Liverpool 4-0 Real Madrid – Where are they now?
Five years, seven months and 12 days have passed since Liverpool thrashed Real Madrid 4-0 at Anfield in the Champions League.
Since then much has changed with players coming and going at both clubs and the Spaniards coming back to win last season’s tournament after 12 barren years.
So talkSPORT takes a look at where the heroes and villains of the piece back in March 2009 are now…
Liverpool
Pepe Reina
Displaced at Liverpool in 2013 by Simon Mignolet, the Spaniard is currently understudy to Manuel Neuer at Bayern Munich after leaving Anfield in the summer.
Alvaro Arbeloa
The right-back will be in the opposing changing room tonight having joined Los Blancos in July 2009 for £3.5million. Since the leaving the Reds he has won, amongst other titles, La Liga and the Champions League.
Martin Skrtel
Now into his eighth season at Liverpool, the Slovakian has been a mainstay at Anfield since his move to the club from Zenit St Petersburg in January 2008. He has made 252 appearances and scored 16 times.
Jamie Carragher
Legendary defender Carragher continued to play for the Reds until the end of the 2012/13 season when he hung up his boots aged 35. He played 737 times for Liverpool and now presents Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football alongside Gary Neville and Ed Chamberlin.
Fabio Aurelio
The Brazil left-sided player spent six years at Anfield before returning to his homeland with Gremio but was plagued by injury and retired in April 2014.
Javier Mascherano
A three-year spell on Merseyside ended with the Argentine moving to Barcelona in 2010. Mascherano has spent the last four years in Spain plying his trade as a centre-back winning countless trophies along the way.
Xabi Alonso
The gifted playmaker is an Anfield legend for his role in their 2005 Champions League victory he switched to Real Madrid in 2009 and the passmaster is now starring under Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich after a summer transfer.
Dirk Kuyt
The versatile forward was a cult hero for Liverpool during his six-year spell at Anfield and is now with Fenerbahce in Turkey. He proved his adaptability and commitment in the 2014 World Cup when he played as a wing-back for Netherlands under Louis van Gaal.
Steven Gerrard
Captain Fantastic is still playing for Liverpool but now in a deeper-lying role under Brendan Rodgers as the 34-year-old looks to continue playing at the highest level. Some have questioned his recent form but he is still possesses the ability to turn a game on its head.
Ryan Babel
Liverpool landed the promising Dutchman back in 2007 but he failed to live up to the promise he showed with Ajax. He enjoyed a season-and-a-half spell with Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga before a return to Ajax materialised and now he is over in Turkey playing his football with Kasimpasa.
Fernando Torres
Well, what can we say about this man? The striker’s scintillating form at Liverpool led to a £50million move to Chelsea but he failed to reproduce those performances scoring just 20 Premier League goals in 110 matches. The Spaniard did the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 European Championship, where he was the tournament’s top scorer, but he is now on loan at AC Milan.
Real Madrid
Iker Casillas
The Real Madrid hero is still clinging on to his place between the sticks at the Bernabeu, but only just. Former Los Blancos ‘keeper Diego Lopez forced him onto the bench for all but two La Liga games last year before he left for AC Milan. World Cup sensation Keylor Navas is now breathing down his neck as Casillas starts his 15th season as a senior in the Spanish capital.
Sergio Ramos
He’s switched positions and now plays as a central defender but Ramos is still with the club he joined in 2005 from Sevilla.
Fabio Cannavaro
The Italian legend had year-long spells with Juventus and Al-Ahli after he left Real Madrid in the summer of 2009. Now he’s a TV pundit and was last seen with eyes glazed over listening to Adrian Chiles in a bullet-riddled cabin at the World Cup in Brazil.
Pepe
The 31-year-old is the third and final player still with Los Blancos from this team. His position is now severely under threat with talented Frenchman Raphael Varane on the verge of becoming a permanent fixture in their defence.
Gabriel Heinze
Following a two-year period with Real Madrid the Argentinian defender went on to play for Marseille, Roma and then Newell’s Old Boys before retiring this year.
Lassana Diarra
The former Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder’s current whereabouts is a bit of a mystery. When his time was up at Spain in 2012 he swapped Madrid for Anzhi Makhachkala and when the money ran dry there he moved to Lokomotiv Moscow, joining up with former Premier League stars Roman Pavlyuchenko and Vedran Corluka, but he is now without a club after just one season there.
Fernando Gago
Argentina international Gago has had spells with Valencia, Velez Sarsfield since he left the Bernabeu in 2012 but he now plays for Boca Juniors, his boyhood club. He starred for his nation during the 2014 World Cup and came on as a substitute as they lost to Germany in the final.
Arjen Robben
Dutch star Robben claims he was forced out of Real Madrid back in the summer of 2009 but it hasn’t turned out too badly for the Bayern Munich man. He’s been a revelation in Bavaria since his move, winning trophies galore, including the Bundesliga and the Champions League, while also collecting numerous individual honours over in Germany.
Wesley Sneijder
Robben’s compatriot also exited in 2009 and jumped ship to Inter Milan where he won the Champions League, as part of a league and cup treble, in his first season. His form faded though and the playmaker is now in Turkey with Galatasaray.
Raul
The Spaniard will always be a legend in Madrid after his 16 years with Los Blancos. He tried his luck elsewhere with Schalke and Al Sadd in Qatar. The forward had claimed he would retire from football but reports are now circulating he could sign for NASL side New York Cosmos.
Gonzalo Higuain
Argentine striker Higuain hit 107 goals in 190 La Liga games for Real Madrid but after being displaced by French star Karim Benzema he left for Serie A side Napoli in 2013, where he scored 17 league goals in his first campaign.