Jari Litmanen: When Finland played England at Anfield, it felt like a home game

Interview: Legendary playmaker looks back with affection on his brief and bittersweet spell with Liverpool

Jari Litmanen, Finland’s greatest player and darling of every football connoisseur, is pondering whether he was the right player at the right club at the wrong time in English football.
“If you think about what Liverpool is now – or what it has been under Jurgen Klopp and what Arne Slot is doing with the team – maybe you could say that is more my football. This is what I like,” Litmanen says.
“But I would never say I was not the right fit for Liverpool then, or the right team-mate for those players. That was definitely not the case. We had a really good team, a good squad and many great players that won big trophies. I look back at my time with Liverpool with a lot of pride and if you look at the statistics for those times – especially the trophies we won – it was a very good time to be part of Liverpool. I just wish I had been able to do more.”
The lament about what might have been is because after 10 years’ flirting between Liverpool and Litmanen the eventual 18-month Anfield romance was brief, and England’s latest meeting with Finland on Sunday evokes bittersweet memories of why Litmanen’s Premier League career is considered luckless.
Two months after joining Liverpool, Litmanen and team-mate Sami Hyypia had the honour of being two visiting players with more support than most of those wearing the Three Lions when the Wembley rebuild took the national team to Anfield for a World Cup qualifier.
“A special day and special game I will never forget,” recalls Litmanen. “There were a lot of Liverpool supporters there that day so me and Sami Hyypia felt like we were playing a home game, as an away team. We played well, but unfortunately it was also memorable for me because of what happened with Rio Ferdinand…”
Just after David Beckham struck what would be a 50th-minute winner in England’s 2-1 win, Litmanen needed treatment after a challenge by the centre-back.
“I broke my wrist in eight places and because of this I missed the end of that amazing season,” he says, as if still feeling the pain that had forced him into hospital after completing the full match, denied a late equaliser by a David Seaman save.
“I missed the FA Cup semi-final and then it was particularly hard for me that I missed the Uefa Cup semi-final against my old side Barcelona, and then, the FA Cup final and the Uefa Cup final.”
It was a case of destiny fulfilled when Gerard Houllier, in search of the elusive ‘missing jigsaw piece’ to win his first trophy as Liverpool manager, lured Litmanen from Barcelona in January 2001. Houllier envisioned his defensively robust side and prodigious academy graduates would be elevated by the dashing playmaker whose role in winning the majestic Ajax side of the mid-90s the Champions League earned him the nickname ‘Merlin’.
“We hope he will have the same influence here as Eric Cantona had at Manchester United,” Houllier excitedly said at the time. Dennis Bergkamp’s influence at Arsenal was similarly influential in Liverpool signing the ultimate No 10.
“I could have moved to Liverpool twice earlier, but first I chose Ajax and then Barcelona. The third time I thought, ‘now, this time’. It was a special feeling to be at Liverpool,” says Litmanen.
“English football was the only football on television in Finland in the 1970s and Liverpool was always my team from when I was four or five – it was the team of John Toshack, Kevin Keegan, Phil Thompson and Phil Neal – so it was always a dream that one day I would get there.”
The move brought the club immediate success. Liverpool completed an unprecedented cup treble and qualified for Europe’s top competition – the revamped Champions League – for the first time since 1985, but by then Litmanen was on the sidelines. He also missed the League Cup final due to a calf injury having earlier helped inspire a semi-final comeback win over Crystal Palace.
“People always seem to think, ‘oh, you were injured so much’. This isn’t actually true,” counters the 53-year-old.
“In the second season, I did not miss one game or training session because of injury. It was actually my best season in terms of no injuries or illness. Things changed after Gerard Houllier suffered his heart problem and I did not play so much during his five months of recovery. We had a lot of good options, other players were preferred and I was not happy. When Houllier came back, he believed in me and he selected me for the comeback match against Roma in the Champions League – the game we needed to win by two goals and we did it.” Litmanen scored the opening goal with a penalty.
There were spectacular moments like that emotional Roma performance in the run to the 2002 Champions League quarter-final, to guarantee the Kop’s admiration has never diminished.
“When I look back I regret nothing and have no reason to complain about anything,” says Litmanen.
“The reason I left was because I expected to play a little more than I did. I might have stayed longer but that’s the way it happens sometimes.”
The consistent heights of Ajax were never matched, but wherever he played Litmanen’s grace left a lasting impression, and during an extraordinary 21-year international career he was the source of hope that Finland would end a qualifying curse.
Reference ‘the golden generation’ to Litmanen and there needs to be a clarification which nation you are referring to.
“It was also a really good era for Finland in 2001,” he says. “We had a strong Finnish team and the big regret was that side never reached a Euros or World Cup. The players were there, but sometimes we were unlucky.
“In the qualifiers for 2002 we drew both games with Germany, 2-2 and 0-0, and drew with England in Helsinki. Against England we had our chances to win that match. There were a lot of Premier League players in our team and squad.
“Sometimes it is just small details that make a difference. That Germany side went on to reach the World Cup final, so it was tough for us and showed how well we played in those qualifiers. Everyone in the world knew how strong England was then. I could list the players, whether it was playing with Stevie [Gerrard], Michael [Owen], Emile [Heskey] or against and watching Beckham, John Terry, [Frank] Lampard, [Paul] Scholes and Ashley Cole – these were really top-class players, but we were very competitive against them. They were close games.”
After his retirement as a player, Litmanen had a spell working for the Finnish Football Association and recently returned to the ex-players’ circuit after suffering a serious bout of long Covid, of which the debilitating effect is finally easing.
“Covid changed my life. I am not 100 per cent recovered but I can do a lot of things again,” he says.
“When Liverpool’s legends played Ajax [last March] I was playing for the first time in four years. I was there physically – that experience was nice – but maybe not in a football way.
“When you were injured you had a timetable for a comeback. This has been something new.”
Now back on the pitch, Litmanen is speaking from Tallinn Airport ahead of a Liverpool versus Manchester United legends game in Thailand. Estonia is now his home from where he regularly commutes to Finland on punditry duties. He remains a national hero.
“I love watching all football, whether it is in England, Spain, Germany and France, and working for TV. I want to know as much as possible about all the teams, especially those in the Champions League for when I am covering games,” he says.
“Finnish football is getting better. There are some good, younger players benefiting from investment in the game, but it’s fair to say it is not quite the level of England or Germany. We don’t have a Jude Bellingham or a Jamal Musiala. But if I compare Finland now to 30 years ago, we are finding more skilful players who are ready at a younger age. We are rebuilding a side, but for a small country it is always hard to compete.
“England has a strong team, so it will be a difficult game for the Finnish team on Sunday – but a good challenge for them. They should embrace this kind of game, knowing the favourites are England. We do not have any Premier League players at the moment but we are hopeful this will change and surprises can happen. You never know.”