Saturday 18 April 2015 14:52, UK
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is desperate to win his first trophy at Anfield even though he feels he has already secured his most important one.
Rodgers takes his side to Wembley on Sunday for an FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa with the Reds looking to end a three-year wait to reach a final.
But the Irishman says his biggest day was, and always will be, taking Swansea City into the Premier League at the end of the 2010-11 season.
He said: "Swansea's play-off final was the biggest game for me and always will be so it is not about pipping it - it would be exactly the same if we were to get to a Champions League final.
"I'd only been a manager a short time and I will always say it was my biggest game because it is a life-changing game.
"There are more prestigious games in football in terms of trophies but the play-off final, in terms of career and life and where it projects you to, is a big game.
"That game will always be the biggest game in my career but this game will be something different."
Despite that revelation Rodgers is keen to break his trophy duck at Anfield, a campaign that starts against a Villa side resurgent since Tim Sherwood took over from Paul Lambert.
"We want to send the supporters home happy after arriving in another final," Rodgers added. "To win a trophy here with Liverpool is something very important.
"No matter what era you are in you will always be judged on trophies. We have made steps and we want to continue that by winning trophies.
"Hopefully, I'll be judged on my time here - however long that is - on that we've worked well and a part of that will be having won trophies."
Liverpool narrowly missed out on a League Cup final appearance after losing to eventual winners Chelsea in a two-legged semi-final in January, and Rodgers hopes lessons have been learned from that.
"The players performed very well under pressure over the two games, and I think we were very unfortunate not to make the final," Rodgers continued.
"What we have learned is that we want to play well and win. We have been fairly good at that but it will be about getting through. We want to concentrate on performance.
"But the learning taken from those two games is that we want to get through so even if we don't play as well and get through, that's what's important in cup competitions. You have to seize the moment. It's not a final, but it's a semi-final with an opportunity to come back.
"It is games like that where you write your name in the stars as a player, the big games. You want to make the big contribution and the big goals. If you want to be renowned as a top player, then you produce in the big games and that's what the good players will do.
"You can't take it for granted. You just never know in your life, and professional sport, when the opportunities arise again. So when it comes you have got to be ready to take it and that's something that I know the players are waiting and ready for."
