It was the semi-final of the Club World Championship, Liverpool were comfortably ahead with 15 minutes left, and I was screaming at my manager Rafa Benitez.

Three-nil up against Costa Rica’s Deportivo Saprissa, Rafa decided he wanted to give Sami Hyypia a rest.

“What are you doing?” I shouted at the touchline.

We were on the verge of achieving a club record 10th consecutive clean sheet, desperate to continue that momentum going into the final, and now my centre-back partner was being replaced by the not-so-defensive Luis Garcia.

We got through the rest of the game without conceding, but this memory of 2005 serves to underline what every Liverpool player felt then, and will be replicated when Jurgen Klopp’s side meet Flamengo this weekend. For those who never get the chance to play in a World Club Cup, the competition may mean little. For those who have qualified and make it, there is nothing more important when you are in the bubble trying to win and make club history. It matters. It matters a lot. We had everything in place to win and took it more seriously than the Liverpool teams who competed in 1981 and 1984.

Had we won, we would have celebrated like it was a major trophy. In my mind, it is. In fact, given the circumstances, it would have meant even more that year. Rafa’s father, Francesco, died just four days before the final and our manager was unable to return to Spain in time for the funeral.