Liverpool FC Forum

[zarababe]

Magic and hypnotism of the rolling ball

What is it about football that inspires strangers to hug each other in pubs, Steven Gerrard to cry and a whole city to smile?

Kevin Mitchell, chief sports writer
Sunday May 29, 2005
The Observer

It's only a game, we are continually told. But what sort of game inspires strangers to hug each other in pubs, Steven Gerrard to cry and a whole city to smile? What is this strange power football has over us?
In a vaguely related context, the snooker player Terry Griffiths went some way to explaining it once. 'Walk up to a snooker table and I defy you not to roll one of the balls along the baize.

'It's the magic of the rolling ball. You can't resist it.'
And so it was in Istanbul last Wednesday night. And many other recent nights. Irresistible football. Millions of eyes tracking that ball, urging it towards the net of their choice, mesmerised by an object of such simple beauty. On the pitch are our ciphers, gliding over the grass in patterns that have an internal logic all their own as the players seek to control the often uncontrollable. And it is when one or other of the teams lose their rhythm, when the unexpected turns the game, that we edge forward, some times in disbelief as if this were dream or a play.

Layered over Wednesday's Champions League final was a patina of ever-twisting drama so intense you feared for anyone with a weak heart. 'Liverpool showed that miracles exist,' said Diego Maradona, who knew how fortunate he was to have been there to see it. 'They proved that football is the most beautiful sport of them all. No wonder so many people around the world want to play it and watch it.'

It was no miracle, though. It was a very human triumph. There have been more classical exhibitions, but none in living memory so imbued with courage, togetherness and a belief that nothing is impossible.

Some matches leave us minimally moved. The ugly utilitarianism of the 1980s and 1990s, not to mention the hooligans, threatened to choke football to death. Then came the moral decline, from dressing room to board room. And still, the magic of the rolling ball defies all the obituary writers.

This was one of many great football matches this season. Everyone has their favourite, and for many, for exuberance and freedom, nothing matched the second half of the return leg in the same competition between Chelsea and Barcelona. Even that, though, fell short of the pulsating script of Liverpool's recovery from 3-0 down to defeat Milan.

There is something else, too, something more important than a mere match or result. It is pride. Not just in a team or a game, but in a city, a slandered city that has known a disproportionate amount of grief and tragedy in the past 20 years.

The hypnotism was so complete on Wednesday that, without knowing it, the entire nation turned Scouse for one wild night. Blues and Reds on Merseyside put aside their rivalry. People with little or no interest in the game yelled at television screens as if they had swallowed some hallucinatory drug.

None of which will have been the case in Milan - at least not after half-time. The elation here was matched there by an emptiness no sympathy could fill. That, too, describes the power of football.

Of the many inspired reflections on the 'miracle of Istanbul', as it will come to be known, the most eloquent came not from a professional writer, but a player. 'I'm enjoying this triumph like a child,' said Xabi Alonso, scorer of Liverpool's equaliser.

If there is a secret to the magic it might lie there. In our innocent past.

[zarababe]

Before the game..
what they said: ...and the world's post-match verdicts as well as five great games from this season's Champions League

Sunday May 29, 2005

Observer

Kenny Dalglish 'There is no point pretending that tonight's final is going to be a feast of football. You won't see either side going for the jugular.' Carlo Ancelotti 'I'll tell you what we should not do, and that is to worry about Liverpool. They are such a defensive team. We're not the kind of team that will calculate how to win: we believe in attacking properly, with clever ideas and concepts.'
Paolo Maldini 'It is only my children who keep me awake at night - there's no other reason why I'd lose sleep before this game. Liverpool don't know how to attack - caution is at the heart of their game. We play the game properly: our defence is the best in Europe, and therefore the world.' Silvio Berlusconi, Milan Owner 'Liverpool are inferior to Milan. Milan are in their seventh Champions League final under my leadership. It is a record that makes me feel proud. We are the leading players in world football, the standard-bearers for good play. We are winners, we want to win games in a convincing fashion. This is an ongoing tradition - and one that will continue on Wednesday.'

Andriy Shevchenko 'Liverpool won't win. I said at the start of the season Liverpool couldn't win the Champions League and I still don't think they will. Milan will win.' Steven Gerrard 'I will lift that trophy. I will be the one doing it, not Paolo Maldini. Imagine that, me with the trophy in the air. It will be the proudest moment of my life. I've seen those images, of Emlyn Hughes, Phil Thompson and Graeme Souness with that great big cup hoisted high above them, and the look on their faces. I want the same. I want that picture on my wall when I'm older. Me with the trophy above my head.'

Diego Maradona (Pictured - in Istanbul as a TV pundit): 'Liverpool showed that miracles exist. They proved that football is the most beautiful sport of them all. After this game, my English team is going to be Liverpool. I came across some of their fans beforehand and they told me they were going to win, but that they would be made to suffer. It's just the way it happened. Liverpool are the best team in the world for what they have done in this Champions League. They deserved the Cup.'

Franz Beckenbauer 'With fighting spirit and passion, Liverpool pushed themselves over the line for what it is possible to achieve. You have to give them a huge compliment for the way they fought their way back. You can't do it in any better way. They should be able to defend their trophy. They have simply deserved it.' Gianluigi Buffon (below) Juventus goalkeeper 'I will have to do like Dudek the next time. Maybe if I had done that against Milan in 2003 we would have won. During penalties a goalkeeper has the chance to become a fool or a hero. You have to admire his performance: atypical but still useful. Football is often crazy'

Silvio Berlusconi 'Sack Ancelotti? No, poor man, I will never sack him.' Luis Garcia (above) 'Not even in my wildest dreams did I dream Liverpool would achieve all that it has in this first year in England. So impressive.' Xabi Alonso 'I'm enjoying this triumph like a child. The secret is that Liverpool is as strong as a pine cone. There is a great sense of camaraderie and an out-of-the-ordinary collective will to get through the tough patches.' Dietmar Hamann 'Never has an evening started so badly and finished so beautifully. we seemed to play ourselves into a frenzy and turned the match completely on its head in a way that I have never seen.' Michael Owen 'In Spain now everyone supports Liverpool' Afton bladet (Sweden) 'Were Liverpool worthy champions? What do you mean? I see Xabi Alonso (below) dance, Steven Gerrard weep and 45,000 people sing You'll never walk alone . The question is not whether they were worthy. The question is whether we were worthy to watch this final.'

