Theres nothing too strange with a club signing a back-up keeper - every side does this. What was a bit odd about Real Madrid signing Polish keeper Jerzy Dudek was that the move directly contradicted everything he had been moaning about while stewing on the Anfield bench for the previous two seasons. Ever since those heroics in Istanbul, Dudek had been ruthlessly relegated to second-choice as Pepe Reina had been drafted in from Villareal, and by the summer of 2007, he had become well and truly fed up with it.
''If you play one game every two months, it is really, really difficult to show your quality. As a goalkeeper, you can use experience but you cant build confidence in training. I have to tell Rafa Im leaving because maybe hes not aware of it. When a player knows he is a slave, hell never give his employer his heart. - Jerzy Dudek, April 2007.
However, having repeatedly stressed his need for first-team football, he instead traded the bench at Anfield for the one at the Bernabeu. He would spend the remaining four years of his career at Real Madrid, where he made just two league appearances. Since that incredible performance in Istanbul, Dudek spent a total of six years on the bench - he might as well have just retired immediately after that penalty save from Andriy Shevchenko.
Recent Journalism & New Media graduate. Insatiable thirst for all things football, and hopes to break into the field of sports journalism in the near future.
Have made a significantly insignificant playing career out of receiving several slaps around the head for not passing the ball.
