Luis Garcia promised so much when he joined Liverpool, winning the Champions League title in his first season, but he soon disappointed himself and everybody else.
When someone mentions the name Luis Garcia it immediately conjures up images of continental fluidity and class oozing from the wing; of lively Spanish talent dancing around players with such ease, dousing the unworthy with a brief experience of what it is to be gifted, before drifting off to make a mockery of another helpless opponent.
Yes, Luis Garcia was quite the player – but an inconsistent one at that.
The winger was one of two successful Spaniards who joined Rafael Benitez’s armada in 2004 alongside the ever so classy Xabi Alonso, and his first season in English football took off in style.
Garcia netted five vital goals on Liverpool’s journey to Istanbul against Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus and Chelsea, despite the latter being controversial at best.
You could quite easily argue that one of the greatest sporting comebacks in modern history found its way into the record books because of the magician that was Luis Garcia.
We dare not imagine what could have been had he not left Barcelona: a huge void existing in that part of history, likely filled by a boring, conventional final, where AC Milan would have left victorious.
What a bland and inconceivable existence football fans could be living.
Unfortunately, Garcia rarely managed to recall the form that had earned him legendary status in his first year at Anfield – not on a regular basis anyway.
He added another 11 goals to his tally, including Liverpool’s second in their FA Cup semi-final victory over Chelsea, but the quality aspects of his game were often overshadowed by the periods of lethargy and unadulterated averageness.
Garcia would spend half of his final season in England injured before eventually leaving a somewhat soiled hero to join Atletico Madrid in 2007.