Marca (Spain) 'Liverpool have been pronounced brilliant winners... thanks to the overwhelming pride shown by Rafael Benitez's (above) team. Rafa touched the sky in Turkey.' Gazzetta dello Sport (Italy) 'Incredible. Milan lose a trophy they had already won. And they lost it in a bad way. A really bad way. A really, really bad way.' Bild (Germany) 'It was gigantic. It was sensational. It was out of this world. Thank you, Milan. Thank you, Liverpool. For the best Champions League final in history.'

El Pais (Spain) 'Benitez is The King of the Mersey. He may not have a statue yet at Anfield, but his name will always be associated with a moment that can only increase the legend of the Reds.' AS (Spain) 'For two decades Liverpool have been an ordinary team and lacking in the greatness that characterised their history. Worse still they had become resigned to accepting that they were ordinary. But they have got where they have today because of the methodical work of their new coach and his assistants. These men showed everyone that a limited team can still end up being winners.'

Hurriyet (Turkey) 'A fantastic night. The most exciting Champions League final happened in Istanbul. Turkey shone with organising the final in a perfect manner.' Sabah (Turkey) 'It was a fairy tale from Istanbul. The most beautiful city on earth supplied a wonderful Champions League final. Turkey won 3-0 and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan scored twice, the final one with a shot for Turkish tourism.'

[zarababe]

Gerrard inspires Liverpool by sheer willpower

Captain uses his head and heart to set up epic victory

Dominic Fifield in Istanbul
Thursday May 26, 2005
The Guardian

Steven Gerrard had gathered his Liverpool team-mates together in the dressing room deep in the bowels of this soulless stadium some 10 minutes before kick-off last night. As the expectant roar from the stands reverberated through the nervous hush of the huddle, he spoke urgently of "seizing the moment".
By the end of this bewildering evening he had seized the European Cup, even thoughLiverpool needed the drama of a penalty shoot-out. It everything about their captain, even though he was not called upon to adminster the coup de grace.



There was an unswerving belief about Gerrard that refused to ebb even when Liverpool were staring at abject humiliation at the interval. The captain had pounded back down the red carpet on to the turf to start the second half clearly intent on blotting out the aberration of a performance his side had conjured in slipping to a three-goal deficit.
If any of his team-mates, trooping at his back, harboured doubts, then the sight of their talisman driving them on was enough to fuel their conviction.

Gerrard was inspiration personified, a son of Liverpool possessed in stubborn pursuit of a trophy denied his club for 21 years. In the circumstances, Milan were never going to deny him his moment, even when reality appeared at its grimmest.

The comeback sparked so magnificently after the interval, with three goals pummelled in six breathless minutes, brought Liverpool back from the brink with their captain at his most brilliant.

That it should have come to that was apt. If Liverpool had grown livid at life in self-induced exile from Europe's elite for over two decades as they watched others plunder the trophy they used to hoist at will, then frustration of a more personal kind had long been eating away at Gerrard.

The 24-year-old's ferocious energy and vicious shot are as pivotal to this team's success as Jamie Carragher's rugged assurance at the back, or Xabi Alonso's ticking efficiency at the captain's side. Yet, for all that Gerrard has thrilled the Kop to distraction for six years, Huyton's favourite son has been all too aware that he had yet to prosper so explosively on the biggest occasions.

Realisation of this dilemma has played on his mind. Where he was expected to flourish with England at Euro 2004, the midfielder's tournament was cruelly wrecked by the under-hit back-pass deep into stoppage time against France. The intense trauma of watching helplessly as Zinedine Zidane converted the penalty in the aftermath anchored his form through the rest of the tournament.

The recovery in confidence which gathered pace over the first months of this season culminated in the blistering, lashed half-volley which ripped through Olympiakos to propel Liverpool from the group stage into the knockout phase of the competition back in December.

Yet the Carling Cup final, an occasion on which he craved to prosper so badly, was tarnished at the last by the inadvertent header which dribbled into his own net to cancel Liverpool's long-held lead and shift momentum inexorably towards Chelsea.

Those disappointments have taken their toll, with Istanbul offering the chance to exorcise the demons. By half-time, though, as his team's predicament at that point began to sink in, Gerrard might has recognised as folly what he had hoped would be the greatest night of his life.

The speech delivered before kick-off had been a reminder - a plea - to restore this club to the pinnacle.

"I will tell them: 'We want this so badly and Milan want to take it away from us - we can't let them'," he had explained on the eve of the game. "It is about stressing that we shouldn't come off at the end with regret - it is about seizing this moment."

Little did the midfielder know that those words would carry even greater weight af ter less than 60 seconds of the start, the insanely soft goal shipped to Paolo Maldini prompting Gerrard to turn and retreat to the halfway line shaking his head as much in dumbstruck denial as dismay.

In those opening exchanges the pre-match suspicion that Milan were leggy at the end of a draining domestic season -which had culminated in a flurry of conceded goals and the title handed to Juventus - had smacked of wishful thinking.

Maldini galloped up his flank with glee and Clarence Seedorf, Andrea Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso utterly dictated possession in midfield. Gerrard and Alonso could offer only huff and puff in riposte as Liverpool were systematically cut to shreds.

Yet, while Milan's third goal was shipped after Gerrard had surrendered possession to Kaka, it was to their captain that Liverpool inevitably turned for inspiration. And he was swift to resond. The header he looped wide of Dida nine minutes into the second half was nothing if not timely, the arms pumping to crowd and team-mates alike, drawing an unbelievable response over the next frantic six minutes.

Vladimir Smicer's stinging drive maintained Merseyside momentum, although it was Gerrard's barnstorming charge through the centre, ending with Gattuso's clip which knocked belief from the Milanese.

[policy]

Great articles. I haven't seen these yet.

[Galactico]

Brilliant!!! I'm teary again!!!!!!!!!!!

