Nuri Sahin has moved to bury the hatchet with his former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers ahead of the pair reuniting in the Champions League on Tuesday night
Nuri Sahin has moved to play down any suggestions of a feud with his former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers ahead of the pair reuniting on Tuesday night. Borussia Dortmund host Celtic in the revamped Champions League league phase, with the two locking horns in the dugout as a result.
It was Rodgers who signed Sahin for Liverpool back in August 2012, beating competition from Arsenal to land the Turkey international on a season-long loan from Real Madrid. However, he would make just 12 appearances for the Reds, returning three goals and two assists, before the temporary switch was cut short in January.
While he would start all 12 of his appearances, only seven came in the Premier League before he lost his place in November.
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Returning to Borussia Dortmund on loan in January 2013, where he reunited with Jurgen Klopp, Sahin hit out at Rodgers for his struggles at Liverpool as he bemoaned being played out of position.
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“I did not fail at Liverpool. Brendan Rodgers wanted me to play as a No 10. But I do not play behind the forwards,” he said at the time. “I spoke with him and asked him why I was playing there. It is not my real position. The boss could not answer me.
“Still, I am not sorry about it. To play in the red jersey and be in Anfield is something marvellous. Maybe if I had not gone there I would not have been able to return to Borussia Dortmund.
“For that, I am happy. But I have left Brendan Rodgers, thanks be to God. I feel well physically and mentally, everything is perfect. After returning to Germany, I feel much better.”
Klopp would also weigh in on Sahin’s struggles at Anfield, admitting his confusion at Rodgers playing the then 23-year-old out of position.
“It was the wrong position (for Sahin to play),’ he said. “If you are a No 8 or 6 and you have to play as a No 9 or 10, it’s not possible.
“For some guys, of course, it’s possible, but Nuri’s a brilliant player – not nine-and-a-half and not 10 – and I don’t know why Brendan Rodgers would do this.”
However, 12 years on and it appears that time heals old wounds with Sahin now revealing how he only joined Liverpool because of the Northern Irishman in the first place as the Borussia Dortmund manager looked forward to reacquainting with his former Reds boss – who is now enjoying his second stint in charge of Celtic.
“Was it a difficult time at Liverpool? Absolutely not,” he insisted. “I don’t know what I said back in the days when I was young, but the only thing was for me that I played in a different position than I used to play.
“But the problem was that Steven Gerrard played in my position! So I had to adjust with my position, and this was the only thing.
“Everything else, I really enjoyed during my time at Liverpool. It’s a fantastic club and under Brendan I enjoyed every training session with him. It was very ball-oriented, ball possession and playing in the opponent’s half.
“I can only say good things about him and my time there. The thing is when you get a call from Dortmund, and you’re a Dortmund boy, you go back home. So this was the only reason.
“Before the transfer, we had a lot of conversations, a lot of discussions. I think he’s originally from Northern Ireland, but he has that Spanish vibe. He loves possession in his football.
“Like I said, I liked his training sessions, they were really interesting. Back then, I already took notes for my own coaching career. We meet again after 12 years, and I’m really looking forward to this duel.”
Meanwhile, speaking to TNT Sports, he said of Rodgers: “Of course [it will be nice to see him]. When you have a history together, even if it was a very short time that we worked together, but I enjoyed the training sessions with him.
“I enjoyed the idea of football that he had. It was also the reason why I chose Liverpool back in the day, from many offers I had.
“You can see it very well, even watching 10 minutes of Celtic you see the influence Brendan has on the team. Really looking forward [to playing] against a very good opponent.
“I would be very surprised if Brendan is the same coach as he was 12 years ago. I am sure that he has made steps.
“Also, a new experience. A very high experience with Liverpool, Celtic, Leicester, and now back at Celtic. We will face a very, very good team, I am sure about that. Looking forward to it.”
Rodgers is also looking forward to reuniting with Sahin, insisting there are no hard feelings between the pair despite the Turk’s previous frustration as he recalled their shared time at Liverpool.
“I never get too emotional with words,’ he said. “I think that players and young players, they all want to play. I think, at that time when Nuri was at Liverpool, he had other players that were just ahead of him.
“Unfortunately, at that time, I’d moved Steven Gerrard from a No 10 position into a deeper role. I also had Jordan Henderson – those two guys are among the greatest captains in the history of Liverpool – and that’s who Nuri was competing against.
“I tried to put him into the team and play in some positions that probably didn’t quite suit him. I might have played him as No 10 when he was a deeper player but I had other players in those positions that were doing really well for me.
“Across his time, he was a good guy. He loved his football, trained very well, was super professional and, of course, he left Liverpool and went back to Dortmund and I followed his career from there.
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“So, it’s great to see him. And now, moving into a management perspective, you know the challenges and he’ll start to understand that.
“You get the likes of (Marcel) Sabitzer at the moment who wants to play central and he’s playing wide at Dortmund. So, all these little things come to you as a coach and a manager.”
Meanwhile, when speaking to Celtic TV, Rodgers also touched crossing paths again with Sahin – as well as Borussia Dortmund captain Emre Can after signing the Germany international for Liverpool in 2014.
“I haven’t seen him (Sahin) for a long time,” he said. “He was a very young player when he came to Liverpool with me and it was a challenge for him at that moment because obviously, we had a lot of really good players in front of him at that time. But he was a good guy, really good professional.
“Later on, I brought Emre Can, who I know very well who’s the captain there and again in his own right a fantastic player for me at Liverpool. And he can play in a number of positions but the positions he can play he can play really, really well. So it’ll be really good to see those two guys.
“But more importantly, I’m looking forward to testing us and how we’ve been for this opening period of the season and see how we measure up against one of the elite teams.”
Celtic currently sit second in the new Champions League league format, courtesy of a 5-1 victory over Slovan Bratislava in their first match last month. Sahin’s Dortmund are fifth after beating Club Brugge 3-0, while Liverpool, who are back in European action at home to Bologna on Wednesday night, occupy seventh following their opening 3-1 win away at AC Milan.
In the new revamped ‘Swiss model’, the top eight sides in the 36-team league qualify automatically for the round of 16, while the teams ranked ninth to 24th will compete in the knockout play-offs.
