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Andrea Dossena has previously confessed that his disappointing Liverpool spell was entirely down to his own shortcomings. The ex-defender arrived at Anfield in 2008 for £7million, brought in to fill the void left by John Arne Riise following his switch to Roma. Yet the Italian's time on Merseyside proved fleeting, departing the club a mere 18 months after putting pen to paper with the Reds.

Across his entire Liverpool career, Dossena managed only 31 appearances, though he did enjoy some memorable highlights during his brief stay. The 44-year-old etched his name into club folklore by netting against both Real Madrid and Manchester United within the space of just seven days. But those flashes of brilliance proved impossible to replicate, with Dossena later acknowledging that his struggles at Anfield stemmed from failing to grasp the physical demands of English football.

In an interview with the Liverpool Echo last year, he reflected: "For a young boy having his first experience abroad, it was certainly not easy. The Premier League is very different from the Serie A and, unfortunately for us Italians, much more beautiful!

"In Italy we have a culture of work that is much more based on quantity, while you (in England) are very good at having an optimal quantity/quality ratio. In my opinion we lack this in order to adapt to your football because when we no longer work, as the quantity contains, the quality decreases accordingly."

"At least this was my problem in my case. I came from a culture of a lot of weekly work and in Liverpool we played every three days and we never trained. I would have had to train in my personal time so that at the time of my employment, I could have been at my 100 per cent."

Rafa Benitez was responsible for bringing Dossena to Anfield, though the former defender refused to pin blame on his ex-manager for the struggles that followed, acknowledging he should have handled things differently after securing his dream move.

"I spoke to Benitez, I wasn't physically well. It wasn't his fault but I understood that I had to work on my own," Dossena explained.

"But being inexperienced I didn't do it. My fault! If I went back instead of passively accepting it, I would behave differently. Now with the experience I certainly have in terms of daily work, I would make other choices.

"When I left, I wanted to return to Italy because, from speaking with Marcello Lippi (Italy manager), the best way to take my chances of earning a place in Italy's squad for South Africa (2010 World Cup) was to return to Italy.

"I certainly regret not being able to give my best due to my inexperience. No regrets about joining the club though, because in any case, Liverpool helped me grow both as a man, a footballer at the time, and as a coach today."

Following his retirement from playing in 2017, Dossena transitioned into coaching two years later with Crema. Since then, he has held managerial positions solely within Italy at Ravenna, Renate, Pro Vercelli and most recently SPAL.