[zarababe]

and here's some more..

LIVERPOOL: THE AFTERMATH
Heroes party into small hours
By Steven Moyes

IT was a case of You'll Never Stay Awake Alone as Liverpool's triumphant players kept up their marathon victory party until 5am yesterday.

The squad who snatched the European Cup showed even greater stamina by partying on...and on.

Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher - the two Scousers in the team - led a rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone and downed beers until well after dawn.

Lucky Jane Moss, 25 and her friend Becky Smith partied along at the Sir Thomas Hotel after the victory parade. She watched as captain Gerrard and Carragher, along with Didi Hamann, celebrated success against AC Milan in appropriate style - by downing bottles of Italian Peroni beer.

Club legend Kenny Dalglish, members of Girl's Aloud, and Gerrard's fiancee Alex Curran, 22, joined the celebrations.

Jane, a PR girl, said: "It was a wonderful night."

"The local lads Gerrard and Carragher were centre of attention.

"At one point they stood on a table hugging each other and slugging back beer and leading the party in a rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone. It was incredibly emotional.

"Everyone was so happy and chatting away. I didn't see anyone leave until after 5am. The players looked just like delirious fans. I think we all agree they had earned their celebration."

Meanwhile back in Istanbul, lucky supporter Mark Challinor was pictured with the cup after mistakenly boarding the squad's plane from Istanbul.

He walked into an exclusive lounge after hearing an announcement calling "Liverpool fans" for a flight to the UK. The message was actually for the team - and Mark found himself heading off with his heroes. He boarded the plane whilst chatting to Milan Baros, Jerzy Dudek and manager Rafa Benitez. He helped John Arne Riise steady the huge trophy on a spare seat - before realising he was on the wrong plane.

Mr Challinor, 42, of Canary Wharf, East London, said: "When I realised my mistake all the players cheered and laughed. Sami Hyypia told Milan Baros and within seconds word had got around the whole plane. Despite mild panic setting in I felt a million dollars.

"When I stood up to get off the plane the players all cheered. There were whoops of joy for me."


Mr Challinor, a Liverpool season ticket holder for 22 years, said: "I was booked on to a Turkish Airlines flight back to Heathrow and my bag had been checked-in on that plane.


"I'd assumed the squad were on the same flight.

"Somehow I managed to get into the wrong departure lounge but it was an honest mistake.

"The airport officials must have thought I was a member of the backroom staff and ushered me through. If it wasn't for my luggage being checked on to another plane I would happily have flown back to Liverpool rather than London."

Meanwhile, by midday yesterday, cleaners had removed more than 300 tons of rubbish from Liverpool's streets - three times the weekly average accumulated in the wild celebrations.


Work to remove a mountain of beer bottles and broken glass began straight after the parade ended at 10pm. A council spokesman said: "We normally have 15 or 20 cleaners in a shift, but we had to put 50 out. One shift due to work until 11pm, continued until 4am."

[zarababe]

FIRST JOSE THE SPECIAL ONE.. NOW RAFA THE MAGICAL ONE
Kop Kings of Europe Benitez chasing glory on home front: And for his next trick - he's out to nick the Premiership title from Mourihno...
David Maddock

FORGET the Special One - Liverpool have the Magician.

That was the message last night from Anfield chairman David Moores, who claims that boss Rafael Benitez outstrips all his managerial rivals when it comes to tactical awareness.

Benitez has taken a side that could finish only fifth in the Premiership to the pinnacle of the European game. And Moores believes the Spaniard has cast a spell not just on the Liverpool players but on the Anfield fans too.

Taking a sideswipe at Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, Moores revealed his excitement for the future under Benitez when he said: "We have heard about the Special One this season but what about Rafa? He must be a magician.


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"He is a master tactician but what makes him so special is that in just one year he has developed a real feel for this club. He has a passion that has created a unique bond with the fans.


"He has been here only one season and yet you see the affection the supporters have for him, the banners, the songs. He is up there already with the greats in my view. The hairs on the back of your neck stand up at some of the little things you see and hear and you think that this is the beginning of something special.


"It was a huge coup for the club to get him last summer. The first thing that struck me about him when we met was that he already had a deep knowledge of Liverpool. But there are so many things I like about him. His honesty, his hunger and his vision for this club."


Moores shares that vision. Over the past two years he has come close to quitting after pressure to find outside investment took its toll. The chairman was on the verge of selling his controlling interest in Liverpool to building tycoon Steve Morgan last year but couldn't bear to let go of his beloved club.


The miracle of Istanbul, where Liverpool lifted their fifth European Cup, made all that turmoil worthwhile.


Moores is still looking for new investors so he can give Benitez the funds needed to bring the Premiership trophy to Anfield.


The £15million bid for Manchester City's Shaun Wright-Phillips is just the start of a serious assault on the transfer market, aimed at giving the European champions the quality of squad to compete with Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United for the Premiership.


Liverpool struggled domestically this season as the Spanish coach came to terms with the ferocity of the English game. Benitez also conceded that the squad he inherited didn't have the strength in depth to compete for more than one major trophy.


But now he knows exactly what is required, and knows the type of player he needs to bring the title back to Anfield.


And Moores is determined to provide the funds required for a serious assault. "Wednesday was the pinnacle. It topped everything," the Anfield chairman said. "The European Cup is the one you want. Yes, there is the Premiership too but we will win that as well. Rafa is the man to do that.


"It has been an amazing few days - the best experience of my football life.


"People know my love for this club and I will do everything I can to take this on with Rafa."


Benitez will be given at least £30million to spend in the summer, when he will also be handed details of a new stadium.


There will also be a new face on the Liverpool board as Moores moves closer to finding a new investor who will take a 30 per cent share in exchange for a £60million cash injection.

[zarababe]

CRUYFF: YNWA SENT SHIVERS DOWN MY SPINE
Steve Hunter 29 May 2005 

Dutch legend Johan Cruyff has praised Liverpool to the heights and added he was personally moved by the Reds supporters in Istanbul and the rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone sent shivers down his spine. 
Cruyff says the Liverpool supporters are special and the greatest in the world and were the 12th man to lift their team to a wonderful victory.
 
