The Liverpool sides of the past 10 years or so are some of the greatest to have been assembled at Anfield.

With the Reds having won just about everything they could under Jurgen Klopp, those to have worn the shirt will be remembered long into the future.

And with Liverpool looking set to win the Premier League and perhaps even more trophies besides under Arne Slot, they are far from finished yet.

Nevertheless, as good as these teams are and have been, Liverpool’s history is filled with XI’s who could give them a game.

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One which perhaps did not quite win the trophies it deserved was Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool of the mid-to-late 2000’s.

Xabi Alonso was a key cog in that side, and despite being similarly important to Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and even the all-conquering Spanish national team, Alonso once said Benitez’s Liverpool did something better than all of them.

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Alonso did win the Champions League with Liverpool during his – and Benitez’s – first season in 2005.

Instead, they fell short in the Champions League final in 2007 and lost the Premier League by four points in 2009.

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Alonso knew they should have had much more.

And while speaking to The Guardian‘s Simon Hughes for a book in 2016, he claimed that the spine of the 2009 Liverpool team was the best he’d ever played in.

“To win the league you need to have everything,” said Alonso.

Very, very determined and committed.”

It is a real compliment to those players and the Liverpool team of the time that seven years on from playing in it, Alonso still regarded them so highly.

At the time the Spaniard was a year or so away from his retirement and as a result had pretty much his whole career to look back on.

“In 2007, we lost the Champions League final with a better team and a more convincing performance.

But that a Liverpool team containing Reina, Carragher, Agger, Alonso, Mascherano, Gerrard and Torres never won anything will forever remain a mystery.