We keep pressing them and Anthony Le bloody new Zidane Tallec got into space played a wonderous ball which stayed in the air nicely for Garcia to hit – not smash but hit – into the goal. Wonderful!!! Del piero should have made it 2-1 or was it 1-1 as I can’t remember when his chance came but Carson made an incredible save. Into the second half and the Juve came back into it and our high intensity was all but gone. From a corner Cannavaro scored and 2-1 was the full time score. All Juve players and supporters were happy because they thought they’d comfortably win in Italy – and let’s be honest so did most Liverpool supporters, including me. But there was one man that was very happy with this score and that was Rafa. This was his chance to go to Italy and produce a tactical master piece – at the home of catenaccio.
I thought it was over and though that their goal would kill us. However Alonso returned for the second leg and that helped in what Rafa wanted from the midfield that night. IMO had Alonso not been playing then there wouldn’t have been anyone tactically savvy enough in the central midfield area to do what Rafa wanted, so getting Alonso back was key.
Juventus had their chances but so did we. I was screaming a Baros who had two one on ones and missed both. We needed to take those opportunities. Then Cannavaro had a chance which hit the post and went almost over the line but never did. In the end we ran out comfortable winners on aggregate and we had a great chance to reach the final with Chelsea in the semis.
So Chelsea in the semis and crucially the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] leg was to be at Anfield. Again I watched this at home!!
Rafa was in his element here and we played quite well I thought. Lampard had a tap in but managed to kick the ball into row z!!!!!!! But it was pretty even. I was a nervous wreck throughout thought. However it finished 0-0.
Mourinho said afterwards that he knows 99.9% of Liverpool supporters think that it’s over. Mind games never cease!! But in our meetings with Chelsea in the league and carling cup they were close. I really do think as John Terry stated that the 33 point gap between the two teams in the league fooled them a bit. Jose wrote in big font 33 on the blackboard/whiteboard…..so it did fool them because in essence in the previous meetings we more than matched them but obviously they had that extra quality and depth to get those wins, but at Anfield in the league we had a penalty denied to us and out played them. So I didn’t fear Chelsea but obviously knew that they had the players to beat us.
So to the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] leg - where again I watched at home! – and the atmosphere that night at Anfield was incredible. Best I’ve heard and nothing has matched that since – not even the man city game at Anfield in April matched that in my opinion.
So kick off and to this day Mourinho whines about this we get the ball Gerrard plays a lovely pass to Garcia and is it in or not?!?! Well Andy Townsend that Chelsea legend thought it was in - so who was I to disagree!!!!! I was screaming and shouting!
Let me get something out of the way first though. Jose and most pundits say that it should have been a free kick because of Baros’s high foot against Cech. Whilst the rules may have stated that this may have been the case and maybe should have been a free kick. In reality in doesn’t matter what the rules state. What matters is what the ref would have done and he has stated that he would have sent off Cech and given us a pen which we would probably have converted. If that had happened we’d be 1-0 up with 85 mins left to play. Or if we had missed the pen it would have been 0-0 against 10 men. So really the Ref did Chelsea a favour and the goal stood.
Was it a goal? Is there conclusive proof that is crossed the line or not? Several different virtual images/angles were covered and say it wasn’t in. So it looks like it wasn’t in but Chelsea still had 11 men and 85 mins to score a goal…..
So it was literally edge of the seat time for the rest of the game. I was shitting it and could hardly breathe. Chelsea were getting closer and closer. Then 6 mins of injury time – WHAT!!!!!!!!!! 6 minutes what the actual?!?! Where did that come from?! Then that moment came. You know in life sometimes you have those moments when time stand still in those miniscule seconds. Well time stood still for me when Gudjohnsen had that ball, took a shot and deflected off of Carra – yes it did take a very slight deflection off of Carra – and narrowly missed the post. Breath again!!!!!!!!! We’ve only gone and bloody done it!!!!!! In the CL final!!!!!!!!! Against the might of AC Milan! Chelsea could not score 1 goal in 186 mins of football so fuck their excuses and ghost goals!! If they can’t score 1 goal in 186 mins of football then they don’t deserve to be in the final. Rafa out tactically manoeuvred Mourinho and he couldn’t handle that!!