Cruyff said: "There's not one club in Europe with an anthem like You'll Never Walk Alone.
 
"There's not one club in the world so united with the fans. I sat there watching the Liverpool fans and they sent shivers down my spine. A mass of 40,000 people became one force behind their team. That's something not many teams have. For that I admire Liverpool more than anything."
 
Cruyff also had praise for manager Rafael Benitez for the way he turned Liverpool's fortunes around at half-time.
 
Cruyff said: "Benitez is now in a new echelon of top coaches in Europe. Only the best coaches in the world can inspire comebacks like that.
 
"I always rated him when he worked in Spain. His vision, the way he made his team play, their style proves he's a very modern coach.
 
"Benitez showed in the second half how attacking he can make Liverpool play. Maybe he should have done it earlier but he showed the character and quality of a truly top coach.
 
"In the second half he created pressure on Milan. He took a full back out, put an extra man in midfield and we saw all the real one-to-one fights in the most important areas of the field. That's where Liverpool beat the great Milan.
 
"With this victory Liverpool now have a coach touched by the glory of the great Liverpool teams of the past.
 
"I rate Steven Gerrard so highly and he is one of the best midfielders in the world and I call Jamie Carragher my Marathon Man. He looks like a marathon runner whose legs are turning to jelly as he's about to cross the finishing line but he finds more energy to get there. The sliding tackle he made after receiving treatment for cramp summed up the character of the team. He was phenomenal.
 
"Jerzy Dudek is the man whose saves brought Liverpool the European Cup. The man has been criticised for a year. The double save he made from Shevchenko gave him the confidence to perform like he did in the penalty shoot-out. He took the mickey out of the Milan players during the shoot-out. He drove them crazy!"

[JBG]

Keep em coming Zara and if I get some time, I'll also post them in the articles section.

[zarababe]

No probs JBG.. there are just so many articles I thought this wud be the quickest and easy way for us all to enjoy them and smile and shed the odd tear in these heady days..

[zarababe]

.. and here's another grt one.. The Guradian Again..

The miracle of Istanbul

It was a long and tortuous journey to their first European Cup final for two decades, but the Liverpool faithful finally found redemption on the road to Istanbul. Special report on the night they'll never forget by Paul Wilson, Brian Oliver and Kaz Mochlinski

Sunday May 29, 2005
The Observer

All 11 of the goals scored in the 2005 Champions League final came at one end of the pitch. The net at the other end, thanks to heroics from Jerzy Dudek and Djimi Traoré, among others, remained unused all night. So did a huge pile of bricks in the city centre. The significance of both is immense, even if the occasion will rightly be remembered for one and not the other.
The real joy of the most remarkable European Cup final of all was a double happy ending for players and fans. On the road to Istanbul, the two travelled together and if anyone was in any doubt after the quarter-finals and semi-finals that a closer symbiosis exists between the team and the supporters in Liverpool than almost anywhere else in the world, the dramatic scenes at the end were a clincher. When Dudek saved Andriy Shevchenko's final penalty at 12.29am local time, some of the Liverpool players were noticeably quicker to hug members of the crowd than their team-mates.

There were two reasons for the uninhibited sense of release and only one of them was because this was the greatest comeback in the history of European finals. The other related to the events of 20 years ago, when Liverpool were last in the European Cup final against Juventus. The road to Istanbul really began in Brussels 20 years ago today, when Liverpool's domination of Europe came to such an abrupt and tragic end and all the club's supporters had to endure the lasting stigma of causing the death of 39 innocent fans at Heysel.

Overlooked in the rush to judgment during the five-year ban on English clubs in Europe that followed were two facts. One was that the vast majority of Liverpool supporters that night were uninvolved in any wrongdoing. The second was that the fans who were responsible for charging at a Juventus section to occupy an end were behaving in a way considered normal on the terraces at the time. It took another disaster, at Hillsbor ough four years later to bring about a culture change and by that stage Liverpool were carrying the can for the careless way in which we all used to watch football.

Cut to a street a few hundred yards from Istanbul's Blue Mosque in the early hours of Wednesday. This is the first European Cup final held in a Muslim city, but the relaxed, cosmopolitan form of Islam lite in Istanbul means the bars and cafés in the backpackers' area are still thronged with Liverpool drinkers even as the muezzin begins his dawn call to prayers. Apart from giant Fenerbahçe flags at roof level in honour of the club's recent league triumph, there are only red shirts and Liverpool drinkers in sight.

Maybe this part of town is not chic enough for Milan fans: as at the stadium later, the city seems dominated by Liverpool followers. Perhaps for this reason, the atmosphere, while boisterous, is unthreatening. Just as well because this particular street is being repaved.

A lorry load of sand was dumped at one end earlier in the day and all down the sides of the street, right next to the tables where supporters are drinking and in some cases dancing, are loose piles of fist-size cobblestones. Had any or all of these ended up through shop windows, or raining down on the heads of rival fans, Istanbul would have been described as poorly prepared, an accident waiting to happen, just like Brussels. The bricks stay untouched. It is not circumstances that cause problems, it is the way supporters behave.

That Liverpool fans would be on their best behaviour was clear from flight BA680 from Heathrow, which arrived at Atatürk airport shortly after 11pm on Tuesday. The beer ran out before Belgium and the wine lasted only until Bulgaria, but by the end of the flight half the cabin crew had successfully located spare tickets for the match and the chief stewardess thanked everyone on board. 'We were wondering what to expect, but you have been fantastic,' she announced over the Tannoy. 'Have a wonderful time in Istanbul.'

At the back of the plane a cartoon Ulsterman called Paddy addressed the fans and he did not need any amplification. An attempt to get the whole flight to sing the real words to 'Fields of Athenry' failed to get off the runway, so he switched to the direct approach. 'This isn't just about football,' he shouted. 'This is about support! It's about positive energy! The match starts now!' That was at 10.30pm. Almost exactly 24 hours after Paddy's exhortations, Liverpool were walking off the pitch at half-time in need of all the positive energy they could muster.

