Interview'Liverpool v Real Madrid, two huge giants - it was a dream come true for me'

The Reds and the Spanish outfit lock horns again on Tuesday night at Anfield for matchday four of the Champions League's league phase.

Frequent opponents in recent years, they actually had little history when paired against each other in the tournament's last-16 phase back in 2009.

In fact, the return leg in L4 was just their third encounter.

Already 1-0 up on aggregate from their trip to the Santiago Bernabeu, Rafael Benitez's team were a juggernaut on home soil.

Fernando Torres scored with 16 minutes on the clock and Steven Gerrard helped himself to two goals either side of half-time.

Andrea Dossena put the seal on a 4-0 victory and an iconic European occasion near the end.

Amid it all, Spearing - brought on from the bench midway through the second half - lived out his own fairy tale.

"Anfield debut, an unbelievable occasion for me and my family," he recalled in an interview with Liverpoolfc.com.

"I joined the club at seven. And to come and make a debut at Anfield, not a first experience of it but the first time on the pitch in a competitive game, [for it] to be against the giants of Real Madrid, you can't quite top it and it was a dream come true.

"They are two monster clubs and I knew exactly who I played for, Liverpool Football Club and what comes with the weight of the badge.

"Playing against Real Madrid, the history of that club, and two giants in European football. To have them here and to have an opportunity at 18, 19 years old to be involved in that fixture, that alone was a bonus for me. Finding out I was involved in the squad, I'd have taken that all day, maybe not even make an appearance on the pitch.

"But for the manager to give me 25 minutes and be able to play in front of the Kop and for the Kop to sing my name, the whole dream as a young boy as a Liverpool fan was made on that night."

Tuesday's showdown will be the 13th clash of the clubs, who boast six and 15 European Cup triumphs respectively.

In edition No.12, Arne Slot's men got the better of Real when they faced off at Anfield almost 12 months ago in the competition.

"For me, it comes down to a one-off game," said Spearing. "The atmosphere of a Champions League night here, Liverpool against Real Madrid - world-class players, by the way, on both teams.

"It's one of those ones where all form goes out the window, for me. It's just on the night who performs the best, who gets the better of your one-on-one battles, your team battles, your tactics, your set-pieces. And I think it just comes down to the night.

"They are two huge giants in the world of football. It's an exciting game and one that Liverpool have all right to come out with three points."

Spearing - now a coach at the Reds' Academy - went on to total 55 senior appearances in the shirt.

Twenty-four of those were runouts at Anfield, and he underscored the impact the home crowd can have upon what unfolds on the pitch.

"Of course it does," he said. "In my debut in 2009, we didn't have the Main Stand the way it looks, we didn't have the [expanded] Anfield Road - we've gone up 15-16,000 in capacity. That night in front of 44,000 was incredible.

"Real Madrid fans will bring an atmosphere but the Liverpool fans will make it electric and the players will respond off that.

"Any fixture that's here at Anfield, the fans get behind them. The atmosphere, the players get lifted by that and they respond to the fans. You want them to support you, you want the first tackle, the header. You want the cheers, you want the roar, you want the songs for the players.

"As a player, it gives you an unbelievable amount of confidence to know you have the backing from the fans. And in difficult moments, when they get behind you even more so, it makes you feel like a man mountain.

"It brings you up. It makes you want to win that tackle, it makes you want to win everything, it makes you want to win games of football. So, they are a crucial part and hopefully they can bring it."