Sami Hyypia: I think of you with joy
Sami Hyypia has spoken of the joy he feels when looking back on his Liverpool career - and explained why being a manager is harder than he ever imagined.
The former defender played 464 games for Liverpool and was an integral part of Gerard Houllier's treble-winning team of 2001 before helping the Reds lift a fifth European Cup in 2005.
He left Anfield in 2009 to take on a player/coach role at Bayer Leverkusen - but he still thinks of his time on Merseyside with great fondness.
Hyypia told BBC Sport: "The day I signed my contract with Liverpool, that's one day I will never forget because Liverpool was my favourite team when I was younger and it was a dream come true.
"I was there a long time and I had to leave friends there - it was a bit emotional.
"Now I think of my Liverpool career with joy, especially the fans - I always had a good relationship with Liverpool fans. I guess they saw I always tried my best on the pitch.
"I made mistakes as well and hopefully they forgive me for those mistakes and hopefully I did more good things than mistakes."
Bayer Leverkusen appointed Hyypia as joint-manager last year alongside former U19s coach Sascha Lewandowski.
Their side is currently third in the Bundesliga behind Borussia Dortmund and leaders Bayern Munich.
So how is Hyypia finding the transition from pitch to dugout?
"As a player it's quite easy - this job is much more difficult," said the 39-year-old. "It's quite funny being on the other side now to see how much work you have to do with the team, outside of the team, and all the planning for the season, for pre-season, and for every training session.
"As a player you show up half an hour before training and somebody tells you what to do. Then you go to the shower and go home."
Hyypia's club career yielded medals both domestically and on the European stage, while at international level he featured 105 times for Finland.
Of all the managers he played under during those years, one taught him more than any other.
He explained: "I haven't had a lot of managers and coaches in my career but from every one I tried to take the positive things. The negative things, I don't want to bring them into my coaching.
"If we are talking about football tactically, maybe I learned the most from Benitez. Tactically he was good and maybe I'd say I've learned the most from him."