‘I was in tears at Liverpool but fell in love with football at Galatasaray’

A former Liverpool star enjoyed a productive spell at Galatasaray after leaving Anfield

Harry Kewell suffered an injury-ravaged five-year spell at Liverpool but rediscovered his passion for football after leaving Anfield. Signing as an electrifying winger from Leeds United in 2003, he frequently found himself in the treatment room, which led him to contemplate hanging up his boots while still in his twenties.

The Australian had been a Reds supporter and was handed the iconic number seven jersey upon signing for Gerard Houllier’s side. Kewell featured 49 times during his inaugural campaign, finding the net on 11 occasions, though the greatest triumphs and disappointments of his playing days would arrive under incoming boss Rafa Benitez.

Fitness problems began mounting the following year, limiting him to 23 starts, yet Kewell was chosen for Liverpool’s crucial fixtures. The attacker lined up in both the 2005 League Cup and Champions League finals, although an injury saw him devastatingly withdrawn after 23 minutes against AC Milan. Following his return to the starting XI, Kewell was chosen for the 2006 FA Cup final, only to be hauled off in the 48th minute with a groin problem.

That setback marked the beginning of a prolonged period on the sidelines, appearing just three times across the next season, and led him to question his future. It wasn’t until his 2008 switch to Galatasaray, who host Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday, that Kewell managed to move past the difficulties he’d endured at Liverpool.

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“I was going through a bad moment towards the end of my time at Liverpool, because I didn’t know what was happening with myself,” Kewell told SBS Sport in 2017. “I remember sitting on the end of the bed and telling my wife, ‘What’s going on? I may have to quit’ – I wasn’t enjoying football. I wasn’t feeling great; every time I was playing, my body was breaking down.

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“We decided that I had to move to get a fresh start and break out of England … my adventure started in Istanbul and I remember just falling in love with football again because I had gone through such a horrible time.

“At Leeds I felt great, then I won a lot of things at Liverpool but on an individual level it just wasn’t great for me and I just didn’t really love football that much. So when you talk about falling in love with football again that’s what Galatasaray did for me.”

Over three seasons in Turkey, the 47-year-old featured in 91 matches, netting 34 times and registering 17 assists. His sole piece of silverware arrived in the Turkish Super Cup but the happiness Kewell experienced at Galatasaray stood in stark contrast to the fitness woes that plagued his time at Anfield.

“I’ve had 14 operations and the majority were at Liverpool,” Kewell said in 2016. “It was a nightmare. An absolute nightmare. You’d have an operation and you think ‘That’s it, that’s finished now’. I’m going to be brand new again.’ It doesn’t happen. An injury is like a jigsaw puzzle. You fix one area and something else goes.

“The bottom of the world is when you’re sitting on the end of the bed crying, and you’re going ‘Am I ever going to play again?’ You’re sitting there going, ‘What’s wrong with me?'”

Despite weighing up retirement during his stint at the club, he has also spoken about the positives from his period under Benitez. Kewell, who currently manages Vietnamese outfit Hanoi, has previously looked back on the highs and lows of his Liverpool career.

“If you look at the time I had [at Liverpool], three of those years I was injured,” the former Notts County boss told the Nottingham Post in 2018. “Then it becomes a cycle of coming back and getting injured, so you’re not getting a natural flow of games. Of course, it was disappointing because knew I had the ability.

“But then I did get to play in two Champions League finals, an FA Cup final, the FIFA World Club Cup and the Super Cup. I got to play in a lot of finals and it evened itself out.

“I was very lucky to play them even though I got injured in them, although Benitez used to say that when that did happen in a final they usually won, so cheers for that mate. But in all seriousness, Benitez is a great manager who is very tactical. He had a certain way of playing and you had to abide by that.”

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Liverpool have reached the UEFA Champions League round of 16 where they face Galatasaray on March 10. Fans can watch the game on the TNT Sports Prime Video channel.