Homage To The Gentle Giant Who Became A Liverpool Legend

Legend, a word often in fact very often overused in the world of football. Many foreign imports have come into the English game who haven't made an impact but that can't be said of the big Finn, Sami Hyypia. When Sami left Anfield in the summer of 2009 for pastures new in Germany, the effects it had on the side next season was to be seen. A disappointing season, Rafael Benitez's last season in charge it was to be. The presence of Hyypia with his experience was badly missed but taking it back to the day he arrived at the club.

Liverpool legend Ron Yeats was apart of the scouting department when Gerard Houllier was in charge and after Yeats scouted Sami, Houllier wasted no time in signing Sami from Willem 11 Tilburg. The fee was just £2.5 million pounds, in the age of multi-million pound deals the money invested was without a doubt the biggest bargain Liverpool FC have had in the Premier League era. It could have being all so different had Newcastle identified his talent when he was invited to train with their first team twice before moving to Holland.

On the 19th of May 1999, Sami Hyypia signed for Liverpool Football Club and together with Stephane Henchoz went on to have one of the greatest defensive partnerships at this great club. The change of style at Liverpool from Roy Evans to Gerard Houllier meant changes needed to be made.

The signing of both and especially Hyppia would be a master-stroke that can rival the best of transfers in the history of Liverpool Football Club. He became a leader on the pitch and quickly established himself as captain of the club in the absence of Jamie Redknapp and Robbie Fowler. Later in 2002, when both players had left the club Houllier gave the captaincy on a permanent basis to Sami.

Although, he later lost the captaincy to Steven Gerrard in late 2003. Sami Hyppia showed the class in accepting the decision and dignity despite the blow in losing the captaincy. The freedom of not having the captaincy allowed Hyypia to recapture his form and being back at his best. The defensive responsibility was Hyypia's main concern but his impact in the other box was also felt.

During his decade at Anfield Hyypia scored 35 goals for the club, for a centre back it is incredible. Even more impressive when you consider he scored almost 20 more goals than other Liverpool legends Alan Hansen, Phil Thompson and Ron Yeats. His first goal came from a header against Manchester United at Anfield in a 3-2 defeat in September 1999 to his last strike in a 5-1 victory at Newcastle in December 2008, as always that big smile would be accompanying his goal.

But 3 of the most important goals he would score occurred in 3 separate Champions League Quarter-Finals, against Arsenal, Juventus and the side he currently is manager of Bayer Leverkusen. While the goal against Bayer Leverkusen wasn't enough to get Liverpool into a Champions League Semi-Final, his two other strikes sent the Reds on the way to 2 Champions League Semi-Finals against Chelsea. His strike against Juventus will definitely go down as one of his greatest goals, a wonderful left foot volley from an out-swinging corner flicked on by Luis Garcia into the path of Sami. Not even Gianluigi Buffon, one of the greatest goalkeepers of the modern era hadn't a chance of saving it the strike was so sweetly struck and with power.

A member of the treble winning side of 2001 to the Champions League winning side of 2005, Hyypia was at the heart of Liverpool's greatest triumph's. A medal haul of 1 Champions League, 1 Uefa Cup, 2 FA Cups, 2 League Cups and 2 European Super Cups on top of 464 first team appearances(20th in the all-time Liverpool list) including 35 goals.

Sami Hyypia was and is justifiably a Liverpool legend, the infinity he had with the fans was never more so apparent when on his last appearance against Spurs in May 2009. Ten years after joining, he got a rapturous reception when the then manager Rafa Benitez brought on Sami from the bench. The emotion at the end with the whole of Anfield in unison singing his name brought the giant to tears. It's uncommon for foreign players to have such an infinity with a club and that bore out at the end of that game.

He was voted #38 in the list of the "100 Players That Shook The Kop"  by the fans in a poll run by the official Liverpool web site. His former team-mate Jamie Carragher said of Hyypia:

“I’ve been saying it for years, Sami will go down in history alongside the likes of Ron Yeats, Alan Hansen and Emlyn Hughes. When you think of the foreign players who have played in this country, for me Sami is up there with Dennis Bergkamp and Gianfranco Zola. Not many players have come to the Premiership from abroad and played for just one club for as long as Sami has and in all the time he’s been at Liverpool you could probably count his bad performances on the fingers of one hand."

Since he left Anfield, Hyypia moved to Leverkusen making 61 appearances netting 3 times before announcing his retirement from professional football in May 2011. A year later, Hyypia was named caretaker manager of Bayer alongside Sascha Lewandowski after the sacking of Robin Dutt. Such was the impression that Hyypia and Sascha Lewandowski made, on the 15th May 2012 they were confirmed as managers till the summer of 2015.

Their record reads 26 games and a win percentage of almost 62%, they currently sit in the Bundesliga standings at the moment 5th but only 1 point off 2nd. Although they are ten points behind the leaders Bayern, they ended Bayern's unbeaten league start by securing an impressive 2-1 win at the Allianz Arena at the end of October.

The potential of Hyypia as a future Liverpool manager is one to watch out for, his beginning at Leverkusen has gone smoothly so far. What the future holds for Hyypia is anyone's guess but his legacy as a Liverpool legend has being long secured. One more time "Oh Sami Sami Sami, Sami Sami Sami Hyypia".