The real road to Istanbul - to the Atatürk Olympic Stadium, that is - is so new that the white lines were still being painted on the morning of the match and in their haste to complete the project the contractors have also managed to coat litter, rubble and parts of the grassy verge in white. There is nothing wrong with the Atatürk Stadium, or the new roads leading to it, except for their location miles out of the city, nowhere near a railway line or any other sign of civilisation.

Istanbul's new showpiece is already unloved and unwanted, so much so that Fenerbahçe fans have given it the thumbs-down after two seasons of playing there and Turkey players have refused to play a World Cup tie against Greece - their biggest game in qualifying - at the Atatürk next month.

There is a limited market for journalists' hard-luck stories, so the following examples will be brief. We had to go to the stadium twice on the same day, first to get accredited, then to the match. In the process we managed to abandon three taxis. The first, in the morning, actually abandoned us. The driver expressed his frustration with successive police roadblocks so forcibly that he got himself arrested; he was hauled out of his cab and fined. Even though we had been in his cab for almost an hour, we were miles from the ground and although we were lucky enough to hail a second taxi in an unpromising location, our problems were far from over.

After taking us to the stadium, our new driver tried several ways of returning to Istanbul, only to be defeated on each occasion by blocked roads or dead ends. He was eventually reduced to stopping to ask one of the few locals for directions to the road to Istanbul. The poor man had been a cabbie for 10 years and had never encountered anything like the venue for the 2005 Champions League final.

After that experience it was clear that the evening journey, with about 80,000 others going the same way, would be, as the taxi driver put it 'catastroph, catastroph'. Our first cab of the evening could not even get out of a gridlocked city centre and although the second managed to break out of the business district, the journey to the stadium was a painful two-hour crawl that eventually came to a grinding halt with the Atatürk a couple of miles distant. Uefa certainly know how to pick a venue.

One hour before kick-off the scene immediately around the stadium resembled something from a science fiction film. In mounting darkness, a queue of vehicles - mostly taxis and buses - disgorged their passengers as they stuttered, bumper to bumper, along the length of the two main approach roads to the stadium. Their passengers climbed out and walked - some as far as five miles - along verges or across fields of baked mud to the stadium, shining like a recently landed spaceship in the distance.

All those whose journeys involved overland travel from Bulgaria or £500 taxi rides from Turkey's holiday destinations deserved better than such Third-World chaos at the end of their road to Istanbul. One fan, who had travelled from Austria, screamed 'Ice age! Ice age!' in frustration at the facilities. Liverpool fans, advised to arrive early, had got through without any bother five hours before kick-off, only to find no food or drink - not even water - on sale at their end of the stadium and many could not even buy a match programme to pass the time. Apparently, someone stole most of them.

Even with this level of inconvenience, the mood was upbeat and spirits were remarkably high. At various points during the journey the road passed housing projects and what appeared to be detention camps. In both cases the occupants had taken to the streets to watch the procession of Liverpool fans. Early evening Turkish television cannot be up to much if people prefer to stand at the roadside or sit on the verge to watch the whole of Istanbul's taxi fleet inching by.

Many locals dodged cars, trying to sell cans of Efes beer to anyone who had room for more, while others held slogans backing Liverpool. 'Reds, club of the Labour class, welcome to Istanbul' read one placard held up in the remote suburb of Besakhseur. It was as if the resentment at Everton styling themselves the people's club on Merseyside had spread even to Turkey.

Some of the more enterprising Liverpool fans hired motorcycle couriers to beat the traffic. Local youths with two-wheeled transport were paid a few lire to take a pillion passenger to the match. One such Motorbike Man contributed enormously to the pre-match entertainment, standing on the pegs at the back of the bike wearing nothing but shorts, trainers and a selection of tattoos on his upper body. At the end of one outstretched arm was a can of beer, at the end of another a red shirt coiled like a scarf. There were speed bumps in the road, but the driver gamely flew over them without slowing down and his passenger, equally bravely, maintained his crucifixion position throughout, bouncing over the bumps and relaxing only occasionally to take a sip of beer or slap the raised palm of an amused roadside Turk.

At all other times he was singing the tune that Liverpool have adopted as their unofficial tour anthem, the first few bars of Johnny Cash's 'Ring of Fire'. No words, just the tune - the one you could hear Steve Gerrard singing when he went to the fans at the end of the game. 'De de de de de de der der.'

It does not mean much, but it carries the sort of righteous bravado that sounds perfect when you are speeding to a match bare-chested, standing on the back of a motorbike - bravado that increased over the final leg of the journey when Motorbike Man somehow encouraged another fan to join him and there were three on the bike.

It sounded good when Liverpool fans en masse sang it in the stadium, too. Most Liverpool songs sound good. As an Everton fan admitted through gritted teeth the night before the match, Liverpool not only pick good songs but they sing them with a passion.

As a preposterous opening ceremony reached a conclusion on the pitch, the two-thirds of the crowd dressed in red ran through stirring, but less-than-full-throttle, versions of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' and the present favourite, 'Fields of Anfield Road'. The latter, cleverly linking the city's Irish heritage with a good tune and some deft adaptations, is a good example of what Liverpool do best: 'All round the fields of Anfield Road,/Where once we watched the King Kenny play,/(And could he play!).'

They were still singing when Liverpool went a goal behind in 53 seconds, the unlikely figure of Paolo Maldini scoring without much opposition after coming up to support Milan's first attack. Liverpool supporters know what to do in these circumstances and bold statements of confidence were soon ringing around the ground. This was a football game, not a singing contest, though, and during the first half the confidence and the positive energy transferred wholly to the Italians.

Liverpool were unlucky when claims for a penalty against Alessandro Nesta were waved away and Milan went down the pitch to score a second goal while Milan Baros and a few others were protesting, but that moment of misfortune was balanced by the goal Shevchenko had chalked off through a borderline offside ruling.

Kaká was running the show for Milan, a point made forcibly to some of his team-mates by Vladimir Smicer when he came on in the 23rd minute for the injured Harry Kewell, and simultaneously running Liverpool ragged, as he showed when he sent Hernán Crespo clear to score Milan's third goal. 'They outclassed us,' Gerrard said later. 'They deserved to be 3-0 up.'