So 25 May 2005 the CL final against Milan. Three weeks to think about that, to ponder to think of what might be.
A decision was to be made for me also. Where should I watch this game? In the pub with friends? In my house on my own? Go to another friends house and watch it there. In the end I decided not to tempt fate. What got us here I thought was me staying in my own house, drinking beer and watching was not lose. When I ventured to watch us in the pub we didn’t win in the CL. So for the sake of the team I did what I did for Olympiakos, Leverkusen, Juventus and Chelsea and stayed at home to watch it. Second decision was to watch it on ITV or Sky? Decided to settle for Sky and tape record the game on ITV!!!
I’ve always admired Milan and they’ve always been my favourite Italian club. That team was immense. Dida, Cafu, Stam, Nesta, Maldini, Gattuso, Seedorf, Pirlo, Kaka, Shevchenko and Crespo. No weak links. But mentally as I witnessed in 2004 against Depor and the Semis against PSV they could succumb. But never the less that Milan team was magnificent. For me it was the best in Europe. Best defence in Europe. Best midfield in Europe and the best striker in Europe along with Henry and Eto’o. Our midfield triumvirate of Hamann, Gerrard and Alonso had to be at their best to compete with the Milan midfield.
We needed to keep things tight and try and counter them.
Leading up to 25 May 2005 everyone was predicting a tight game. Everyone had Milan down to win, which was natural because they were so good and had a team full of winners.
I remember watching programmes leading up to that day. There was previous finals we played in on the tv and other programmes talking about the final itself. All the papers were debating what would happen all predicting a tightly fought game that would be won 1-0.
Most of my friends and family wished me luck, except for a few who wanted Milan to win.
The morning of 25 May 2005 was a bright and sunny day. I had breakfast, showered and put on my Liverpool shirt. I went out and bought a load of newspapers from the local shop and even people I didn’t know looked at my shirt and said good luck tonight!
I went to London to see a few people as I did not want to stay at home all day so went to see some old Uni friends and I got home about just as Sky was starting its build up so it must have been around 6. In my mind I was convincing myself that no matter what happens tonight it was an achievement in reaching the final. But the thought of losing broke my heart but I needed to convince myself that I should prepare to deal with that should we lose as you must remember apart from 2001 we’ve been in the doldrums since the early 90’s and I really didn’t think we’d get another opportunity like this so the pessimism in me was high because it was a natural reaction for me to the events that has happened to Liverpool from 1990 to that date.
Of course there was an optimistic side to me as well. We all heard that Ken & Deirdre got married in Corrie in 1981 and 2005. Wales had done the Grand Slam in 1981 and 2005 and various other events which occurred in 2005 also occurred when we won the European cup previously.
I also was in the belief that something could happen. Ever since that Gerrard goal against Olympiakos something inside of me told me something special might happen this year.
So I went to the off license and got a cradle of beer. The shop assistant said he hoped we’d win and off I went.
When I came back the team sheet came through Hamann on the bench and Kewell up front? I couldn’t believe my eyes. Rafa was changing tack and gambled. Was it going to be worth it? I was worried and as it turned out rightly so. But at least Rafa took that risk and went with another offensive player which was a higher risk strategy and if Kewell was fully fit then who knows how it would have turned out.
7.40pm and after cracking open my 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] beer the players walk out of the tunnel and lined up to the CL anthem.
