Reds legend McManaman on pressure, loneliness and what links Liverpool & Madrid

Former Liverpool midfielder Steve McManaman has drawn a unique similarity between the Reds and La Liga giants Real Madrid.

The 48-year-old, who was at Anfield from the age of 16-years-old, spent 11 years with his boyhood club before making the switch to the Spanish capital in July 1999.

During his Liverpool career McManaman had won one FA Cup and one League Cup, but it was the European Cup that was missing from his personal collection, despite Liverpool having enjoyed so much success in the competition in recent years.

McManaman moved to Madrid to try and pursue that dream of becoming a Champions League winner, and he did exactly that, helping the Spanish giants lift the crown in 2000 and 2002, with the midfielder scoring in the 3-0 win over Valencia in the 2000 final.

Having experienced what it is like to play for both clubs, both which are steeped in such history, McManaman has offered his insight into what life was like for both Liverpool and Madrid, insisting that that the demand for success at both clubs is just as big.

"What I would say is, Real Madrid is very much like Liverpool, as in two huge clubs in their particular countries, steeped in history, always looking at the past," McManaman said on BBC Radio 5 Live.

"You have got all these awnings all over the walls at Liverpool, whether it be Emlyn Hughes, Graeme Souness or Phil Thompson lifting these European Cups. In Madrid it was the same.

"You had got [Alfredo Di] Stefano, [Francisco] Gento, [Ferenc] Puskas... you had got pictures everywhere. The pressure is on every single season to win a trophy, and if it is not the league, it is the Champions League. You have to deliver silverware.

"That was exactly the same at Liverpool."

Opening up on what life was like for him to adapt to a new club in a few country, McManaman continued: "So, when I went to Madrid, the faces were different, of course - they spoke a foreign language.

"But the pressure to win trophies was all that mattered, and if you had a barren year, and the year before they had finished 2nd in the league and had not won any silverware, that meant it was a barren year for them, so the pressure was on.

"You had to achieve. It was quite easy for me. Of course, settling in and getting on with your teammates that are speaking a foreign language that you're trying to learn as quickly as possible is difficult.

"Sometimes you could be very lonely. But you had to try your best. I would sit with 10 of the lads on a pre-season tour when we went away for two weeks in the Austrian mountains and I would sit with them and have a beer and they would all speak, laugh and joke in slang and in Spanish.

"I would sit there for hours and hours not understanding a word. They knew I was trying to settle in and knew that I was one of the lads. They also knew that I could drink far more beer than them!

"They knew I was spot on straight away. It was lonely and it was hard but you have to dive in with two feet."