The Liverpool defender also lifted the lid on success behind the 2024-25 Premier League title triumph.
Kostas Tsimikas has insisted that Liverpool’s squad ‘have never discussed’ the accusations surrounding Manchester City.
In February 2023, City were charged by the Premier League for 115 breaches of alleged financial rules between 2009-2018. After a takeover by Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, City propelled themselves to a European giant having won the Premier League title eight times along with the Champions League. In 2014, Liverpool finished second to the Etihad Stadium club which is in the midst of the accusations, while Jurgen Klopp’s men finished a point behind City in 2022 when Tsimikas was a Reds player.
A hearing into the charges began last September but there is still to be an outcome from the independent commission. However, Tsimikas has declared that he does not care and only concentrates on what he can dictate.
What’s been said
Speaking to Greek outlet Sport24, Tsimikas - who helped Liverpool win the Premier League title in 2024-25 - said: “I have played 115 games with the Liverpool shirt, 115 categories and City. I had never thought about it. The players have never discussed City and the accusations, I don't even know what they've done, what they're accused of, I don't care.
“All I care about as a person and as a footballer is waking up happy in the morning and going to bed happy at night. I think this is the most important thing a person can have in their life.
“To wake up in the morning, go to a healthy environment, work hard, do your training, and when you leave each day, say that ‘I gave it my all, that I am better than I was yesterday’ and to sleep at night just as happy, without leaving anything behind.
“This is the most important thing and this is what I experienced these five years here. Easy to say, hard to do, you have to be good to yourself. Here I became a man, in Liverpool I found my soul. In a championship like that, you become a man.
“Because first of all, you have to think every day that you are at the best level, that you have to play with the best footballers. You have to be mentally strong to be able to face any disappointment that may come and at the same time be strong in the face of ‘tomorrow I might play, tomorrow I might not play, I might be a starter, I might be in the 89th’. It's a very fine line, I have to be ready for 90 minutes and for the possibility of not playing at all. Ready for every procedure, for every scenario.”
‘We were missing something’
Tsimikas joined Liverpool from Olympiacos in 2020. He was part of the team that won the Carabao Cup and FA Cup in 2021-22 - with Tsimikas netting the winning penalty against Chelsea in the latter - as well as finishing runners-up in the Premier League and Champions League.
Liverpool’s title triumph in the most recent campaign came unexpectedly. Jurgen Klopp has departed as manager and was replaced by the relatively unheralded Arne Slot from Feyenoord. But Slot masterminded the Reds’ 20th English championship, drawing the club level with Manchester United. Tsimikas believes that Slot’s new ideas gave Liverpool ‘extra motivation’.
He added: “If I go back five years, that's why I came to such a team, to such a championship, to win something that no one had done before. I am very happy, because the Premier League was one of the main goals I had, along with the Champions League, from the first day I was here.
“I can't describe how I feel. I think about all the hard work I put in on the field, the games I played. All this time I've been in Liverpool has made me a man. Now I'm 29, I feel small when I came here, I see things from above.
“It's every footballer's dream to win trophies, at the end of the day that's what will remain, the trophies and what you've achieved. So yes, I'm very happy Look, and in 2023 when we lost it by one point, we were 13-14 points behind. Even then, no one believed that we could claim it or take it.
“We won both cups, we wanted the third and fourth trophy, but it didn't work out for us, we reached the last round of the championship and lost the final to Real Madrid, it was tough. This year was a very difficult season. Nobody believed in us, because apart from Chiesa we didn't get any other players and last year wasn't that good, we couldn't endure to do well until the end.
“I think that's why no one believed us, but we had a different opinion. We showed that there was a lot of talent in the team, but something was wrong in previous years. But Slot came along, with new ideas and tactics, he gave us the extra motivation we needed to win the championship. irst of all, all the players wanted it very much. We wanted it very much from the beginning, hard work from the beginning. I remember from the first days of preparation until the end, until today, all the training sessions were top level and very, very difficult.
“We were missing something and the new coach gave it to us. It gave us extra motivation, it gave us strength, it gave us freshness, new ideas, tactics, all of that, a completely different approach to the game. So, with the talent we had and all that together, we reached the title. There was and is a lot of great talent on the team.”
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