At this point even the most optimistic Liverpool fans were hoping only for the embarrassment to stop. The idea that 'Liverpool's name is on the trophy' had been mentioned frequently during the build-up, thanks to the close shave against Olympiakos in the group stage and the improbable results against Juventus and Chelsea by a team who had managed to lose at home to Grazer AK, of Austria. But there was no talk and seemingly no hope of anything so fanciful during the interval. A few punters in England scrambled to put money on a Liverpool victory at 359-1, but they were gamblers responding to attractive odds, not analysts acting on the evidence of the first 45 minutes.

In the queue for toilets in the West Stand a well-dressed Milan fan, alone among a line of Liverpool followers, gestured to them with a praying motion, a frown and a look that said: 'Please, don't blame me. I know my team has just humiliated your team, but it's not my fault.'

Some Liverpool fans behind the goal - perhaps as many as 40 - left the stadium after the third goal went in. What had promised to be an extraordinary celebration had become unwatchable, but at least they were allowed back in later.

A whole new generation of Liverpool supporters had invested a great deal in this match, anxious to emulate their forebears and follow the Reds to the ends of the earth if necessary. After 20 barren years, a European Cup final appearing unexpectedly on the horizon was too good a chance to miss. It was their shot at history, but history was playing a cruel joke. Liverpool fans had gone to extraordinary lengths to travel to the most grotesquely one-sided European Cup final of all time and the team and their fans were heading for ignominy and shame.

That was the situation facing Rafael Benítez and his players at the interval. There seemed no possible way back, only a stab at damage limitation, a point made to the Liverpool chairman, David Moores, at half-time by Michel Platini. The players knew they had performed poorly for 45 minutes. Men such as Traoré, Sami Hyypia and Luis García, for all their heroics in previous rounds, appeared to have reverted to type, as bottlers with no claim to be anywhere near European football's top stage.

Sensibly, Benítez's first action was to correct his initial mistake and reinforce the midfield with Dietmar Hamann, to prevent Kaká enjoying such free reign. That also had the effect of releasing Gerrard farther forward and the captain headed the goal that started the recovery. As Hamann made clear, though, that was pretty much the limit of Liverpool's half-time plan.

'My coach told me to warm up just before the break,' Hamann said. 'He told me I was going to take care of Kaká. I didn't think it was possible to turn things around, but in the dressing room at half-time Rafa Benítez was calm. He said, "We are Liverpool FC, we have so many fans, we are not going to be slaughtered. If we can score a goal quickly we can push on from there." '

Eyewitness accounts from the dressing room insist that most of the players were slumped and barely listening when Benítez began to speak - even Gerrard had his head down and everyone assumed it was all over - yet the manager successfully urged his team to go out and attack Milan to see what might happen.

Benítez suggested Milan might not have much left in their legs, that they may be psychologically brittle after losing the Serie A title late in the season to Juventus. Benítez was perhaps the biggest optimist in the stadium and maybe he was clutching at straws, but his prediction was uncannily accurate.

He had luck on his side, too. His original plan was to withdraw Traoré for Hamann, but he had to rethink when Steve Finnan was unable to take the field for the second half. Switched to the left side of a back three, Traoré rediscovered the inspired form that had deserted him in the first 45 minutes and even managed a goalline clearance to deny Shevchenko a likely winner.

Whatever Benítez said, he did not say anything about scoring three goals in six minutes. With Kaká shackled, Gerrard's goal rocked Milan and the captain exhorted his team-mates and the fans to raise their game. They all did.

Perhaps it was exhaustion after a long season, perhaps the memory of scraping through against PSV Eindhoven in the semi-finals or blowing a 4-1 lead against Deportivo La Coruña in the quarter-finals last year, but for a 10-minute period Milan were dead on their feet and directionless. 'I don't think one can explain what happened,' said stunned Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti later.

Liverpool punished them by scoring twice more in that time. For the briefest moment it appeared they could score a fourth and complete a remarkable comeback in normal time, but Milan reasserted their professionalism and discipline and in extra time Liverpool played for penalties, knowing that whatever happened they had rescued their reputation and done more than their supporters could have asked.

'Three goals in six minutes,' Hamann said. 'You are out there thinking, "This is not for real, you must be in a dream". And when Shevchenko missed that chance in the last minute I just knew we would win on penalties.'

Jamie Carragher said of Shevchenko's miss: 'I was waiting for the net to bulge. I couldn't believe it wasn't game over and that was the moment I felt our name was on the cup.' Even the Italians knew. Crespo said: 'I thought my goals had won it, but I knew that save was the moment we said bye-bye to the cup.'

Dudek unexpectedly emerged as the hero of the night, both for his saves and his barely legitimate tactics during the shootout, but the real achievement belonged to Benítez for altering the body language and changing the outlook of his players during the interval.

The manager continued to make changes. Gerrard became the third player to step in at right-back with a performance that suggested he might be the best of the lot. The positive energy was all with Liverpool now. Even if their bodies showed signs of exhaustion, even if they collapsed in agony with cramp, the fans were lifting them, the force was with them and the fans were singing the best song of the lot: 'We shall not be moved....'

'It all seemed done and dusted at half-time,' Dudek said. 'The talk was about avoiding humiliation, but the manager told us if we could score in the first 10 minutes after the break we had a chance. That is what we did and it took Milan by surprise. You could sense the mood changing. We could only be happy we took it to a shootout, while from Milan's position it must have been devastating.'

That point was reinforced by Ancelotti. 'Penalty shootouts are as much about psychology as they are about technique,' he said later. In other words, Milan just did not have the mental strength for the shootout, which was clear from Serginho's body language before he blasted Milan's first kick high and wide.

Liverpool had meticulously prepared for penalties, to the extent that Dudek knew which way every player was likely to shoot - except that in every case the homework was wrong. 'It shows Rafa Benítez is not infallible,' said Dudek, who dedicated his success to the late Pope and returned to Poland after the celebrations for his son's first communion, a long-planned event postponed from last Sunday because of Liverpool's unforeseen presence in Istanbul.

