I regretted my transfer to Liverpool - but very nearly died while at Tottenham
Liverpool and Tottenham face off in the Premier League this weekend, with several players having turned out for both clubs in the past
This weekend sees Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur face off in the Premier League, with plenty of players counting both teams on their CVs. For Christian Ziege, though, there are difficult memories from his spells at the two clubs.
Ziege, a Germany international, joined Liverpool in 2000 after first moving to English football with Middlesbrough. However, the versatile former Bayern Munich star - who could play at left-back or in midfield - endured a challenging spell at Anfield and left after just one year.
He had a more settled time at Spurs, scoring five league goals in his first season at White Hart Lane. He was clear in his belief that moving to Liverpool was a mistake, but faced a scary moment in 2002, which nearly cost him his life.
Ziege joined a Liverpool team that had narrowly missed out on Champions League football under Gerard Houllier in 2000. They would go on to win a famous cup Treble the following season, but the German was left frustrated, starting just 11 league games and 20 in all competitions.
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"I didn't play enough and still don't know why," Ziege told The Mail in 2019. "I scored a penalty in the shootout to win the League Cup but then didn't play in the FA or UEFA Cup finals.
"Gerard Houllier had a problem that he never bothered to explain. It made me think, 'If I'm a coach, I'll always tell my players the truth.'"
Ziege would eventually move into coaching, working with Borussia Monchengladbach and Germany in their youth set-ups. He held a number of other jobs in Germany, Austria, Spain and Thailand before returning to work with Gladbach's Under-17 side earlier this year.
That lengthy coaching career was no guarantee, though. During his second season as a Tottenham player, he suffered a freak injury on Boxing Day in 2002, which could have killed him.
"I had a dead leg, no big deal. But my thigh was swelling and swelling," he said. "I learned later that the blood was trapped between two skins, it had nowhere to go.
"I did not want to go to hospital, not at Christmas, but my wife insisted. Thank God she did. By the time we arrived I was unconscious. There was pressure on everything inside my body, I was fighting for my life.
"They opened the leg and it went down like a balloon. But it left a big hole, something went completely wrong. I still suffer now, but I am also lucky. Another 30 minutes and they would have cut off my leg to save me. In this moment, you realise that life is so much more than just a football game."
At the time, Spurs manager Glenn Hoddle put everything into perspective as he prepared to be without his player for several months. "It's a big blow football-wise, but I'm not concerned about that," Hoddle said.
"First and foremost, it's his health that's more important. That will always come first in front of football. I would think it would be very difficult for him to return before the end of the season but the major thing is that he's okay."