Signed: from Barcelona in August 2004 (£6 million)
Left: for Atletico Madrid in July 2007 (£4 million)
Luis Garcia, he drinks sangria…A player who often blew hot and cold, but a fan favourite nonetheless, Luis Javier Garcia Sanz will forever be remembered for his knack of scoring important goals. He struggled at times with consistency in the Premier League, but he really turned it on in Europe.
After a lively first few performances, Garcia drew rather premature comparisons to Kop legend Kenny Dalglish. Some marvellous goals in league began to win over fans, but it was during the knockout stages of the 2004/05 Champions League that Garcia really came into his own. First, he scored the opening goal in a 3-1 win at home to Bayer Leverkusen, before adding two more in the second leg, which again finished 3-1 to Liverpool.
In the quarter-finals against Juventus, Garcia hit stunning half volley from almost 30 yards which looped over Gianluigi Buffon and helped Liverpool to a 2-1 victory. But the little Spaniard saved his most important, and controversial, goal for the semi-finals against Chelsea. As Milan Baros was brought down in the box by goalkeeper Petr Cech, Garcia reacted quickest to prod the ball past John Terry and towards goal. William Gallas thought he had managed to clear it just before it crept in, but the goal was awarded, and to this day it is still great cause for debate.
Garcia finished his first season as joint top scorer, with 13 goals in all competitions, and he continued this impressive tally in 2005/06, adding another 11 to his total. This included another semi-final goal against Chelsea, although there was no doubt about this one: a fantastic finish from outside the area in the FA Cup.
An injury in January 2007 brought Garcia’s season, and ultimately, his Anfield career, to a premature end. He had put in some memorable performances, including scoring in two games against local rivals Everton, and other spectacular goals against Charlton, Tottenham and Anderlecht.
Verdict: Whilst he did have his off days, and could often have great difficulty retaining possession, his contribution to the Champions League triumph cannot be overlooked, and he always seemed capable of popping up with a goal. HIT.
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“Verdict: Whilst he did have his off days, and could often have great difficulty retaining possession, his contribution to the Champions League triumph cannot be overlooked, and he always seemed capable of popping up with a goal. HIT.”
why did you bother giving that verdict?
he was bought for 6 sold for 4 was very inconsistant throughout his time with us, only hit the highs on very few occassions, rafa could see this and got rid, for all (and theres not many)the wonderful goals he scored, his overall performance/contributuion led to our boss not wanting him in our team, he was a miss.
and if the champions league triumph cannot be ignored, Cisse, Diao, Kewell Traore Pongolle and Biscan were all hits!
Fair point, I don’t think I worded it very well. I do feel that having Garcia was an advantage, as even when he was playing poorly, he could still come up with a goal, and we haven’t had too many players like that recently. He did up his game more than most in Europe in general during his time at the club, and the reason I mentioned the Champions League triumph is that he scored most of the goals that got us through the knock-out stages.
hit… better than benayon or babel or riera or mark gonzales, or others benitez’s flops.
Maybe I have too high a standard for Liverpool players, of all Bennys buys I only have Raina Alonso and Torres as hits, and to be honest if Torres leaves this summer without winning anything with Liverpool, he’ll go down as a miss as well.
There are good players who play decent football, like Garcia, Masch, Johnson, Yossi, Agger, Skrtel and a few others, but these are very inconsistant and non you would consider a candidate for Liverpool legend.
You call him a miss? Bought for 6m and sold for 4m. Scored some of the most important goals for the club. I can see more misses in Sissoko, Maxi, Kewell, Heskey,etc. Was there a research on his assist? Also the way he pulls defense off the striker? If you consider scoring 11-13 goals per season as a winger as inconsistent, then I don’t what is consistent. Maybe Kuyt is consistent holding the ball but he doesn’t create something out of nothing. Anyway he’s a different type of player. Garcia was sold because he was homesick like Alonso. He was also coming to an age close to 30, so it’s time for him to have the last golden contract.