FOR five years he was a Saints talisman and rarely missed a match.
But now Rickie Lambert has missed out on arguably the biggest game of his career after he was left out of the Liverpool squad to face Real Madrid.
The striker left Saints for his boyhood club for around £4m in the summer, with the opportunity to play in the Champions League another major factor for his departure.
And Lambert is still to score a competitive goal for Liverpool although his game time has been limited to frequent substitute appearances.
Manager Brendan Rodgers preferred to start Fabio Borini for the game at the Bernebeu, also resting key players such as Raheem Sterling, Mario Balotelli and Steven Gerrard, although all three made the bench.
Lambert scored 117 goals in 235 games for Saints across League One, the Championship and the Premiership.
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