(Video) Ryan Babel embraces his inner Xabi Alonso with audacious moment in Liverpool Legends game
Ryan Babel is among the numerous ex-Liverpool players who’ve returned to Anfield today for the Legends match against Chelsea, and he attempted to summon the spirit of one former teammate during the first half.
The Dutchman was selected to start the annual charity fixture in aid of the LFC Foundation, and he had a rather eventful minute shortly before the quarter-hour mark against a Chelsea selection.
With 12 minutes gone, the 38-year-old inadvertently blocked a powerful shot from Martin Kelly which looked like it would’ve flown into the net if the former Reds winger hadn’t gotten in the way.
Babel swiftly put any potential embarrassment from that moment behind him as, less than 30 seconds later, he latched into a loose ball a few yards inside Liverpool’s half of the pitch and attempted to chip Carlo Cudicini from long range, but the effort was well wide and the Italian goalkeeper was untroubled.
Babel embraced his inner Xabi Alonso
Despite it never looking likely to end up as a goal, the Dutchman’s audacity to even try it should be applauded, and he’ll point to a former teammate as proof that it can be worth a go!
When he played for the Reds, Xabi Alonso twice scored from inside the halfway line in the space of nine months, with those famous strikes coming against Luton in the FA Cup and Newcastle in a Premier League fixture, both in 2006.
Babel played alongside the Spaniard for two years at Anfield, with the duo being part of Rafael Benitez’s side which mounted a prolonged title challenge in 2008/09 before the midfielder departed for Real Madrid, although the 38-year-old wasn’t an advocate of the current Bayer Leverkusen boss replacing Jurgen Klopp when rumours to that effect were rife a year ago.
The Dutch forward scored 22 goals in 146 matches as a Liverpool player, but none of them were from quite the same distance as the shot with which he tried to catch out Cudicini in the first half this afternoon!
You can view Babel’s long-range effort below (at 12:26 in the match coverage), via Liverpool FC on YouTube:
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