Dirk Kuyt was part of a fantastic Liverpool side during his time at Anfield, almost winning the Premier League title back in 2008/09.
It was a team that contained a world-class spine of Pepe Reina, Jamie Carragher, Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, not to mention the likes of Fabio Aurelio, Yossi Benayoun and Kuyt thrown in, too.
Despite Rafa Benitez’s outfit being much-loved by Liverpool supporters, it is now being eclipsed by the current batch of Reds stars.
Speaking to LiverpoolFC.com, Kuyt admits Jurgen Klopp’s Champions League winners are simply better than the side he played in:
We were very close to success. We just missed a small detail to go one step further.
With the likes of Stevie and Carra, Mascherano, Torres and many other very good players, we just missed a little something.
If you see the build-up of the team of Klopp, you see it progressing every time and it looks like it’s now coming to success also in the Premier League. We were a particular team like that, only we couldn’t go one step further at that time.
Hopefully this team will do it because, in my opinion, this team now on the pitch is even better than ours.
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As good as that 2008/09 team was, it was nowhere near as formidable as the one Klopp has built.
There is world-class quality all over the pitch now, whether it be at full-back, centre-back or in the front-three.
They are European champions – something Benitez’s men never achieved – and are now the favourites to win the Premier League title this season.
The 2008/09 group should always be cherished, but they have been comfortably usurped as Liverpool’s best side of the last 25 years.
