Playing with Carragher left Liverpool favourite needing a shrink

Luis Garcia looks back on his time at Liverpool with great fondness – but admits playing with Jamie Carragher left him mentally scarred.

The Spaniard became a huge crowd favourite at Anfield during his three years at the club, having arrived in a £6million deal from Barcelona in 2004.

The player will forever be remembered for having scored the ghost goal in the Champions League semi-final against Chelsea at Anfield in 2005, and scored 30 times for the Reds before moving back to La Liga with Atletico Madrid.

But Garcia admits he had to seek professional help to cope with the incessant on-field advice of one vociferous team-mate.

“Carra would give me a lot of instruction out on the pitch,” he told October’s edition of FourFourTwo magazine . “I used to mutter ‘f**k off’ under my breath when he yelled at me!

“Actually, I had to work with a sports psychologist to help me focus while I was at Liverpool and one of the things we worked on was trying to block out Carragher’s voice!

“I’d still listen to him, but soon I didn’t get as distracted by it.”

Garcia admits Carragher – with whom he now plays alongside for Liverpool Legends – was also less than enthused by the sight of him first putting on his infamous hair band.

“He didn’t need to say anything because his expression just screamed ‘What the f**k?’” said Garcia.

Luis Garcia: Nets his famous 'ghost goal' v Chelsea

“Rafa wasn’t too happy either. One day there was myself, Harry Kewell and Milan Baros all standing in front of the mirror, putting on our hair bands.

“Baros was using his hairspray as well! That didn’t go down well either, with Carra or Rafa.”

Garcia was speaking in the ‘One-on-one’ question-and-answer section for the magazine and continued: “They are actually very different.

“Carra would make a great manager in Italy, while Stevie would be better in the Premier League.”

Garcia’s winner against Chelsea has gone down in Anfield folklore, and he said: “I had never, and still have never, been part of an atmosphere like that one.

“Chelsea were a better side than us over the whole season, but on that night we were much faster, stronger and hungrier than them, and that all came from the fans.