AS he prepares to face Liverpool on Wednesday night for new club QPR, Djibril Cisse has confirmed that the Reds are still his team, whilst revealing that leaving the Merseyside club was hard to take.
The ‘Lord of the Manor of Frodsham’ (to give him his full title) was a popular character amongst many supporters at Anfield who could see his desire, as well as his willingness, to try and integrate into all things Red upon joining in 2004.
However due to bad luck with injuries, as well as some mystifying tactical choices by then manager Rafa Benitez, things never really took-off for the then-record £14 million striker who departed in 2006.
Signed back to the Premier League from Italian club Lazio in January and speaking ahead of facing the Reds, the colourful Frenchman revealed:
“All my trophies I won with Liverpool, it’s a special club for me, but for an hour and a half, there is no mercy. It’s my club to be honest, but when the whistle blows that feeling will disappear.”
He then continued:
“It was difficult to leave Liverpool because it wasn’t my decision. Rafa Benitez told me ‘you’re not in my plans’, so I had to leave. I was really sad because I did well in the short time that I played, and I thought I deserved better treatment. But that’s the way it was and I have to accept it. I don’t feel like I have a point to prove to Liverpool because the staff has changed, and a lot of players have changed. If it was the same staff, then I definitely would.”
Cisse made just 79 appearances for Liverpool, in which he scored 24 goals. However, he left with some great memories such as near single-handedly winning the European Super Cup for the Reds, as well as winning the 2006 FA Cup. Perhaps most memorable of all was his miraculously recovery in time for the 2005 European Cup Final win over Milan, after breaking his leg earlier in the season, where he scored during the infamous penalty shoot-out – as foreseen in his own prophecy!
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