Beloved Liverpool hero makes rare Anfield appearance after disappearing from soccer

Liverpool is hosting Tottenham in the Premier League with a special guest in attendance at Anfield for the important fixture in the Champions League race and relegation battle

Former Liverpool center-back Joel Matip.(Image: Christof Koepsel/Getty Images)

Former Liverpool defender Joel Matip is in attendance as the Reds host Tottenham at Anfield, making a rare appearance since he retired from playing in 2024.

Matip hung up his boots at the age of 33. He made 201 appearances for Liverpool in total, winning five major trophies in the process including both the Premier League and the Champions League. In the 2019 Champions League final, Matip provided an assist for Divock Origi against Tottenham in Madrid.

Cameroonian defender Matip was also pictured at another of his old clubs earlier this season, stepping out as Schalke 04 played Nurnberg in December.

Injuries limited Matip to just nine appearances in Liverpool's 2019/20 league title-winning campaign. It ended the club's 30-year wait for a league title.

Matip left Liverpool at the end of the 2023/24 campaign at the same time as Jurgen Klopp. He sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury, which curtailed his final season at the club.

Matip earned 27 caps for his country and finished playing as a free agent. He never moved to another club after Liverpool, opting to move into retirement instead.

Liverpool very much needs to win against Tottenham in the race for the Champions League spots.

"After today’s game, we will have only eight league matches left to play, which serves to underline that we are now entering the home straight," Liverpool boss Arne Slot writes in the official matchday program.

"While some of our objectives might have changed since the start of the season, the basic requirement of finishing as high as we can in the league table remains.

"The key to this, of course, is to win as many games as possible and then we will see where it takes us.

"There is no point dwelling on what might have been or getting drawn into what might have been different; our total focus has to be on reaching the finishing line as strongly as possible.

"Going into this weekend, we are sixth in the table, which is not where we want to be and also not where we want to end up. The aim has to be to go higher so that we can push ourselves into the Champions League qualification places and hopefully stay there.

"That particular race is going to be highly contested — as it should be — with a number of teams having the same aim going into the final months.

"Again, our focus should not be on what they are doing. It should only be on what we are doing. After all, it is our results and performances that will dictate our outcome.

"Today, this means taking on a Tottenham team which has its own reasons for needing a strong finish to the campaign.

"For someone like me who always followed English football from a distance before coming to this country, it is strange seeing them in their current situation and this is one of the reasons why I do not expect it to last."