Football
ESPN staff 8y

Ex-Liverpool winger Luis Garcia off to good start with Mariners in A-League

Former Liverpool attacker Luis Garcia had a promising debut for the Central Coast Mariners, despite his team's 2-1 loss to Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday.

Garcia came on for the last 30 minutes, providing the move that led to Fabio Ferreira's equaliser, before the visitors found a late winner through Brendon Santalab.

"I did what I know what to do and it's not that I tried something different, I just played the way I have always played," Garcia told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"It was easy because the guys around me work with the way I play. They are fast players, they run a lot and they are looking for the ball. For a player like me who likes to look for those spaces, it's very good for me."

The 37-year-old was playing in his first competitive match in more than 18 months, and his cameo appearance gave the home fans something to cheer about, having seen their club rock bottom of the A-League with only nine points after 16 games.

Despite admitting that he was "little bit" nervous about coming out of retirement to don the yellow jersey of the Mariners, the Spanish forward cannot wait to continue his Australian adventure.

"I feel good. It was only 30 minutes, and with one man less, it's not easy, but I think I did good work," he added. "It's like starting from the very beginning. But after I went on, I felt all right. The crowd were helping me so much since I arrived and it was east to start playing."

Having had his first taste of A-League action, Garcia reckons he has more to offer, and is ready to stake a claim for a starting berth with immediate effect, to help his team's battle at the foot of the table.

"Hopefully I should be able to, even without playing a lot of time," he said. "We spoke with the coach [Tony Walmsley] and it's not going to be easy to have a lot of minutes. But there's not many games left, so we cannot wait a month and a half."

The Mariners' next game will be away to Wellington Phoenix on Saturday.

^ Back to Top ^