As Liverpool prepare to lock horns with Atletico Madrid once again, clashes between the two sides will always prompt memories of the players who have turned out for both clubs.
How can it not when Luis Suarez is currently preparing to return to Anfield and Atleti’s favourite son, Fernando Torres, became one of the planet’s greatest strikers after trading the La Liga outfit for the Reds in 2007?
Of course they are not the only double agents that might come to mind. Maxi Rodriguez and Luis Garcia completed direct transfers between the two clubs, while Florent Sinama-Pongolle, Emiliano Insua and Javier Manquillo also boast both Liverpool and Atletico on their CVs.
But there is another former Red to have been on the books of both clubs, even if his transfer from Anfield to Atletico is one of the more curious in Liverpool’s recent history.
Having joined Liverpool from Barcelona in the summer of 2007, when just 16 years old, Dani Pacheco might not have been the record signing that compatriot Torres was but his move to Merseyside did not come without plenty of expectation.
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And while the highly-rated wonderkid never quite delivered on his early potential at Anfield, such hype did earn him a switch to Atletico on loan in the summer of 2011.
But in a bizarre twist that is virtually unheard of on these shores, Atleti then loaned the forward out themselves to Rayo Vallecano without him ever making an appearance.
“I think the papers didn’t understand the deal very well and didn’t explain it well what we did,” Pacheco admitted in an exclusive interview with the ECHO.
“What we did, because my agent was very close to Atletico because of Fernando, Atletico had an interest in watching me play for a season in La Liga to see what I could do.
“If I did well, they would sign me in the future. So what they did is they paid half of my salary that season and they sent me to play for Rayo Vallecano.
“So I played for Vallecano and after this season I could join Atletico if they decided to sign me.
“I didn’t play a lot and didn’t have a good season for Vallecano so things didn’t go well and Atletico decided not to sign me.”
The switch to Atletico was neither Pacheco’s first nor last attempt to depart Liverpool, with the Spaniard realising he would be wise to move on following Rafa Benitez ’s own exit in 2010.
Top scorer at that year’s U19s UEFA European Championships, Real Sociedad were keen to sign the forward only for the Reds to resist their advances, with a certain Antoine Griezmann instead enjoying a breakout season in his place as they won promotion to La Liga.
Handed a new contract and squad number to stay at Anfield, Pacheco admits it was a difficult time at Liverpool as he explained his desire to leave.
“It was difficult and there were massive changes. I have to say what I think,” he says of Benitez’s departure. “After this happened, all the Spanish people around the club could feel we were not as welcome at the club.
“Not everyone, of course. If your level is top, obviously you will play in the team but I feel that little push that we had with Rafa we didn’t have anymore. Roy Hodgson bought players that he knew. When you go away from your country, you want to bring people from your own country because you know them, you have the same language and you know what they can do.
“So after this it was more difficult for the Spanish players to be in the first team and get opportunities. We lost the little weekly talks with Rafa, the advice and didn’t have this kind of help that you need when you are 18 or 19 and you are close to the first team and you are very close to making the final step.”
He continued: “It was difficult and I knew at that time it was going to be difficult. At the time, I played in the Under-19s European Championships. I ended the tournament as top scorer and I played really well.
“I had big interest from Real Sociedad. They had been relegated to the second division in Spain but had a big budget to go up again. They actually went up.
“I wanted to leave, I wanted to go because I knew without Rafa it was going to be more difficult but Liverpool and the sporting director wanted me to stay. He told me to sign a new contract and told me I was going to be in the first team.
“They gave me a new number and I did start to play a little in the qualifying rounds for the Europa League but, to be honest, we were missing a lot of players from the first team because they played with their national teams so they had more time on holidays and were not back at Liverpool yet.
“It was a difficult time because I was playing but I knew when all the first team players were together at Liverpool, it was going to be difficult for me.
“And that’s what happened in September and October. I didn’t play anymore and had three months without any games. That’s why I wanted to leave in January.”
Yet when January came, Pacheco would again fail to get his move away and this time his team-mate Torres was to blame.
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“We had the Under-20s World Cup and the manager of Spain, I remember he called me and he told me he wanted to bring me to the national team but I would need to play more games,” the Spaniard recalled. “I wanted to leave on loan because I wanted to join the national team for the World Cup.
“I was very close to Fernando’s transfer (to Chelsea) because we share the same agents. I remember they were in Liverpool for a week because this move didn’t happen in one day.
