Martin Skrtel looks unrecognisable and now plays ‘like Messi’ seven years after leaving Liverpool

Liverpool ECHO’s LFC head writer Ian Doyle spoke to ex-Reds defender Martin Skrtel in Singapore to chat about life at Anfield and after

For anyone who hasn’t seen Martin Skrtel in a while, the look of him might come as a shock.

Notorious for his aggressively shaved head during his playing days at Liverpool, the former defender walks into Singapore’s Ritz-Carlton hotel sporting a coiffure.

“It’s not fake!” He smiles. “A lot of people have now said that I don’t look as scary or ugly anymore, so I think I’ll keep it!”

However, this is nothing compared to how Skrtel now enjoys playing football. The former centre-back, who retired last year, is making good on his promise playing for local club FK Hajskala Raztocno. “You wouldn’t believe it, but now I’m the striker for them!” he tells ECHO. “Actually, I’m more of a Messi-like player in the sense that I go where I want. When I left my village at 15 to play professionally, I told my friends that one day, when I retire, I would go back to play with them again.

“And they remembered, so the last few years of my career they called me and said, ‘Stop it, we want to play you again!’ When I retired my fitness was clearly not the best, but I wanted to keep my promise, so I went back.

“It’s the lowest division in Slovakia, the level isn’t the best. In the first game I was central defender and I like to pass the ball from behind but there was nobody to pass to. So I said to the coach: ‘Maybe I should move to midfield and have a little more ball’. So I stayed there all season and scored a few goals. I like it because it’s different. You just played the game and had a few beers afterwards. That’s great!”

Skrtel, now 38, was among a group of former players invited to join Liverpool’s tour in Singapore. And he enjoyed seeing familiar faces again after leaving Jurgen Klopp in the summer of 2016 at the end of his first season as manager.

“Being part of the club again and seeing how happy the fans are to see me again is something special and an honor for me,” he said. “I am grateful for. Unfortunately I have only returned to Anfield three times since I left as I was always busy playing.

I’ve been back for two Legends games and also to perform there as we’re making a movie about my career. I was there to film some things. It’s always nice to come back. Now that I’m retired I have more free time and I hope to be able to come back more often”.

The Liverpool chapter of Skrtel’s film debut began when he joined Zenit St Petersburg for a £6.5m fee in January 2008. But while he knew there was an opportunity to move to Merseyside, it came as a surprise to the former Slovakian international that he was at Anfield.

“It’s a pretty funny story,” he says. “I’ve always dreamed of going to England and talked a lot about it with my agent. Just before signing for Liverpool, I played for Zenit in the UEFA Cup against Everton at the Goodison, and after the match there were rumors that Everton would have gone to me asked.

“At the time I wasn’t thinking about any particular club, I just wanted to go to England and tell my agent that if he could find something it would be great. “Then he called me and said we were going to England for talks with a club and in my mind I thought it was Everton. But when he then said it was Liverpool, I “I was shocked. I never dreamed of joining such a big club with so many great players. It was a great moment for me and my family and I’m very happy that it happened.”

Skrtel made over 300 appearances for the Reds, scoring in the 2012 League Cup final win over Cardiff City and being named Player of the Season in 2011/12. However, his first start for the club in the FA Cup against Havant & Waterlooville didn’t quite go to plan. “To be honest, the start of my career at Liverpool wasn’t the best,” he said, after conceding an own goal that afternoon. “I arrived as an unknown player without much experience and people may have had high expectations of me when I signed.

But I just tried to do my best and learn from my teammates and improve every day. At that time, Rafa Benitez helped me a lot, supporting me all the time and trying to make me more confident. After that my time at Liverpool got better and better.”

Skrtel is one of the few players to have played under five different managers at Liverpool. He started out at Benitez, worked with Roy Hodgson, Kenny Dalglish and Brendan Rodgers, and finally Jurgen Klopp. “Everyone was different,” she says. “Rafa brought me to the club, he was the first great manager I met, even though I was at Zenit with Dick Advocaat. When you work at Liverpool with Rafa Benitez, it’s a different thing. He taught me a lot, he spoke to me every day and tactically he gave me more than any other coach.

“When he left Roy Hodgson came in and had a different style but it was only a short time with him. Then it was Kenny, then Brendan and of course Jürgen, with whom I spent little time.

“I try to take something away from every manager I work with. They are all experienced managers and good people. I was very lucky to have them at Liverpool, they were always nice to me and tried to make me a better player.”

Skrtel, like Liverpool, were elusive for the Premier League title until they ended a 30-year championship wait in 2020. However, there were exciting title fights under Benitez in 2008/ 09 and Rodgers in 2013/14. “Every team is different, with different players and different styles of play,” says Skrtel. “I wouldn’t try to pick a better team out of the two. It’s just a shame we didn’t manage to win.

“In 2009 it was Torres, Alonso, Gerrard and Hyypia, but in 2014 it was Coutinho, Sturridge, Suarez, Sterling. If you put them together it could be the best team in the world!

The 2013/14 season saw Skrtel arguably his best game for Liverpool and one of Anfield’s most famous games of the Premier League era, the 5-1 win over Arsenal which saw the Reds lead 4 -0 in They also hit the post and missed two more big chances. “People always come up to me and talk about this game,” Skrtel says. “I actually had a conversation with an Arsenal fan about it this week.

“I had never scored two goals in a game before. We had a free kick down the left early on and Stevie (Gerrard) was about to shoot it and signaled he was going to shoot it in the space I ran into and shot. After 10 minutes we had a corner and I was like, ‘Well, it’s not against me because I’ve already shot’, but it happened and I fired again. It was crazy!

“You don’t score many goals as a defender so I was happy with every one of them. So this game was special in a special season. At this point Arsenal were ahead. We beat Tottenham 4- 0 at home and Everton 4-0 at home this year. It was a great season but unfortunately we couldn’t finish at the top.”

After leaving Liverpool, Skrtel spent most of the rest of his career in Turkey, first with Fenerbahce and then Basaksehir before spending a final season in Slovakia with Spartak Trnava. However, there was also a very brief stint in Italy where he soon realized that playing in a three-man defense was not his forte.

“Atalanta are a big club but I felt it was not the right choice and after three weeks I decided to cancel the contract,” explains Skrtel. “I just felt like moving there was the wrong decision. There were rumors of a falling out with the manager, but it wasn’t true. I went back to Turkey and won the league when from my first season with Basaksehir, so it worked well for me.

To this day, and Skrtel believes that while the Liverpool team has a new look, one aspect hasn’t changed. “We’re talking about Liverpool, one of the biggest teams in the world,” he says. “The goals should always be the highest for this season. But of course we know how competitive the Premier League is and it will never be easy with clubs like Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.

“But with the quality we have in the squad – new players have come in and some have left – I saw them here in Singapore against Leicester and they look strong. If the players can keep fit and the squad stays strong, it’s going Well”. It will be a long and hard season, I believe Liverpool can get back to where they belong.”