Ex-Liverpool player Djibril Cisse retires from professional football

Ex-Liverpool and French international Djibril Cisse is retiring from football.

The 35-year-old former striker had made an attempt to return to the game after continuing hip problems halted his career in late 2015. After going under the knife, Cisse featured for Bastia at the end of the 2014/15 campaign. This season he returned to his first club Auxerre, but today he has decided to hang up his boots, calling time on a career spanning the best part of 20 years. https://twitter.com/DjibrilCisse/status/828651292490944514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw The footballer is best known in this country for his time at Liverpool between 2004 and 2007, in which he picked up a Champions League winners medal. He also had Premier League stints at Sunderland in 2008/09 and then QPR during the 2012/13 season. [caption id="attachment_111700" align="alignnone" width="629"] Liverpool's French striker Djibril Cisse celebrates with the Champions League trophy (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)[/caption] After announcing he was retiring Cisse told Yahoo Sport: "I have loved being a footballer. Up till now, the ball was my whole life. I would have liked to have continued my career, which was interrupted in spite of me, but I have to admit today that football is finished." Cisse will continue to entertain crowds for a living, but not on the pitch. Instead, he will pursue a career in music, as well as keeping his hand in the beautiful game. "I'm going to give myself body and soul to my career as a DJ, a producer, and as a pundit, as well as develop my line of clothing," the Frenchman said. Feature: Phil Cole / Getty Images