Hamann to draw on history against United
Memories of past triumphs over Manchester United will ensure that Dietmar Hamann and his fellow Liverpool FC Legends give everything to beat their rivals again next month.
The former Reds and their counterparts are set to face off in Stockholm, Sweden on September 3, with a host of stellar names signed up for a contest which is guaranteed to be competitive.
Hamann is among the Anfield alumni preparing to don their boots again for a charity fixture that will benefit the Liverpool FC Foundation and the Manchester United Foundation.
The German was involved in a series of battles with the Red Devils during his seven years at Liverpool, and helped secure a fair share of victories too.
And though many of the opponents are now more friends than foes, Hamann expects the thought of how sweet it is to win to be the perfect inspiration for all involved.
“When you get on the pitch, you want to win, because this is what we’ve been doing for the last 15-20 years,” he told Liverpoolfc.com.
“That competitive edge to try your best to win games will never change. That will be the same for United and for us.
“There might be a little bit of banter at times. It’s a different relationship now when you stop playing, because you bump into these guys on a weekly basis; you do media work and go to games.
“But once the game kicks off, I’m sure they’ll want to win as much as we do.”
Hamann will be joined by the likes of Patrik Berger, Jerzy Dudek, Luis Garcia and Vladimir Smicer in a squad captained by Robbie Fowler and managed by Ian Rush.
As they walk out at the Friends Arena, the midfielder will have one particularly fond piece of Liverpool-United nostalgia to draw from.
He said: “They are always special games and we had a good record against United. The one that probably stands out, because it was the most important, was the [2003] League Cup final.
“We played against probably one of the best United sides in recent history and played very well and Michael [Owen] put the game to bed in the last minute with a second goal.
“It meant we had won another cup. So I would probably say the League Cup final because the atmosphere in Cardiff was always something special.
“To beat United there was another step forward for us, that everybody knew Liverpool were back.”