Mamadou Sakho hopes move to Liverpool will reverse career slide

Mamadou Sakho, who could make his Liverpool debut at Swansea City today, hopes to repair a career that began to unravel on a chilly night in northwest France in January last year.

Sporting the captain's arm band for Paris Saint-Germain, Sakho conceded a penalty with a rash sliding challenge on an opposition forward in the 71st minute of a French Cup tie at Lorient's Stade du Moustoir.

Worse, PSG were playing Saint-Colomban Locmine, an amateur team from the French fifth tier, who promptly equalised from the resulting penalty.

Worse still, Sakho was making his first appearance under new coach Carlo Ancelotti, who had succeeded Antoine Kombouare just 10 days earlier.

Ancelotti took Sakho off almost immediately and although Diego Lugano spared PSG's blushes with an injury-time winner, it marked the beginning of a painful slide into obscurity for Sakho.

Initially, Ancelotti persevered with him but that April he lost his place in the side, telling sports daily L'Equipe he found his situation "maddening and frustrating".