[GreatBriton]

Liverpool have won the European Cup to become European Champions for the first time since 1984, and become the first British team to win the competition since Manchester United in 1999. Liverpool have now won the trophy 5 times, a record for a British team, and only three other teams in Europe have won it more times. In one of the most amazing games ever, Liverpool fought back from 3-0 down at half-time to snatch a 3-3 draw, and won on penalties.

From The Daily Mail -

Now let the comeback kings defend the cup
May 2005

European Cup Final - AC Milan 3-3 Liverpool
(After Extra Time, Liverpool won 3-2 on penalities)


Sealed with a kiss: Gerrard staying after amazing victory


Steven Gerrard called on UEFA to allow Liverpool to defend the Champions League trophy next season as he revealed he is set to stay put to lead their challenge.
Gerrard capped a truly incredible game against AC Milan, with Liverpool having fought back from 3-0 down at half-time to prevail on penalties, by admitting: "How can I leave after a night like this?"

Now the Liverpool captain, who has repeatedly been linked with a potential transfer, will start talks with the club over a new contract.




"We are going to sit down really soon with the manager and [chief executive] Rick Parry, and it's looking good," he revealed.
"My form has been hot and cold this season but I'm going to put that to bed and you'll see a different player next season.

"The fans saved up for months to come here. Liverpool fans are crazy, they were unbelievable, and I'd like to dedicate this victory to them."

UEFA pressure

The pressure on UEFA is now growing to confirm that Liverpool will be offered a wild card entry into next season's competition after lifting the trophy for a fifth time.

The winners are not automatically entitled to defend their crown, while Everton have been assured of England's fourth spot in the Champions League.

UEFA sent out mixed signals ahead of last night's final, but Gerrard insisted: "It's called the Champions League and the champions should be able to defend it.

"I just hope that others above [at UEFA] let us do that next season."

Boss Rafa Benitez added: "Common sense says that the winner must defend the title and I think that Steven wants to stay to win more trophies with us."

Liverpool had still started the season as outsiders, they were underdogs against Juventus, Chelsea and also Milan. Indeed, they were written off even at half-time in the final itself.

But with probably the most incredible comeback in any major European final, they rescued a seemingly lost cause through sheer strength of character in Istanbul.

They had gone behind after just 52 seconds when Paolo Maldini volleyed home after a free-kick, with on-loan Chelsea striker Hernan Crespo then scoring twice.

Liverpool were even denied a penalty despite an apparent handball by Alessandro Nesta, although Milan were similarly frustrated by an offside goal cancelled out for Andriy Shevchenko.

The 3-0 half-time scoreline nevertheless seemed to spell the end for Liverpool, even if a handful of fans did defiantly sing "we're going to win 4-3".

Few believed them. But Benitez had made some shrewd moves at half-time, bringing on Dietmar Hamann for Steve Finnan and making three defensive switches.

The net result was to give the team a stronger platform, enabling Gerrard to roam further forward and he duly headed home Liverpool's lifeline on 54 minutes.

Six minutes later, they were level after a breathtaking spell as substitute Vladimir Smicer struck with a drive and then Xabi Alonso converted a penalty - won by Gerrard - at the second attempt.

Six minutes of madness

As AC Milan boss Carlo Ancelotti blamed "six minutes of madness", Liverpool were kept in the game by an incredible double-save by Jerzy Dudek from Shevchenko in the last minute of extra-time.

However, the Polish keeper's heroics had not stopped there as he then reproduced Bruce Grobbelaar's goal-line antics from the club's last European Cup triumph in 1984.

With Serginho blasting the first spot-kick wildly over the bar, Dudek denied both Andrea Pirlo and Shevchenko as Liverpool prevailed even though John Arne Riise's effort was saved.

After a 21-year absence, they were back at the pinnacle of European football and not even Gerrard could quite believe it.

"We were massive underdogs at the start of the competition and I hold my hands up, I didn't think we were going to go all the way," he admitted.

"At half-time, I also thought it was impossible and that I'd be in tears at the end. We had a mountain to climb but we kept fighting to the end.

"The manager said keep our chins up and try and score early - and we did. The cup is heavy but it feels good. This is the best night of my life."


dailymail.co.uk

[GreatBriton]

From The Mirror -

26 May 2005
SIMPLY UNBELIEVABUL
By Martin Lipton
FORGET Bruce Grobbelaar and the “spaghetti legs’’ that broke Roman hearts and made the whole continent quake at the thought of Liverpool.






