strike gone in, Napoli would have equalised 1-1 and consequently taken Liverpool's place in the next round of the competition, thereby dumping the Reds into Europe's secondary - and less lucrative - tournament, the Europa League.

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk said that "the save was unbelievable," according to The Guardian.

Watch it again right here:

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But Alisson did what he was brought in to do at Liverpool - frustrate the team's opponents, keep a clean sheet, and make a return on the £65 million ($82 million) investment the club made when it bought him in a then-world record transfer for a goalkeeper in July, 2018.

Alisson is doing just that, as that one save alone means Liverpool will be $10 million better off this season. This is because the club will earn €9.5 million ($10.8 million) in prize money for participating in the first Champions League knockout round in February and March, next year.

Had the team got dumped into the Europa League, it would have earned a paltry €500,000 ($570,000) by participating in the first knockout round, next year.

So, regardless of whether Liverpool wins or loses its Champions League knockout round fixtures in 2019, it will be $10.2 million better off - all because of Alisson's last-minute heroics.