It’s my fault I flopped at Liverpool – I wish I could change my behaviour

 Andrea Dossena has previously confessed that his Liverpool nightmare was entirely down to his own shortcomings. The ex-footballer penned a £7million switch to the Merseyside giants back in 2008.

Brought in to fill the void left by John Arne Riise, who departed for Roma that same summer, the Italian's Anfield adventure was cut short after just 18 months. Despite clocking up a mere 31 outings during his entire Liverpool spell, he still enjoyed some unforgettable highlights at the club.

The 44-year-old was a surprise goalscorer against both Real Madrid and Manchester United within the space of seven days. Yet he couldn't capitalise on those magical moments, later confessing his Anfield struggles stemmed from failing to grasp just how demanding English football could be.

Speaking to the Liverpool Echo last year, he said: "For a young boy having his first experience abroad, it was certainly not easy. The Premier League is very different from the Serie A and, unfortunately for us Italians, much more beautiful!

"In Italy we have a culture of work that is much more based on quantity, while you (in England) are very good at having an optimal quantity/quality ratio. In my opinion we lack this in order to adapt to your football because when we no longer work, as the quantity contains, the quality decreases accordingly.

"At least this was my problem in my case. I came from a culture of a lot of weekly work and in Liverpool we played every three days and we never trained. I would have had to train in my personal time so that at the time of my employment, I could have been at my 100%."

Rafa Benitez was the man who brought Dossena to Anfield, and the former defender cleared the ex-Reds manager of any blame for his struggles, confessing he wished he'd handled things differently after securing his move to Liverpool.

"I spoke to Benitez, I wasn't physically well. It wasn't his fault but I understood that I had to work on my own," Dossena revealed. "But being inexperienced I didn't do it. My fault! If I went back instead of passively accepting it, I would behave differently.

"Now with the experience I certainly have in terms of daily work, I would make other choices. When I left, I wanted to return to Italy because, from speaking with Marcello Lippi (Italy manager), the best way to take my chances of earning a place in Italy's squad for South Africa (2010 World Cup) was to return to Italy.

"I certainly regret not being able to give my best due to my inexperience. No regrets about joining the club though, because in any case, Liverpool helped me grow both as a man, a footballer at the time, and as a coach today."

Following his retirement from playing in 2017, Dossena transitioned into coaching two years later with Crema. He has subsequently taken charge of various Italian sides including Ravenna, Renate, Pro Vercelli and most recently SPAL.