Mamadou Sakho was a cult hero during his time with Liverpool, but that did not stop him from leaving under a cloud after finding himself on the wrong side of Jurgen Klopp. The France international was infamously bombed out by the German after being sent home from the Reds’ pre-season tour of the United States for disciplinary reasons in the summer of 2016.

He never played for the club again. Frozen out for the first half of the campaign, he was demoted to train with Liverpool Under-23s before signing for Crystal Palace on loan in January 2017.

The Eagles later signed Sakho permanently for £26m on summer transfer deadline day after the Reds compromised on their original £30m asking fee.

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Years later, there still remains an air of intrigue around how the Frenchman’s Anfield departure actually unfolded, with his demotion coming straight off the heels of the defender being exonerated from allegedly violating UEFA’s anti-doping rules.

But despite how his Liverpool career ended, that does little to alter Sakho’s affection for his former side eight years on from his final departure.

The 35-year-old joined the Reds from his boyhood side, Paris Saint-Germain, in an £18m deal in September 2013 and made 80 appearances during his time at Anfield. Meanwhile, he made 201 appearances in six years for PSG prior to his switch to Anfield.

Sakho’s former clubs face off in the Champions League round-of-16 this week, with the first leg taking place at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday. And the Frenchman admits, such is his affection for both Liverpool and PSG, he is unable to back one side over the other when previewing the tie.

"In a playlist, I put Ô Ville Lumière and You'll Never Walk Alone next to each other,” he told Le Parisien. “I don't choose one over the other.

“When I hear the first, I see myself at the Parc des Princes and when I hear the second, I am at Anfield. They are the same thrills. I don't compare them, I take them both.

"PSG has built a collective that is gaining momentum despite all the criticism heard at the start of the season. We can clearly see that coach Luis Enrique had a vision.

“Honestly, it's really 50-50 between the two and a pleasure to watch. Everything can be decided by an acceleration from Dembele, Barcola or Salah. Or an overflow from Hakimi or Alexander-Arnold. And the difference is perhaps also the crowd who can make it.

“The atmosphere at the Parc des Princes is also special. Liverpool's players will have to be ready to resist it.

“And conversely, I already know that the Parisians will remember the return match in Liverpool. Whether they win or lose. Because a match there remains a unique experience. When you play there, you don't forget it.

“The winner of this match won't be the only favourite for the final victory, but it will be remembered by everyone. And my heart won't lean to one side. I'll feel as red as blue."

Sakho might be a boyhood PSG fan, but he reveals that Liverpool were his second team long before his move to Anfield with such an allegiance playing a part in his decision to leave the Ligue 1 outfit for the Reds.

“I knew Anfield as an adult,” he said. “The words that come to mind when I think of this stadium are: love of the jersey and history. Already, the stands are close to the pitch.

“There, you feel what it means: the twelfth man. It’s really a mythical and special arena. In fact, it’s as if there was a special gas in the atmosphere that makes anything happen and nothing is impossible.

“I wasn’t surprised when I arrived because, when I played in Paris, Liverpool was my favourite English team. I loved that club. In fact, in my head, after PSG, there was also Liverpool.

“I knew that this club had a long history and that impressed me. For a player, it’s necessarily exciting to be part of such a club.”

Sakho’s finest hour for Liverpool arguably came in one of his final outings for the club, when scoring in their historic comeback victory over Borussia Dortmund at Anfield. He’d go viral following the match, cementing his place in supporters’ hearts in the process, gate-crashing Dejan Lovren and Divock Origi’s post-match interview and sharing his love for ‘Liverpool country’.

And now explaining the differences between Paris, Liverpool and their love of football, his choice of phrase is something he still stands by.

“Paris is a capital with many other things than a football club,” he explained. “Liverpool is a city where football is really the only thing that matters.

“Paris is a little less of a football city because it is made up of inhabitants who are not all from the city, the identity is necessarily a little less strong.

“Liverpool, it’s in their culture, in their blood. It’s tradition. We can compare it to Naples, for example, where football is also a passion.

"Liverpool is a big village. Children were born there, grandparents still live there. So that you understand, there are lots of places in the Kop that are passed down from generation to generation. They are passed down from grandfather to grandson.

“It is really a family tradition. So it is necessarily different from Paris. Anfield is therefore a village like Liverpool. I, by the way, talk about Liverpool country.”