Liverpool veteran defender Joel Matip has confirmed his retirement from football

Liverpool, October 12 (IANS): Former Liverpool defender Joel Matip confirmed his retirement from football on Saturday. The centre-back left the Reds in the summer after an eight-year spell with 201 appearances and several major honors at the club.

Signed on a free transfer from Schalke 04 in 2016, Matip was a key figure during Jurgen Klopp’s reign as manager. He helped secure a return to Champions League football and shone in the build-up to victory in the 2019 competition – including an assist for Divock Origi in the final against Tottenham Hotspur.

Matip featured in Liverpool’s role in adding the UEFA Super Cup and was involved in nine Premier League games in 2019/20 as Klopp’s side emphatically ended the club’s 30-year wait to to be crowned English champions again.

After a long-term injury curtailed his 2020/21 season, the former Cameroon international returned to his top form as the Reds completed a four-way bid the following season.

Matip played 43 games that season, his most in a single season for the club, and appeared in both finals when the Carabao Cup and FA Cup were won at Wembley, while he and his teammates also finished second in the top flight. flight and Champions League.

He remained a key member of the squad in 2022/23 and early 2023/24, but a brutal anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered last December prevented him from playing for the club again.

Matip and supporters said goodbye at Anfield on the final day of last season, just before the expiry of his contract, and he has now confirmed that his playing career is over.

In international football, Matip played 27 matches and scored once for Cameroon, with whom he played at the World Cup in 2010 and 2014.