Roberto Firmino made his 300th Liverpool appearance in October 2021 – but finding other foreign players who’ve done the same is harder than you’d think.
While homegrown legends such as Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher have achieved the milestone with ease, there have only been a select few non-British players to have done the same.
We’ve identified the six players, including Firmino, who came from overseas and made over 300 Liverpool appearances in the Premier League era.
Sami Hyypia
The signing of Hyypia for just £2.6million from Willem II in 1999 has gone down as one of the biggest bargains in Liverpool’s history.
Over the next 10 seasons, the centre-back proved himself to be an invaluable member of the Liverpool team.
He was a fearless leader, an excellent reader of the ball, and had a knack for timing his tackles to perfection – qualities that helped Liverpool win 10 trophies during his spell at Anfield.
Hyypia ended up making 464 appearances for the club before moving to Bayer Leverkusen in 2009. It arguably took until the arrival of Virgil van Dijk for Liverpool to replace him.
READ: A tribute to Sami Hyypia and one of Liverpool’s best ever bargain buys
John Arne Riise
He came. He saw. He hit the ball bloody hard into the net.
Riise became a Liverpool legend after joining from Monaco in 2001. It helped he possessed a foot like a traction engine – one effort, against the hated Manchester United, was clocked at 70mph as it flew past Fabian Barthez.
Mistakes such as missing in the shootout in Istanbul and scoring a fatal own goal against Chelsea in 2008 were minor blips during the Norway international’s 348 appearances and Riise has become the epitome of a cult figure at Anfield.
Pepe Reina
Replacing Jerzy Dudek immediately after his Istanbul heroics was a big shout, but Reina’s performances for Liverpool demonstrated that Benitez had made the right call.
Signing from Villarreal, the goalkeeper went on to keep 134 clean sheets in 285 Premier League appearances for the club and made three crucial penalty saves in the 2006 FA Cup final victory over West Ham.
Alisson may be the superior goalkeeper but Reina will always have a place in the heart of Liverpool supporters.
Just look at his celebration against Manchester United in 2009. He just got the club.
🇪🇸 | 𝑶𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒚 in 2005, Liverpool signed Pepe Reina!
Who remembers this 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒚 celebration! 😍
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