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It is a fairly common characteristic of most football supporters to expect our heroes to run through proverbial brick walls for the shirt they are privileged to wear.

It comes more naturally to some than others but as a general rule we demand those who get to live out our dreams, while getting paid handsomely to do so, put their bodies on the line, strain every sinew and push themselves through and beyond the pain barrier again and again without ever really appreciating the toll it can take.

There is more of an awareness now of the damage caused by the cortisone injections many players of the 1960s and 70s used to regularly take to get them through games, with many suffering severe mobility problems in retirement as a result, but there is perhaps a misguided perception that in the modern game with all the sports science and top-level medical expertise involved that players can now continually smash through their physical limits without consequence.

The experience of one of Liverpool’s most cultured defenders of the Premier League era demonstrates that is not the case and, with football's bureaucrats seemingly still intent on showing their priority is milking their cashcow for all its worth and - to the chagrin of Jurgen Klopp amongst others - shoe-horning in yet more matches to an already saturated schedule, should act as a salutary warning.

Daniel Agger arrived at Anfield as a fresh-faced 21-year-old in January 2006 with a blossoming reputation as one of European football’s finest young defenders.

After winning the Champions League against all odds in his first season as Liverpool manager, Rafa Benitez was attempting to build a side to end the Reds’ decade-and-a-half search for a 19th league title and, with a host of Europe’s top clubs rumoured to be jostling for the Dane’s signature, snapped Agger up on a four-and-a-half year deal said to be worth £5.8m, making him the most expensive footballer ever sold by a Danish club.

"Daniel will be one of the best centre-backs in England in the future, I am sure of that”, a delighted Benitez claimed after completing the signing.

He’s that type of character.”

Benitez’s prediction was proved correct in a manner even he might not have expected with Agger not just producing a superlative defensive performance alongside Carragher in keeping Drogba, Lampard, Essien, Robben and the other world-class talent Mourinho’s side boasted at bay, but also scoring the vital goal which levelled the tie midway through the first half, meeting Steven Gerrard’s short free-kick from near the touchline with a sublime first-time left-footed effort from the edge of the penalty area which skimmed past Petr Cech and into the bottom corner before the Chelsea goalkeeper could react to equalise on aggregate and send the already-febrile Anfield atmosphere up another level.

Unlike the herculean backs-to-the-wall rearguard effort of two years earlier, Liverpool outplayed the soon-to-be-deposed back-to-back English champions and were unfortunate not to win the game on aggregate with Dirk Kuyt hitting the bar in the second half and having a goal incorrectly chalked off for offside in extra time before two Pepe Reina saves from Robben and Geremi decided the penalty shoot-out and sent the Reds to a second Champions league final in three seasons.

“It was a great feeling when I scored”, Agger admitted afterwards.

It is the same for everybody, for me, for Stevie, it is the same.”

Restored to the starting line-up by Dalglish and liberated like many of his team-mates by Hodgson’s departure, Agger began starting to show his best form again before a knee injury in an infuriating defeat at West Brom, who had appointed Hodgson as manager a month after his Anfield departure, brought the Dane’s season to a premature end but he was back in the starting 11 when the following campaign began and, despite continuing to pick up injuries which caused him to miss chunks of matches, was frequently preferred to the now 33-year-old Carragher as Martin Skrtel’s defensive partner which was the case at Wembley in February 2012 when the Dane finally won the first - and what proved to be the only - winner’s medal of his Liverpool career as the Reds beat second-tier Cardiff City on penalties to lift the League Cup, even if he was unable to complete the ninety minutes and didn't play again for another six weeks.

Dalglish’s men were chasing a domestic cup double and Agger - who opened the scoring in the FA Cup fourth round triumph over Manchester United at Anfield - was back in the side for the semi-final against Everton at Wembley where, despite being involved in a shocking defensive mix-up with Carragher which enabled Nikica Jelavic to give the Toffees a first-half lead, Andy Carroll’s 87th minute winner took Liverpool to a second cup final of the campaign.

The Dane would sign a new long-term deal in October 2012 and, with Jamie Carragher’s career winding down - the Bootle-born defender would retire at the end of the campaign - Agger featured regularly, making 39 appearances overall, his second highest total during his time on Merseyside.

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Agger was even awarded the vice-captaincy the following August following Carragher’s departure and the £18m signing of Paris Saint Germain’s 23-year-old French international defender Mamadou Sakho but, despite being part of three successive clean sheets as the Reds began what turned into an unlikely and extraordinary title-chasing season with a trio of single goal victories over Stoke, Aston Villa and Manchester United, the faultlines in the Dane’s relationship with the Liverpool manager began to open up after the first defeat of the campaign at home to Southampton in mid-September.

Looking back, if I knew how 2013-14 was going to pan out, I would have said the previous summer, ‘OK, I want to go to Barca’.”

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Despite their cross words at half time against Swansea, Agger kept his place for the next five matches which resulted in victories, the last of them - a 4-0 rout of Tottenham - putting the Reds top of the table with six matches left to play and suddenly in with a real chance of a sensational league title triumph with rivals Manchester City and Chelsea still to visit Anfield.
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