'When they took their shots they all went in the opposite direction to what we were expecting,' Dudek said. 'I took Jamie Carragher's advice and tried to repeat what Bruce Grobbelaar did in 1984.'

That was a shootout victory, too, against Roma, and Grobbelaar him self explained what happened. 'Joe Fagan told me to try and put them off,' he said yesterday. 'I bit the net and it looked like spaghetti so I decided to do the spaghetti legs routine. Why bite the net? Just to try and put them off - and it worked.'

Dudek said: 'I started to dance as well. I did not manage to disturb Jon Dahl Tomasson and it did not really affect Kaká, either, but with the others it worked. Jon mentioned after that standing forward of the line was not legal, but the referee did not stop it. People forget that Dida did the same thing when Milan won the final two years ago [in a shootout against Juventus]. All anyone remembers is who won.

'Penalties are such a huge test of nerve for a goalkeeper. I was so focused I did not even realise my save from Shevchenko meant we had won. It was only when I saw the rest of the boys running towards me that I knew. It means a lot to have contributed to such an achievement, not just in the shootout, but in the match itself. My brother rang me on Thursday and described the save from Shevchenko at the end of extra time as the Hand of God. The free-kick save from Shevchenko at the start of the second half was just as important in the end. I saw it late and just had time to stick out a hand. Had there been a fourth goal at that stage I don't think there would have been penalties.'

There would have been little debate about who was the real man of the match, either. The deserving Gerrard was not a bad choice, if predictable, but the impression that all Dudek's best work came in the final few minutes was wrong. Spare a thought, too, for the unlucky Shevchenko, who was denied four times by Dudek, once by Traoré and once by a referee's assistant. Try telling him that Liverpool's name was not on the cup all along.

Back in Istanbul, after a slightly quicker return journey than the one out to the stadium, it is doubtful whether a single Liverpool fan was in bed by the time the minaret dawn chorus began at 4.30am, especially because some of the supporters' buses took three hours to return to party central at Taksim Square.

Most of the supporters lucky enough to fly back to Heathrow on Thursday morning - plenty were still stranded in Turkey or adjoining countries by Friday - seemed to have saved sleep for the flight. The same pilot who successfully touted for a ticket on the way out apologised for being hoarse because he had supported Liverpool, then sensibly kept comments to a minimum. Until reaching Blighty and the inevitable holding pattern over Heathrow, when the voice from the cockpit offered an appraisal of the English weather.

'Look out the window and you'll see it's a beautiful day,' he informed passengers. 'As far as I can see there is only one small cloud, just hovering over Stamford Bridge.' Applause broke out at this early-morning wit.

A metaphorical nimbus was probably hovering over Old Trafford, too because not only have Liverpool got the trophy for keeps but they have a better comeback tale than United in 1999. The pilot, though, cannot see that far. Chelsea is quite far enough, when you have been on the road to Istanbul.

[zarababe]

Lurve this one ..

Before the game..

what they said: ...and the world's post-match verdicts as well as five great games from this season's Champions League

Sunday May 29, 2005
The Observer

Kenny Dalglish 'There is no point pretending that tonight's final is going to be a feast of football. You won't see either side going for the jugular.' Carlo Ancelotti 'I'll tell you what we should not do, and that is to worry about Liverpool. They are such a defensive team. We're not the kind of team that will calculate how to win: we believe in attacking properly, with clever ideas and concepts.'

Paolo Maldini 'It is only my children who keep me awake at night - there's no other reason why I'd lose sleep before this game. Liverpool don't know how to attack - caution is at the heart of their game. We play the game properly: our defence is the best in Europe, and therefore the world.' Silvio Berlusconi, Milan Owner 'Liverpool are inferior to Milan. Milan are in their seventh Champions League final under my leadership. It is a record that makes me feel proud. We are the leading players in world football, the standard-bearers for good play. We are winners, we want to win games in a convincing fashion. This is an ongoing tradition - and one that will continue on Wednesday.'
Andriy Shevchenko 'Liverpool won't win. I said at the start of the season Liverpool couldn't win the Champions League and I still don't think they will. Milan will win.' Steven Gerrard 'I will lift that trophy. I will be the one doing it, not Paolo Maldini. Imagine that, me with the trophy in the air. It will be the proudest moment of my life. I've seen those images, of Emlyn Hughes, Phil Thompson and Graeme Souness with that great big cup hoisted high above them, and the look on their faces. I want the same. I want that picture on my wall when I'm older. Me with the trophy above my head.'

Diego Maradona (Pictured - in Istanbul as a TV pundit): 'Liverpool showed that miracles exist. They proved that football is the most beautiful sport of them all. After this game, my English team is going to be Liverpool. I came across some of their fans beforehand and they told me they were going to win, but that they would be made to suffer. It's just the way it happened. Liverpool are the best team in the world for what they have done in this Champions League. They deserved the Cup.'

Franz Beckenbauer 'With fighting spirit and passion, Liverpool pushed themselves over the line for what it is possible to achieve. You have to give them a huge compliment for the way they fought their way back. You can't do it in any better way. They should be able to defend their trophy. They have simply deserved it.' Gianluigi Buffon (below) Juventus goalkeeper 'I will have to do like Dudek the next time. Maybe if I had done that against Milan in 2003 we would have won. During penalties a goalkeeper has the chance to become a fool or a hero. You have to admire his performance: atypical but still useful. Football is often crazy'

Silvio Berlusconi 'Sack Ancelotti? No, poor man, I will never sack him.' Luis Garcia (above) 'Not even in my wildest dreams did I dream Liverpool would achieve all that it has in this first year in England. So impressive.' Xabi Alonso 'I'm enjoying this triumph like a child. The secret is that Liverpool is as strong as a pine cone. There is a great sense of camaraderie and an out-of-the-ordinary collective will to get through the tough patches.' Dietmar Hamann 'Never has an evening started so badly and finished so beautifully. we seemed to play ourselves into a frenzy and turned the match completely on its head in a way that I have never seen.' Michael Owen 'In Spain now everyone supports Liverpool' Afton bladet (Sweden) 'Were Liverpool worthy champions? What do you mean? I see Xabi Alonso (below) dance, Steven Gerrard weep and 45,000 people sing You'll never walk alone . The question is not whether they were worthy. The question is whether we were worthy to watch this final.'

