Friday, August 24, 2007

Thank You Lil' Luis

After his letter written to the fans was posted up few days back, I have nothing but more respect for the Atletico man. It's seldom players demonstrating such love for a club and it's fan despite leaving and for that, I'll say good luck and all the best in Spain.

Upon the appointment of Rafa Benitez back in 2004/2005 season, Luis Garcia was one of the first few players brought in to give the squad a little more creativity and flair, something which we've lacked in the Houllier era.

He's able to pry open defences not in the way of Gary McAllister's passing or Danny Murphy's direct approach but he's pretty much a schemer, moving into brilliant positions and his favored position is no doubt the 'hole' position, just behind the striker, where he showed time and again that despite his lack of physical prowess, he's still able to catch defences by surprise with well-timed runs and positioning himself at the right place, right time.

One thing that the Liverpool fans will never forget is his unpredictability and his volatile nature of play. Many put it in simple words, 'brilliant one moment, dreadful the next'. But that makes him a very special player in our view.

Those picture probably brings back good memories of the first victory over Chelsea since the post-Abramovich era, the night when the whole of Anfield erupted and probably the night which sparked off Liverpool's revival, back into the scene.

Till now, fans are still having different viewpoints as to whether the ball had crossed the line but as it stands, he scored the goal which brought us back to football prominence, winning the most prestigious cups of all, the European Cup.

The Road to Istanbul also had Luis Garcia's footprint all over it and he definitely played a major role in that triumphant pilgrim to the holy grail. His goal against Bayer Leverkusen and most notably, Juventus, got Liverpool past each stages of the competition.

Not forgetting as well, he had a hand in the FA Cup with a goal against who else but Chelsea. A beautifully lobbed goal past Carlo Cudicini which gave Liverpool the chance to lift the biggest domestic cup.

Definitely a player for the big occasions, he scored countless others against other Premiership opponents. Injury did somehow hamper him from further glory last season but his contributions to the team was never in doubt.

Garcia does have a hand in Liverpool's rise to glory in the past 3 years and that many Liverpool fans like me will probably look back in 10 years time and thank someone like him for all the wonderful memories and also assisting the team to recover from mediocrity to supremacy.

We love you Luis, we hope you start drinking sangria!

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