Markus Babbel, who turns 53 today, opened up on rejecting Real Madrid and shared his regrets over how his Liverpool career ended in an exclusive interview with the ECHO’s Theo Squires
Markus Babbel, Head Coach, of the Wanderers is seen during the Round 5 A-League match between Western United and the Western Sydney Wanderers at GMHBA Stadium(Image: Martin Keep/Getty Images)
Rewind 12 months ago and Liverpool supporters were feeling frustrated by the club’s lack of transfer activity. It was not through lack of trying, of course.
Martin Zubimendi rejected a move to Anfield while Newcastle United pulled the plug on a swap deal for Anthony Gordon. But after seeing pursuits for Aurelien Tchouameni, Jude Bellingham, Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia also all end in failure in the previous two years, a certain exasperation was understandable.
In the case of Tchouameni and Bellingham, Liverpool were left watching on as both completed big money moves to Real Madrid.
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The Reds have reluctantly grown accustomed to finding it tough to challenge the La Liga giants when going head to head for new signings.
Even this summer, which has saw Liverpool owners FSG sanction a summer of unprecedented spending that saw the club break the British transfer record twice, Madrid pipped the Premier League champions and other top-flight rivals to the signing of Bournemouth centre-back Dean Huijsen.
But it wasn’t always that way. When the Reds signed Markus Babbel on a Bosman transfer from Bayern Munich in the summer of 2000, he rejected the advances of Madrid, who were the newly-crowned European champions at the time, in order to move to Anfield.
“Yeah, yeah, Real Madrid wanted me,” he confirmed when speaking exclusively to the ECHO on behalf of NewBettingSites.uk. “And it was a funny story because there was an agent there.
“He said: ‘Listen, tomorrow I will bring you a $1m if you’re not going somewhere else, if you sign for Real Madrid. And I said: ‘Oh, thank you very much, but Real Madrid is not my club’.
“If I go to Spain, then the only team I would sign for is Barcelona, because I am a massive Barcelona supporter and Real Madrid wasn’t ever my club and my team. They have the best players, but this is not my club.
“And, the funny thing is, I was on the way to Liverpool to sign the new contract. 6am in the morning and on the radio, the news came: ‘Spectacular, Markus Babbel is signing for Real Madrid!’
“And I was on the way to Manchester, and driving over to Liverpool to sign the contract. That was a bit funny, yeah!”
Babbel, who turns 53 today, would enjoy a sensational first season at Anfield, helping Gerard Houllier’s side win the treble and qualify for the Champions League in 2000/01.
Playing at right-back, he was an ever-present in the Premier League and started all 60 of his appearances that year out of the Reds’ overall total of 63.
Returning six goals and five assists, individual highlights would include scoring in a last-minute 3-2 Merseyside derby win over Everton at Goodison Park, setting up the equaliser in the FA Cup final and netting the opener in the UEFA Cup final win over Alaves.
But while he would start both of Liverpool’s Charity Shield and European Super Cup victories over Manchester United and Bayern Munich the following August, to complete a unique quintuple of trophies in the calendar year, disaster was around the corner.
Taken off at half-time in the Reds’ Premier League matches against West Ham United and at Bolton Wanderers, completely out of breath, he was diagnosed with the debilitating and paralysing Guillain-Barre syndrome and was left in a wheelchair.
He remarkably made a playing return in August 2002, but understandably found it tough as he struggled to rediscover his previous form and fell out with Houllier in the process.
Substituted before half-time in what would prove to be his final appearance for the club in a 4-3 win over Aston Villa in December 2002, he removed his shirt in a sign of dissent after a poor display.
Later sent off twice while playing for the reserves, the second for headbutting Michael Symes in the mini Merseyside derby against Everton that saw him fined two weeks’ wages, Houllier would later confirm that Babbel had no future at the club.
“I doubt he will play for us again because I gave him many chances and it hasn’t worked out,” the Frenchman said. “It doesn’t look as though his attitude is the best at the moment.
“He is frustrated and he has been sent off twice for the reserves recently. The staff have been disappointed with Markus’s attitude towards the club and the fans.
“It is not only the outburst during the Worthington Cup, but he has been sent off twice in the reserves. I took no action after the first incident but I will fine him two weeks’ wages for the incident last week, which was unacceptable. He is no longer in my plans.
“When you have talent there is no question you are capable of doing well for your club, but the motivation has to be there too.
“The attitude has to be right and in this case it has not been right. I think the club has been very fair to Markus. We stood by him and handed him a new contract. I’m very disappointed with him.”
Babbel would go on to spend the 2003/04 season on loan at Blackburn Rovers, before joining VfB Stuttgart on a free transfer in the summer of 2004.
Looking back, the German regrets how his Liverpool career ended and admits he only has himself to blame, pointing to issues in his personal life as he changed after recovering from illness.
“Yeah (I have regrets) but this is part of my life now,” he admitted. “You know, of course, I was a bit sad because after this fantastic first season.
“I always say, okay, this illness happened, you know, I can’t change it anymore. And it was a bad period.
“The only thing that I sometimes think, if this illness would come, a year later, you know, that I could play a second year for Liverpool. But it’s happened, you know, and to be fair, after this illness, I wasn’t the same person as before.
“I don’t know, maybe in England, it’s the same. In Germany. You say that the most important thing is the health, but you just say it, you know?
“But I was in a bad period, and I really was lying on the bed and I was thinking: ‘I give all my money back. I give all my titles back. The most important thing, I hope I get healthy again’.
“And, I had the luck to get past the bad illness. But I wasn’t the same person as before because I got divorced so my wife left England, my kids left England.
“So I was alone there and something happened in my head. I wasn’t normal anymore, you know, I went out a lot. I was drinking a lot. I wasn’t professional anymore.
“My lifestyle didn’t fix to a professional footballer. And, that was the reason why I had to leave this club. To go back to Germany first.
“I had more friends in Germany. My family is in Germany. So that was much easier to come back to the normal Markus than I was in this time after my illness in England.”
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Fortunately for Babbel, he was at least able to make peace and apologise to former manager Houllier when invited to play in the ‘Celebration of the 96’ Hillsborough 25th anniversary charity match at Anfield in 2014.
Houllier would pass away in December 2020.
“Afterwards, the good thing for me was, the 25th Hillsborough anniversary, there was a game in Liverpool at Anfield,” he said. “I was invited as well. And Gerard Houllier was the manager.
“I went to him. I said: ‘Boss, I understand everything what you did. You were absolutely right. I was totally wrong. Sorry about this, but my head was lost. I was lost’.
“And so we had a good, good chat in this moment. And also with Phil Thompson because he said also many good things to me but I wasn’t listening.
“But it is part of my life, you know. Of course I wish I could play a season, two seasons more for Liverpool. But, after this illness, I wasn’t the same person anymore.”
This article was first published in September 2024.