Marca (Spain) 'Liverpool have been pronounced brilliant winners... thanks to the overwhelming pride shown by Rafael Benitez's (above) team. Rafa touched the sky in Turkey.' Gazzetta dello Sport (Italy) 'Incredible. Milan lose a trophy they had already won. And they lost it in a bad way. A really bad way. A really, really bad way.' Bild (Germany) 'It was gigantic. It was sensational. It was out of this world. Thank you, Milan. Thank you, Liverpool. For the best Champions League final in history.'

El Pais (Spain) 'Benitez is The King of the Mersey. He may not have a statue yet at Anfield, but his name will always be associated with a moment that can only increase the legend of the Reds.' AS (Spain) 'For two decades Liverpool have been an ordinary team and lacking in the greatness that characterised their history. Worse still they had become resigned to accepting that they were ordinary. But they have got where they have today because of the methodical work of their new coach and his assistants. These men showed everyone that a limited team can still end up being winners.'

Hurriyet (Turkey) 'A fantastic night. The most exciting Champions League final happened in Istanbul. Turkey shone with organising the final in a perfect manner.' Sabah (Turkey) 'It was a fairy tale from Istanbul. The most beautiful city on earth supplied a wonderful Champions League final. Turkey won 3-0 and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan scored twice, the final one with a shot for Turkish tourism.'

Best ever Champions League season? Here are five great games from 2003/04's edititon...

Manchester United 6 Fenerbahce 2 28 September 2004 Wayne Rooney's brilliant debut for his new club andhis first game back after a broken metatarsal - sustained at Euro 2004 - that kept him out of action for three months. His final strike of his hat-trick was the best, technically the swooping free-kick was stunning, but it was the way the 18-year-old (right) dominated proceedings that made his £27m fee look money well spent.


Liverpool 3 Olympiakos 1 8 December 2004 The result that started it all for Liverpool. The final game in the group stage and one the Anfield side had to win by two clear goals. Trailing at half-time to a Rivaldo free-kick, the Reds, not for the last time this campaign, looked to be going out. Then, goals from Neil Mellor and Florent Sinama-Pongolle allowed the team and 42,045 spectators to dream. Up stepped Steven Gerrard with a 25-yard screamer four minutes from time to make it reality.


Chelsea 4 Barcelona 2 8 March 2005 After an ill-tempered first leg, this return tie had Stamford Bridge fizzing and was the match of the Champions League so far. Chelsea had raced to a 3-0 lead via Lampard (right), Gudjohnsen and Duff, but following twin Ronaldinho strikes - one a sublime 20-yard toe-punt - their European campaign looked to be over. Then on 76 minutes, John Terry took advantage of Ricardo Carvalho holding on to Victor Valdes, to head past the Barça keeper.


Liverpool 1 Chelsea 0 3 May 2005 This was all about atmosphere - the fans raising the roof with their pre-kick-off rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone . That Liverpool won through a disputed Luis García goal hardly mattered. Chelsea had failed to score in 180 minutes and Anfield old-timers were emphatic this was the European evening to beat all others. At the final whistle, the place was delirious.


Liverpool 3 Milan 3 25 May 2005 At half-time Liverpool were broken, 3-0 down and looking at damage limitation. Off went the injured Steve Finnan, on came Dietmar Hamann to strengthen the middle and suddenly the team had ball and momentum. Steven Gerrard led the fightback with a fine header, Vladimir Smicer made it two and Xabi Alonso's equaliser - all within six short minutes- completed it. Jerzy Dudek's last-minute save from Andriy Shevchenko, plus his penalty stop, sealed the ultimate comeback and the Cup is Liverpool's for keeps.
[U]

[zarababe]

'I never thought at any point we were going to win it'

Dominic Fifield
Friday May 27, 2005
The Guardian

Steven Gerrard awoke yesterday with a Champions League winner's medal draped around his neck, the European Cup safe in his hotel room and an admission that he had seen his dream of lifting the trophy for the club he has supported since his youth slipping away.
Later the Liverpool captain paraded the cup around Liverpool, delighted disbelief still etched across his face: each one of the victorious party will receive a bonus of £100,000 for their efforts. Yet, even as they stared out at the thousands in the city centre, the memory of the desolation that had engulfed Gerrard at half-time in the Ataturk Stadium was still fresh in his mind.

"I couldn't concentrate and didn't know what was going through my head," he said, having endured Milan's stroll to a 3-0 lead. "I had my head in my hands and thought it was over, but the manager calmed us down, told us to be quiet, and we listened.
"Even so, I never thought at any point in the game that we were going to win it. I was just trying to get the three goals back and, once we'd done that and taken it to extra-time, we were desperate for penalties. Six or seven of us had nothing left. We were running on empty and had been since about 10 minutes from the end of normal time.

"To be honest, in the last few minutes of extra-time I saw them fling that cross over and [with] Shevchenko running in, I just thought 'goal'. The double save was incredible and, when Serginho's first penalty went over the bar, I realised it was going to be our day."

For his part, Rafael Benítez refused to accept any praise for the tactical changes which sparked the second-half revival - just as he did not think his original selection had played into Milan's hands - although his players and staff considered the introduction of Dietmar Hamann and the switch to a back three to be inspirational.

"Rafa was angry because we were losing and we'd made bad mistakes, but to solve that problem shows his quality," said Pako Ayesteran, Benítez's assistant. "I have never seen him nervous, because when you are nervous you cannot think properly. But to change the system was the key. Rafa is someone who thinks quickly, but it's difficult to think quickly and think right."

Benítez benefited from an outstanding performance by Gerrard. The Spaniard blamed the 24-year-old's patchy form on the speculation over his future, and Gerrard agreed. "I didn't play well enough at times. I decided to wait until the end of the season and to get my head right, then I started to play well again. All I need to do now is to sort out the contract.

"As it is, I slept with the trophy in my room. I didn't want it out of my sight. When someone took it away I felt as if I had somehow lost a part of me."