For the European Cup home leg in 1965 against Inter Milan, Ronnie Moran, who was at the end of his playing career, was brought in at left-back to replace Gerry Byrne, who had broken his collarbone in the FA Cup Final. Ronnie was up against Jair, lightning fast and tricky Brazilian winger.
From the kick-off, Jair pissed past Ronnie as if he wasn't there and our hearts sank. But that was the only time it happened. As the game progressed, Jair ended up in Ronnie's pocket, through Ronnie's experience and reading of the game.
At University I was friends with Brian Hall, who was then playing for Liverpool Reserves as an amateur. At that time Ronnie was player/coach for the reserves. In a training game, Brian kept pushing the ball in front of Ronnie for him to run on to. Eventually Ronnie came over to Brian.
"Listen lad," he said. "In the reserves, you play the ball TO the man, not in front of him." 🙂