Luis Garcia has admitted he sees similarities between Liverpool’s current team and the side who claimed Champions League glory in 2005.
The Spaniard was a pivotal figure for Rafa Benitez’s side that season and scored the only goal over the two legs in the semi-final against Chelsea to book Liverpool’s place in the final.
Garcia, who remains a cult hero at Anfield, played the full 120 minutes of action in the historic final in Instanbul that saw Liverpool come from 3-nil down against AC Milan to win on penalties and lift the highly-coveted trophy.
Luis Garcia has tipped Liverpool’s current crop to emulate the famous side of 2005
Liverpool lifted the Champions League trophy that year after beating AC Milan in the final
Speaking on the Mirror Football podcast, Garcia claims that Benitez built Liverpool’s team from the back – knowing that they had the personnel to win the game up front.
And he says that since the £75million introduction of Virgil van Dijk, he can see Liverpool emulating what the 2005 side did by reaching the Champions League final.
‘One of the things when we were playing in it was to be very strong at the back and to build the games from the defence and then build forward,’ he said.
‘We always knew that we had players up front who could decide a game in just one action – and that is something that Liverpool have got right now.
The Spaniard played a key role in them reaching the final by netting the only goal in the semis
‘If you look at the front four, front five players that have been playing lately, they can create something from nowhere.
‘The worrying thing at the start of the season was allowing too much danger to the goalkeeper and conceding too many goals.
‘But it is not so much of an issue anymore with Van Dijk and (Andrew) Robertson on the left and (Trent Alexander) Arnold on the other. There’s (Nathaniel) Clyne coming back soon and others coming back from injury.
Garcia said Rafa Benitez built that 2005 from the back as he knew they had the quality up front
‘I think the team looks very strong and we are in an exciting moment.
‘We are in March where everything becomes more important and every game is a final.
‘The team looks strong so why not, this can be the year that Liverpool is back in the final of the Champions League.’
Jurgen Klopp’s men sealed their spot in the quarter-final of Europe’s grandest competition on Tuesday with a 0-0 draw against Porto, seeing them qualify 5-1 on aggregate.
He believes Jurgen Klopp has done a similar thing by bringing in £75million man Virgil van Dijk
Liverpool are also the highest scorers in the competition (28) and have three players in the top-seven goalscorers in Roberto Firmino (7), Mohamed Salah (6) and Sadio Mane (6).
The attacking prowess of Liverpool’s front three has made Jurgen Klopp’s men somewhat of a dark horse to go all the way in this season’s competition.
Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard both recently echoed Garcia’s notion by tipping them to win the Champions League and said most teams will want to avoid being pitted against them in the next round.
Liverpool will find out who they will be up against in the final eight stage next Friday, when the draw takes place in Switzerland.
As the Liverpool manager knows he has the quality in attack to score goals out of nowhere