Christian Ziege arrived at Anfield in the summer of 2000 as one of the most decorated players in the squad.
He had won league titles in Germany and Italy, a UEFA Cup with Bayern Munich and the European Championship with his country.
He stayed for just one season. But what a season it was, and he played his part in it, from a perfect cross in Rome to a penalty in Cardiff.
His Liverpool career is often remembered for the controversy surrounding his arrival and the three trophies he won despite never establishing himself in the side. There is a lot more to Ziege than that.
Bayern and Euro 96
Ziege was born in West Berlin on 1 February 1972 and joined Bayern Munich in 1990.
A left-sided player with a fierce shot and a lovely delivery, he won the Bundesliga twice with Bayern, in 1994 and 1997, and the UEFA Cup in 1996.
That summer came the high point of his career. At Euro 96 in England, Ziege scored Germany’s first goal of the tournament, against the Czech Republic at Old Trafford.
In the semi-final at Wembley he stepped up and scored in the shootout that knocked England out.
And in the final, back against the Czechs, it was his free-kick that Oliver Bierhoff headed in for the equaliser. Bierhoff’s golden goal won it in extra time, and Ziege was a European champion.
Milan and Middlesbrough
In 1997 he moved to AC Milan. It was never easy for him there, but he left with a Serie A winner’s medal in 1999.
Bryan Robson then brought him to Middlesbrough, and the Riverside saw Ziege at his best. He was voted the club’s Player of the Year at the end of the 1999-2000 season.
His form earned him a Germany recall too, and in September 1999 he scored a hat-trick in a 4-0 win over Northern Ireland.
A messy move
Liverpool were looking for a left-back, and Ziege’s contract at Middlesbrough contained a £5.5m release clause. Liverpool’s offer matched it exactly.
Middlesbrough fought the move for weeks, and it was the end of August before he was finally registered as a Liverpool player, just in time for the UEFA Cup.
The row went on long after he had arrived. In March 2002 Liverpool were fined £20,000 for making an illegal approach, and Ziege himself was fined £10,000. The two clubs didn’t finally settle their dispute until 2004.
Ziege has always said he felt caught in the middle. “I didn’t really know what was going on and all of a sudden I was in the middle of a huge mess,” he told FourFourTwo in 2017.
Off the mark at Elland Road
At Anfield he joined two fellow Germany internationals, Markus Babbel and Didi Hamann.
His debut came against Manchester City at Anfield on 9 September 2000, when he replaced Steven Gerrard in the second half of a 3-2 win.
His first goal came on 4 November at Elland Road, where he put Liverpool 2-0 up. Unfortunately for him, it was the day Mark Viduka scored all four for Leeds in a 4-3 win.
His second was rather more enjoyable. On 29 November he opened the scoring at Stoke in the League Cup, turning in Robbie Fowler’s cross, and Liverpool went on to win 8-0.
A night in Rome
His finest night in a red shirt arguably came on 15 February 2001, in the UEFA Cup at Roma’s Stadio Olimpico, the ground where Liverpool had twice won the European Cup.
Michael Owen put Liverpool ahead just after half-time.
Then, with 71 minutes gone, Ziege’s free-kick was cleared, but the ball soon came back to him and he crossed again. Owen got to it first and glanced a header past Francesco Antonioli at the near post.
Liverpool won 2-0 in Rome, and that lead carried them through, despite a 1-0 defeat at Anfield a week later.
Penalty in Cardiff
Ten days after Rome came the League Cup final against Birmingham City at the Millennium Stadium.
It was 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes, and Ziege came off the bench in extra time. When it went to penalties, he was one of the Liverpool players who scored in a 5-4 shootout win.
It was the first trophy of Houllier’s treble, and Ziege looks back on that day fondly.
“The League Cup final at the Millennium Stadium was amazing,” he said. “I came on for the penalties at the end. I guess that was why I got brought on!”
On the outside
As the season went on, Jamie Carragher established himself at left-back, while increasing competition left Ziege struggling for opportunities.
He started only about a third of Liverpool’s games that season, and he wasn’t in the matchday squad for either the FA Cup final against Arsenal or the UEFA Cup final against Alavés in Dortmund.
He still collected medals for all three trophies. Looking back, Ziege was full of praise for Liverpool as a club, but his relationship with Gérard Houllier was another matter.
“Liverpool, a massive club with a massive stadium and history,” he said. “But unfortunately I had some problems there, problems with the manager and I still don’t know what his problem was with me. He never talked to me.”
That July he joined Tottenham Hotspur, having played 32 games for Liverpool and scored two goals.
Spurs, and a frightening night
Two months later he was back at Anfield in a Spurs shirt, though Jari Litmanen’s goal gave Liverpool a 1-0 win.
He scored in the League Cup final again in 2002, this time for Spurs against Blackburn Rovers, but ended up on the losing side as Andy Cole won it 2-1.
That summer he came off the bench in the World Cup final, though Brazil took the trophy. He finished his international career with 72 caps and nine goals.
Then came a real scare. After a knock in a Boxing Day game against Charlton in 2002, his thigh swelled up so badly that he needed emergency surgery that night. He was later told that if treatment had been left much longer, he could have lost the leg.
His recovery was long and painful. Although he returned to action in May 2003, further complications required more surgery. He joined Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2004, before a persistent ankle injury forced him to retire in October 2005, aged 33.
Life after playing
Ziege moved into coaching with Gladbach, first with the Under-17s and then as director of football.
He has since managed Arminia Bielefeld and SpVgg Unterhaching, coached Germany’s Under-18s and Under-19s, and worked in Spain with Atlético Baleares, in Thailand with Ratchaburi and in Austria with FC Pinzgau.
Once a Red
Christian Ziege’s Liverpool career lasted a single season, and it never quite worked out the way anyone hoped.
But he was there for one of the great seasons in the club’s history. He laid on a famous goal in Rome, scored a penalty in a cup final shootout and went home with three winner’s medals.
And for all the frustration, he has never had a bad word for the club itself. “On one hand, I can’t regret this move because I played one season for Liverpool,” he said in 2020. “What a club.”
Once a Red, always a Red.