“They had to fight a lot to make the transfer. I remember they were in the city and they were at Melwood and I was trying to talk to them because I wanted to leave on loan.
“I couldn’t talk to them because they were so busy with Fernando. In the end, he left and I couldn’t go in the January transfer window because they were very busy until the last day with Fernando. They were difficult days for me.”
Fortunately for Pacheco, the Football League loan market was still open and he belatedly departed for Norwich City. He would end the season winning promotion with the Canaries as Championship champions.
“In March I had the opportunity to go to the Championship because in England you could move to a lower league on loan even when the window was closed,” he said.
“I was in a time when I wasn’t playing with the first team or the reserves. I know we had a conversation and they told me to go and play and show my quality in the Championship.
“I was losing time on the pitch so I decided to go on loan to Norwich. I was told that Norwich were an English team with a different style of football as they liked to play attacking football with the ball. So I decided to go.
“I didn’t know anything about Norwich, I didn’t even know where it was on the map. I had a very, very good time. I arrived on a Thursday or Friday and started the game on Saturday. It gave me a lot of confidence, to play in front of 30,000 people and to have a good game. I made two assists and started my loan well and we went on to win promotion.”
It would be the first promotion of Pacheco’s career but would not be the last, with the Spaniard going on to win promotion to La Liga in three successive seasons with three different clubs after the forward left Liverpool permanently.
Despite his Liverpool career not working out as he would have hoped, the forward left with a heavy heart when cancelling his contract early in the summer of 2013, following his return from a loan move to Huesca.
“When I went to Huesca, my target was to play well and to show my abilities again in Spain to try and move to another team for the next season, one of the best in the second division or maybe try and go to La Liga,” he said.
“I had a good time. I scored five goals and set up a few more in my half a season. I played a lot of games and played nearly every single minute.
“At the end of this season, I had one more year on my Liverpool contract but we decided to finish the contract so I could go back to Spain.
“I appreciate a lot what Liverpool did for me. They changed my life. I joined Liverpool when I was a kid and I said this in my letter I wrote to fans when I left.
“I joined the club as a kid and I left the club as a man. I was a professional and an adult. I grew up a lot and only have good things to say about Liverpool.”
While Pacheco might have spent the latter years of his Liverpool career chasing a move away from the club, he did not have to think twice when it came to joining the Reds from Barcelona in 2007.
And he believes he has one current Liverpool player, and his own former team-mate, to inadvertently thank for his move to Anfield.
“It was very, very quick,” Pacheco said of the transfer. “I played a season with the Under-16s in Barcelona. We ended the league as champions and after the league, you have the final as a cup and for this game we played Espanyol.
“Someone told me that Liverpool were coming to watch the game but they didn’t tell me they were coming to watch me. I think they came to watch Thiago because he played with me in the same team and he was our best player, so I didn’t feel pressure for this game. I knew they were coming to look at Thiago.
“We won 4-1 and I scored three goals. This is only my thoughts, I don’t know exactly, but I think they tried to sign Thiago. Barcelona would never let Thiago go at this time so they went for me. That’s what I think and this is my thinking for all this time.”
He continued: “My decision was done, when Liverpool came to me. I said yes straight away but Rafa rung me and it was good to hear the first team manager talking to me about coming to Liverpool and the plans for the future.
“He knew me, he showed interest and told me he had watched a few games of me. It was good for me to go straight to the second team, to the reserves. It was a big step for me.
“In Spain, normally you go to the Under-18s and the Under-19s then you join the second team, the reserves. But in Liverpool, I went straight to the reserves when only 16 years old. I grew up a lot and had better experience, playing with older players, and it was good for me.”
Since leaving Liverpool permanently, Pacheco has played for Alcorcon, Real Betis, Alaves, Getafe, Malaga and Logrones back in his native Spain.
But this summer he decided to sample something new, leaving his homeland for the second time following his initial move to Liverpool in 2007.
Now plying his trade in Cyprus with Aris Limassol after joining the club in August, the forward has scored once from six appearances so far and is dreaming big for the year ahead.
“When I joined Malaga, my city, I had a long injury so it was a difficult season for me. After this season, I decided to come to Cyprus," Pacheco said.
“I’m really excited to be with Aris. It is a team that is going places. They have a big budget, they have a big history and now they want to be in the top six.
“We’ve started really well, hopefully we can fight to qualify for Europe next season.”
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