The 76-year-old Swede entered the pitch at Anfield, Liverpool FC’s stadium, all smiles, where the crowd brought out a sea of red scarves and stood up singing the club anthem “You Will Never Walk Alone”, before kick off.
He then took his place on the bench, along with former players Ian Rush, John Barnes and John Aldridge, to lead a team of Liverpool “legends” including Jerzy Dudek, Martin Skrtel, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, against a selection of ex-Ajax Amsterdam players.
“It’s like a dream,” Eriksson commented Friday in the pre-match conference. “When I was a manager, I always dreamed of Liverpool but it never happened. It was close once, discussions took place several years ago. It never happened. But now it’s happening!”, he declared.
Eriksson revealed in January that he had “at best a year” to live after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He spoke at the time of his unconditional love for Liverpool before expressing his regret at not having been able to coach them.
The Mersey club did not remain indifferent to the wishes of the former coach, quarter-finalist of the 2002 and 2006 World Cups with England, and offered him to lead a team of former glories during of a meeting organized in favor of the founding of Liverpool.
“When they asked me, I thought it was a joke. I said of course, and what’s more it’s for charity, which makes the experience even more beautiful,” he commented on Friday.
Eriksson explained that his love for the Reds came from his father, himself a fan. He had written to Liverpool around 1979, when he was still a young manager in Sweden, to attend training, he reported.
“I saw a match and a training session, I had the privilege of entering the Boot Room (a now legendary room in which Liverpool coaches discussed tactics at that time, editor’s note). It was great, fantastic.”
