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Former Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse has named his favorite manager of all time, with two huge figures for the Reds surprisingly missing out.
Cisse made the move to Anfield in 2004, having been signed by fellow Frenchman Gerard Houllier. Rafael Benitez took over as manager a year later, with Cisse leaving Liverpool in 2007 after a season spent on loan at Marseille.
The former French international was part of the Reds side that won the 2005 Champions League, having scored in the penalty shootout against AC Milan to help complete the miracle of Istanbul, and he also won the FA Cup the following year, scoring in the final against West Ham after Liverpool had fallen 2-0 down.
Having been at 14 clubs across his career, Cisse is certainly not short of options when it comes to picking his favorite manager. As well as Houllier and Benitez, he also had a spell under former Manchester United captain Roy Keane at Sunderland.
Houllier and Benitez would appear to be the standout candidates though, at least to most Liverpool fans, and many might expect the Champions League and FA Cup triumphs under the latter might have tipped the scales in favor of the Spaniard.
Cisse though went right back to the start of his career to pick his favorite boss. The 44-year-old first became a professional in his home country with Auxerre, having signed for the club as a 15-year-old before going on to score 90 goals in 168 appearances.
“Guy Roux was my favourite manager throughout my playing career; he was my mentor,” he told Poker Strategy.
“It’s a name that the younger generation may not know, but he was a hugely important figure for me at Auxerre. He gave me the freedom to go and attack, without defending too much, which allowed me to focus more on scoring goals and creating assists for the team.
“He built the team around me by adapting his play style to suit my qualities, which was a nice feeling as a player and showed that he valued me. That really helped with my confidence at the start of my career, and ultimately allowed me to make my move to Liverpool under Gérard Houllier and then Rafa Benitez.
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“I have him to thank for a lot of my achievements in my career.”
Liverpool.com says: There's no doubt that Houllier and Benitez are probably the biggest names in management that Cisse played for during his career, and Liverpool fans would perhaps expect one of those two to get the nod.
But you can't argue with him picking the manager that had such a big influence on him as a young player. The fact that he also mentioned Houllier and Benitez shows how much respect he has for those two.
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