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Is England actually very different to Germany? I'd guess we're more like the Germans than we are the Spanish?
"That's probably true. We're probably not too different in all reality. Every country has a different way of life but it's not like you are going to Asia or anything. You can fly home to Germany in just over an hour."
Before Robbie Fowler rejoined the club, Jamie Carragher claimed that you were one of three Scousers in the Liverpool team, alongside himself and Steven Gerrard. Do you feel like a Scouser?
"If Carra says anything, I have to think long and hard before I can bring myself to agree with him but I have been here for a few years now and I have always felt welcome, so I will say I do feel like a Scouser."
He also said that you were the worst trainer at the club and the worst dresser...
"He actually brought me a pair of trainers because mine were a few years old. I just don't see the point of buying a new pair of trainers every four weeks. You can't even see them when you're tracksuit bottoms are hanging over them! I think some of the players are more bothered about what boots they play with than actually how they play!"
You've always appeared to get on very well with all the lads. Is it true you're the dressing room joker?
"Well, you've got to keep the boys happy and share a few jokes with them. We have a few miserable ones here so every now and then, you've got to make them laugh. It's not easy but we'll get there."
Who are the miserable ones?
"Well, there's a few and you've obviously got to put up with them but life goes on."
You've been here seven years and you've not even got the Jan Molby-style Scouse accent. What's wrong with you?
"You know what, I've never actually met him so I can't really compare our accents. I think he lives in the Wirral like me though so maybe there's time yet."
What about your kids? I read recently that they're struggling a bit with their German.
"Well, we have to teach them to read and write in German because they don't learn it in school. We teach them at home once a week but they do struggle a bit with things like the grammar."
They must speak like their friends at school with a Liverpool accent...
"No, they don't speak with any accent. Maybe just the Queen's English. Is it Oxford English? They go to school with Robbie Fowler's girls but they haven't picked up the accent from them!"
How close were you to Robbie when he was here the first time?
"Robbie has always been great to have around. He's a bit of a joker and it's good to have these people around."
Has he come back a different person? Is he keeping his head down to impress the new boss?
"I don't know if he's keeping his head down. Nobody needs to tell him anything about the club, if you know what I mean? He's probably scored more goals than most people in the current squad have played games for Liverpool. Well, maybe not quite as Carra has played over 400 times but I think the reception the fans gave him on his return says everything about his status within the club. He's been called 'God' by the supporters and I think deservedly so for what he's done for the club. He has just been outstanding. He's obviously got to get to know a few of the lads because he's been away for a bit but I wouldn't say he's like a typical new player."
You and Robbie were both here when we won the Treble in 2001. How would you compare that team with the current side?
"It's tough to compare teams. I was looking at a photograph of when we won the UEFA Cup in Dortmund and we had a terrific team with some great players like Michael Owen, Danny Murphy and Markus Babbel, who had a great year. There was Stephane Henchoz, Vladimir Smicer, Patrik Berger, Gary McAllister... The year after that we finished second in the Premiership. That was a very good team. There have been one or two changes since then though and rightly so because you always have to try and improve your team."
In what way is Rafa different to Gerard?
"There's a huge difference. Rafa and Pako have got a completely different way of training. We train harder, we train for longer and we workharder than we used to. Everything is about tactics as well. You know that they know what they are doing and that's the main thing. If you ask Pako, he tells you what we will be doing in training in two weeks time. That's unusual because when sometimes things don't go right, people change things. What he does is very impressive. We work on tactics almost every day and if you look at our goals against record, that is a massive improvement. We played Valencia a few years ago when Rafa was in charge there and that was probably the hardest game ever for us. It was hard to get the ball and once we had it, we couldn't play. We got beat 1-0 at home and I think we only had half a chance through Emile Heskey. We were completely outplayed and couldn't get anywhere near them. When you work with them and see the way they train us now, you can see why Valencia played the way they did."
When a new manager comes in, do you still learn new things even at your age?
"Everybody does. Rafa tells the defenders to take up different positions when the ball is in certain areas and I think maybe they hadn't heard or done that before but it makes sense. You always keep improving and learning. The day when you say you've seen it all or heard it all before is the day you will go backwards. We have got quite a few young players here and it is very important for them to work with a manager like Rafa who can teach you tactics and where you should be on the pitch. It's very important at a young age to have somebody who can really improve your game."
Has Rafa ever said anything to you about your goals to games ratio? I was looking at your stats the other day and I think you've scored 11 times in six seasons. You're hardly prolific.
"No. The old gaffer mentioned to me how he wanted to see me score more goals but as long as we are winning, I'll be alright."
You don't even take any free-kick anymore...
"I think I've only taken one in the last two seasons but I did score that one. It was against Bayer Leverkusen in the last 16 of the Champions League and I don't think I've taken many more since then."
You don't fancy repeating the trick on Wednesday, do you?
"That would be nice. It will be a very tough match. We are at home, in front of our crowd and we have done it before but Benfica came through a very tough group that included Manchester United, Villarreal and Lille. It's not straightforward and it's not a certainty that we will win 2-0 or 3-0. It will be a very tough game."
A lot of people presume that because we beat Olympiacos when we needed a two-goal margin, it'll automatically happen again.
"We certainly don't think that it'll happen automatically just because we've done it before. You can't think like that. It will be a very tough game because they are a very tough side. They made it very hard for us to play in Portugal and their style may be even better suited to playing away from home. We'll really need to be at our best and on top of our game to get past them."
At least you know exactly what you have to do on Wednesday.
"At 0-0, I always say it's probably a better result for the home team than the away team because if you come away with a 0-0, if you score away from home then the opposition needs to score two. We know that we need to score and we probably need to score three goals to make sure we do go through. We need to go forward and score, it's as simple as that."
On the subject of the Champions League, is it true you played some of the final with a broken foot?
"Well, I felt a little crack in my foot a few minutes before the end of the game. I didn't know it was broken but I certainly felt it. With five minutes to go though, the adrenalin was pumping. I felt pain but it wasn't stopping me from playing and running and that's all that mattered at the time."
Was it the foot you took the penalty with?
"Yes but I hit the penalty with the inside of my foot. Once you get to the penalties though, things like pain don't even come into it because you are so focussed."
What was going through your mind when you stepped up to take the penalty?
"The fact that Serginho missed was probably a bit of a help but then I'm thinking, 'Bloody 'ell, I can put us 1-0 up here!' It was just a bonus to be out there as we probably should have been in the dressing room by that time. We had come back from 3-0 down, which nobody had expected. By the time it came to the penalties and Jerzy made the first save, I was actually thinking that we should be in the shower now and on our way home. It was just a bonus and we had to make the most of it."
How did playing in the Champions League final compare to playing in the World Cup final of 2002?
"Well, it's the biggest game at club level and the biggest game at international level. Unfortunately I lost one but it could easily have been two defeats. It would have been nice to have won the World Cup final but maybe it's even better winning the Champions League with your team because they are the boys you work with all year. With the national team, you only come together for two to three days in a month, you come from different clubs and there's not the same bond. I think it means more winning the Champions League final than the World Cup final." |
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