'Returning to Anfield will be very special... I'll always be grateful to LFC'
Southampton manager Mauricio Pellegrino acknowledges his return to Anfield on Saturday will be a special moment.
The Saints boss made 13 appearances for Liverpool as player during a five-month spell with the club in the Champions League-winning 2004-05 season.
Pellegrino later returned to Merseyside to work alongside Rafael Benitez as a first-team coach from 2008 for two years.
Now he will head back to Anfield in the opposition dugout when Liverpool take on Southampton on Saturday afternoon.
“It will be really, really special, and not just about football because I had been living there with my family, my children in the school, in the streets,” said the Pellegrino.
“It’s not just about football, it’s about the people and I have got good memories, I know the people that is working there. My only words is to be grateful.
“As a first experience in my life in England first of all as a player I think it was really good.
“I had good memories from this moment because we won the Champions League and I was in this group.
“After as a coach it was my first experience also to be in contact with professional players with Rafa Bentiez, and I can say I am really grateful for those days, for those times.”