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Currently 12 points clear at the top of the table, it makes the start of the Premier League title run-in for the Reds as they look to finish the season as champions.

Midweek Anfield Merseyside derbies have served Liverpool well in recent years.

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From Steven Gerrard’s hat-trick in March 2012, two 4-0 thrashings of their local rivals in January 2014 and April 2016, and a 5-2 downing of the Blues in December 2019 as Jurgen Klopp’s men continued on their way to their last Premier League title.



READ MORE:Jude Bellingham decision could hint at Liverpool summer transfer planREAD MORE:Mamadou Sakho plotting Liverpool return after sending special message to supporters

But while the latest Anfield Merseyside derby will act as the start for what Liverpool hope will be a successful march toward being named champions of England, one of the aforementioned derbies proved to be the end for one former Reds star.

Mamadou Sakho scored Liverpool’s second goal in that second 4-0 thrashing in April 2016 and was in the form of his Reds career at the time.

But the 35-year-old considers the doping accusations as the moment that changed his entire career.

“I was at my top of my career, playing in the national team for France, playing for Liverpool,” he concedes in an exclusive interview with the ECHO.

Just look forward and be positive in life.”

Now playing in Georgia with Torpedo Kutaisi, Sakho would never make another appearance for Liverpool after scoring against Everton nine years ago.

He had been welcomed back into the Reds first team picture after UEFA dismissed the case against him, only for his Anfield career to unravel for different reasons weeks later.

He would infamously be sent home from Liverpool’s pre-season tour of the United States, with it emerging he had been late for the club’s flight, a team meal and a treatment session as he recovered from injury.

This was enough for Klopp to banish the Frenchman, with Sakho then demoted to train with the Under-23s as a result.

There has always been a fascination in the Reds fanbase regarding the mysterious nature of the defender’s Liverpool exit and his falling out with Klopp.

Sakho is not ready to tell his full side of the story just yet, but admits he will share the truth on his own terms one day.

For now, he is willing to admit he thinks ‘small things’ were used as ‘excuses’ against him, but insists he holds no ill-feeling towards Klopp.

“Good relationship because I'm not a negative man,” he said.

So I always keep it for me as a man and that's it.

“I never talk and I would not speak for the moment because it's not important.

But not now, it is not the right moment.

“When I do my documentary of my career and of my life, all the truth will go out in that moment, just for fun.”

After being bombed out by Klopp, Sakho eventually joined Crystal Palace on loan in January 2017.

Sakho was still a contracted Reds player at the time, though ineligible to face his parent club.

The 35-year-old admits he is sorry if he upset any fans that day, but insists that was never his intention.

“I just celebrated with my team-mate.
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