Liverpool will now contest a third Champions League final in the last five years after edging Villarreal, but who has left Anfield to go and win the title from Luis Suarez to Xabi Alonso?
The Reds are the joint third-most successful club in European Cup history with six trophies in the cabinet already. Only 13-time record-champions Real Madrid and AC Milan on seven have lifted the famed trophy more often than Liverpool and Bayern Munich, who have six.
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Jurgen Klopp returned UEFA honours to Merseyside in 2019 by beating Tottenham in the final. The Anfield natives had lost the previous final to Real Madrid for the Galacticos’ last title, while Bayern Munich lofted the trophy in 2020 and Chelsea clinched the title in 2021.
Liverpool waited 14 years for a Champions League title between winning their first of the rebranded tournament in 2005 and in 2019. Of the 14 to play against Spurs at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid, only Georginio Wijnaldum may now miss out on another medal.
Wijnaldum departed Anfield at the end of his contract to join Paris Saint-Germain in their pursuit of Champions League glory. Yet PSG – spearheaded by Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi – lost to Real Madrid in the round of 16 after wasting a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2.
Five players have departed Merseyside between Liverpool winning the Champions League in 2005 and 2019 and gone on to lift the trophy with the club they joined. So, who are the five players to take European bragging rights after leaving Anfield during their drought?
Luis Suarez – Champions League winner with Barcelona after 2014 Liverpool exit
Barcelona paid Liverpool £75m to sign Suarez in 2014, three years after the striker moved to Anfield from Ajax for £22.5m. The Uruguayan helped transform the Reds under Brendan Rodgers, coming within two points of a Premier League title in 2013/14 after his 31 goals.
His haul returned the Golden Boot award that season with his best tally in the English top-flight. Suarez had hit his previous best with 23 in 2012/13, on route to a career Liverpool return of 82 goals in 133 appearances across all competitions. He also offered 46 assists.
The only silverware Suarez lifted with Liverpool was the 2011/12 EFL Cup, however. Yet he went on to win the Champions League in his first year at the Camp Nou, alongside his first of four La Liga crowns and first of four Copa del Rey titles during his career in Catalunya.
Raul Meireles – One season wonder helps Chelsea to title after 2011 Anfield exit
Raul Meireles did not enjoy a stellar career at Liverpool during his sole year at Anfield after a £11.5m move from Porto in 2010. Roy Hodgson signed the Portuguese midfielder as the natural heir to Javier Mascherano, with the Argentine bound for Barcelona that summer.
Yet Meireles would join Chelsea for £12m in 2011 after handing in a transfer request. The Blues pursued his services after failing to agree a deal with Tottenham for Luka Modric in the same window. But like at Anfield, he only spent a single season at Stamford Bridge.
Nonetheless, Meireles left west London after helping Chelsea to a first Champions League title. He started nine of his 11 appearances in the UEFA competition for two goals and an assist. But the 76-cap international missed the final itself via a suspension for yellow cards.
Javier Mascherano– Barcelona achieve European glory after 2010 Liverpool raid
Mascherano completed a £17.25m transfer to Barcelona after Meireles joined Liverpool in 2010. Hodgson hit out at the then-Argentina captain for a ‘selfish’ decision to move to the Camp Nou, where the midfielder would lift the Champions League title in his first season.
He had already come close to achieving UEFA glory once in his career, as runners-up with the Reds in 2006/07. It was the only time that Mascherano contested a final for Liverpool, while winning the Champions League for Barcelona again after Suarez’s arrival in 2014/15.
Mascherano enjoyed a decorated Blaugrana career with five La Liga crowns and five Copa del Reys. The Argentine’s trophies came across 334 appearances in all competitions, more than double the 139 he had made with the Reds after his arrival from West Ham in 2007.
Xabi Alonso – Champions League winner with Real Madrid after 2009 Liverpool exit
Alonso was already a Champions League winner with Liverpool when the midfielder joined Real Madrid in 2009. He helped the Reds lift the UEFA trophy in Istanbul in 2005 against AC Milan, and he would again with the Galacticos against Atletico Madrid in Portugal in 2014.
Los Blancos paid the Reds £30m for the Spaniard after five years on Merseyside following a £10.5m move from Real Sociedad. During that time he also won an FA Cup in 2006, before going on to win La Liga and two Cope del Reys in Madrid, as well as the World Cup in 2010.
Alonso helped anchor Spain’s dominant era, having also won the European Championship in 2008 and 2012. He would also enjoy a few trophy-laden years with Bayern Munich from 2014 to his retirement in 2017, including three Bundesliga honours and one DFB-Pokal.
Xabi Alonso – Champions League title with Real Madrid after leaving Liverpool in 2009
Liverpool signed Alvaro Arbeloa from Deportivo La Coruna in 2007 for £2.5m, yet left after two years for Real Madrid. Los Blancos agreed a £3.5m deal for the right-back days before sealing Alonso’s move in the same window as Cristiano Ronaldo’s world-record £80m deal.
Arbeloa did not lift any trophies during his brief time on Merseyside before embarking on a decorated Galacticos career. He helped Spain win their European Championships in 2008 and ‘12 and 2010 World Cup, before lifting the Champions League in 2013/14 and ‘15/16.
The right-back failed to make a century of Liverpool appearances with Arbeloa turning out 98 times before joining Real Madrid. He would enjoy 238 outings at the Santiago Bernabeu outfit before joining West Ham for a single season in 2016/17 then hanging up his boots.
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