Markus Babbel rejected the chance to join a European supergiant in favour of Liverpool, but his career did not go according to plan.
Markus Babbel’s career had its ups and downs and this pattern began early into his playing days. The defender came through the Bayern Munich academy, but only remained for one year of senior football before joining Hamburg. However, he returned to Bayern just two years later, where he made 167 starts.
Babbel attracted interest from Manchester United, but it was Real Madrid who looked most likely to seal a deal for the Germany international.
“Yeah, yeah, Real Madrid wanted me,” Babbel told Liverpool ECHO on behalf of NewBettingSites.uk. “And it was a funny story because there was an agent there.
“He said: ‘Listen, tomorrow I will bring you a $1m if you’re not going somewhere else, if you sign for Real Madrid. And I said: ‘Oh, thank you very much, but Real Madrid is not my club’.
Despite growing up in Munich, Babbel was always fond of Barcelona, which prevented him from ever considering joining Real Madrid.
He continued: “If I go to Spain, then the only team I would sign for is Barcelona, because I am a massive Barcelona supporter and Real Madrid wasn’t ever my club and my team. They have the best players, but this is not my club.
“And, the funny thing is, I was on the way to Liverpool to sign the new contract. 6am in the morning and on the radio, the news came: ‘Spectacular, Markus Babbel is signing for Real Madrid!’
“And I was on the way to Manchester, and driving over to Liverpool to sign the contract. That was a bit funny, yeah!”
Babbel instead joined Liverpool and he got off to a flying start at Anfield, starting 60 of the club’s matches in his first season as he bagged six goals and five assists. This included a goal in the UEFA Cup final, an assist in the FA Cup final and a last minute winner in the Merseyside derby.
However, Babbel was later diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome after being completely out of breath when he was subbed at half time against West Ham and Bolton Wanderers. This autoimmune disorder can be paralysing and it left the Liverpool star wheelchair-bound.
Babbel sensationally returned to the pitch in August 2002, but he looked a shadow of his former self. This was not the player’s only problem, as he fell out with his manager Gerard Houllier. Babbel removed his shirt after being hooked before half time in a December victory over Aston Villa, which would go on to be his final Liverpool first-team appearance.
The defender did play for the reserves team, but he was sent off twice, causing Houllier to publicly criticise him. The Liverpool boss slammed Babbel’s attitude, fined him two weeks’ wages and said he no longer had a future at the club.
Babbel has opened up about how he regrets the way he behaved and revealed his illness was what started his downward spiral.
He said: “Yeah [I have regrets] but this is part of my life now. You know, of course, I was a bit sad because after this fantastic first season.
“I always say, okay, this illness happened, you know, I can’t change it anymore. And it was a bad period. The only thing that I sometimes think, if this illness would come, a year later, you know, that I could play a second year for Liverpool. But it’s happened, you know, and to be fair, after this illness, I wasn’t the same person as before.
“I don’t know, maybe in England, it’s the same. In Germany. You say that the most important thing is the health, but you just say it, you know?
Babbel’s illness went beyond physical problems, as it caused him to decline mentally and look for coping mechanisms which hindered his career.
“But I was in a bad period,” he continued “And I really was lying on the bed and I was thinking: ‘I give all my money back. I give all my titles back. The most important thing, I hope I get healthy again’.
“And, I had the luck to get past the bad illness. But I wasn’t the same person as before because I got divorced so my wife left England, my kids left England. So I was alone there and something happened in my head. I wasn’t normal anymore, you know, I went out a lot. I was drinking a lot. I wasn’t professional anymore.
“My lifestyle didn’t fix to a professional footballer. And, that was the reason why I had to leave this club. To go back to Germany first. I had more friends in Germany. My family is in Germany. So that was much easier to come back to the normal Markus than I was in this time after my illness in England.”
Babbel was loaned out to Blackburn Rovers before departing Liverpool for Stuttgart in 2004. He spent three years at the Bundesliga club before beginning his coaching career there as the assistant manager and later the manager.
His last managerial position was at Western Sydney Wanderers from 2018 to 2020.