Milan get the ball and Traore tumbles down a Milan player – can’t quite remember who – but it was a stupid free kick to give away. Pirlo places it superbly and Maldini of all people scored. I couldn’t think at that time. I think I was in shock!! The rest of the first half we were playing ok and getting into our stride a little and Garcia then has a great opportunity but the ball hits Nesta’s hand an no penalty was given. Milan then go up the other end pull our defence apart and make it 2-0. Masterfully done. For me then it was more or less over. This was Milan we were talking about in a final they wouldn’t give up a 2-0 lead. Kaka was pulling the strings and dictating things, he was fantastic that night and was majestic. Then he pulled us apart yet again, made an astounding pass for Crespo to finish off quite superbly. It was done 3-0. It 2-0 was game over then 3-0 was humiliation.
We were being humbled out there It felt that the realities of our league form really did suggest we were nothing more than an average team. Our CL form was masking our true selves. That first 45 mins wasn’t even painful to me. It was beyond pain. It was despair it was a feeling of numbness of my soul being shattered and dark matter taking its place.
Heading into half time my first thoughts were that this was going to be one of the most remembered finals in history as Milan score 6, 7 or even 8 goals. Everything they touched turned into gold or to be more precise goals. Liverpool FC was being humiliated on the biggest stage in world club football with every football fan watching. We’d never forget it. We’d never live it down. It would be talked about forever.
I wanted to be left alone I couldn’t speak to anyone. I had dozens of phone calls at half time taking the piss out of me. E-mails and text messages taking the piss out of me and Liverpool. I couldn’t do anything My hands were numb so I couldn’t e-mail or text back even if I wanted to!
I decided to get some fresh air and a bottle of whisky as I needed something stronger than beer. Off I went to the shop again and spoke to the shop assistant. He took one look at me immediately took down a bottle of Bell’s. He knew what I needed!! A betting shop was next door so I popped in and looked up at one of the screens. We were 300/1 to win the CL. I was tempted and if I had a clear head I may have put a fiver on it but I was a mess so I went home with my bottle of whisky and drank myself stupid. Like most Liverpool supporters at the time I think.
So the second half starts and Hamann is on for Finnan. A significant change as it turned out but at the time I wasn’t really assessing the tactical movements Rafa was trying to employ. I thought it was too late Hamann should have started and Kaka has already done the damage. Now it was damage limitation.
I felt sorry for the supporters to spent thousands of pounds going to Istanbul. I really did. They didn’t deserve this humiliation. We didn’t deserve this humiliation. But it was happening. For years it was Man Utd, Arsenal and now Chelsea fighting it out. We were the after thought. We were the also rans. So to see the opportunity to sticking back in the throats of those supporters of those clubs – us fucking also rans!!! Us after thoughts!! Fuck them!! This was going to be our fucking night, our night when they couldn’t dismiss us ever fucking again. But this humiliation meant we could never forget it. We would be also rans. We would be the after thought whilst those three clubs fought for trophies.
Milan had a free kick. I half expected them to score and Shevchenko almost did but Dudek saved it.
We had some possession with Alonso have a good clean shot going just wide. I wanted to at least score one goal for the fans out there for me just one goal to say we contributed something to this final other than turning up – and we didn’t really turn up in the first place!!
Then the six minutes of madness was about to occur. Maldini’s pass or shot whatever it was came to Traore who passed it out and we had another good spell of possession. The ball went to Riise who crossed it but it was blocked. Crucially this allowed Gerrard to go further into the box another couple of yards. Hard Riise crossed that ball into the box first time out then Gerrard would not have scored. Alas Riise had another chance to cross the ball found Gerrard who scored.
I showed no emotion really. I was happy to see us score obviously but it was over. Then we regained possession Gerrard had the ball and played it to Baros. The linesman flagged for offside but the ref played on. We got a throw in the ball was passed to Hamann squared it to Smicer. Fuck my life Smicer is lining up to shoot. DON’T FUCKING SHOOT YOU IDIOT GET IT INTO THE BOX FOR BAROS OR GERRARD. DO NOT FUCKING SHOOT SMICER YOU TWAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! He took a shot and he only fucking scored. COMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEE OOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Smicer believed, the players believed. I believed. This is on now!