CLASS ACT: Dudek denies Shevchenko in the penalty shootout and the European Cup goes back to Liverpool.




Now we can hail the Pole who bounced his way into Champions League history and made Europe tremble anew as Rafa Benitez and his Reds fulfilled their destiny.




Jerzy Dudek has been the butt of so many jokes over the last few years that he had almost become a laughing stock, a byword for comedy keepers and almost certainly playing his last game for Benitez.


Yet as Dudek ignored all the laws of the game, jumping yards off his line to foil first Andrea Pirlo and then, with the plunge that will always be remembered, a devastated Andrei Shevchenko to end the 21-year wait for Liverpool’s fifth European Cup, he became a legend.


But as Dudek was submerged beneath a mass of red shirts, he was just one of a new clutch, a new breed of Anfield heroes who somehow, from somewhere, found the courage to conjure the greatest comeback there has ever been.


The Liverpool fans had bellowed out chorus after chorus of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, rousing their men into the last lung-busting effort that would bring the ultimate glory, and knowing they were witnessing something truly heroic, truly epic.







KING PAOLO: European Cup legend Maldini nets (for Milan) after just 50 seconds


And what made it so good, was the way that the night had been transformed completely in the space of six minutes that brought the living gods of Serie A to their knees and took Liverpool from despair into disbelieving delight.


Until Steven Gerrard rose to loop John Arne Riise’s cross past Dida and into the top corner of the Milan net, everything that could have gone wrong for the Reds was going against them.


Benitez was rightly hailed for the tactical insights that saw off Juventus and outwitted Chelsea but, as his decision to gamble on the suspect temperament of Harry Kewell and omit Didi Hamann’s defensive nous backfired spectacularly, the Spaniard looked to have made a mistake that might have haunted him.







CRESP FINISH: Hernan Crespo nets Milan's second to go 2-0 ahead


The absence of Hamann from the middle of the park turned into an open invitation for Brazilian ace Kaka to run the game and, by the time Kewell departed to a cacophony of jeers from his own supporters after just 23 minutes, the script appeared to have been written.


Admittedly, Liverpool only trailed by one at that stage, the bolt from the blue by Milan skipper Paolo Maldini as he met Pirlo’s first minute free-kick with a right-footed volley that bounded past Dudek.


Luis Garcia chested a Hernan Crespo header off the line and only a close-call flag denied Shevchenko a second.







NICE AND THREESY: Argentinian star Crespo nonchalantly nets Milan's third just before half time. This made it AC Milan 3-0 Liverpool.


But when the Spanish officials turned against Liverpool in the 38th minute, the consequences within 15 seconds appeared to be taking the game in an inevitable direction.


Xabi Alonso’s clever pass sent Garcia scurrying away and, when he turned into the box sending Alessandro Nesta on to his back, the ball was clearly stopped by the defender’s elbow.


Yet neither referee Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez nor his assistant spotted the blatant handball and Milan struck with devastating efficiency as Crespo netted.







HEADS I WIN: Gerrard gives Liverpool hope. 3-1.


Two minutes before the break, Kaka unhinged the Reds with a sublime turn away from Gerrard, matched by a peerless pass that sent Crespo romping away for a deadly and instant finish.


Even when Benitez conceded his mistake by sending on Hamann at the break, it appeared a damage-limitation exercise.


But Gerrard’s header fanned the flickering flame of Merseyside fire.


Two minutes later, the impossible was looking likely as Smicer unleashed a low drive from 20 yards that found the bottom corner.







VLAD ALL OVER: Smicer smashes home second. It is now 3-2.


And within another four minutes, it was sheer delirium for Liverpool.


Gerrard surged on to Garcia’s touch and went down under Rino Gattuso’s challenge. Penalty, no question, and while Dida guessed right as Alonso went for the bottom corner, the Spaniard kept his cool to ram home the rebound.


In extra-time, Dudek performed a superb double-stop. It was just the warm-up act for what followed in the penalty shoot-out.








ALON-GOAL: Xaxi drills home rebound after penalty is saved. This made it 3-3, completing what may have been the greatest comeback in footballing history.


After Serginho blazed over and Hamann converted, Dudek was at least two yards off his line to deny Pirlo, Djibril Cisse extending the advantage.


Riise missed as Jon Dahl Tomasson, Kaka and then Vladimir Smicer netted.


But when Shevchenko went for the bottom corner, Dudek was there to turn away and begin a party that will not stop for days.


mirror.co.uk

[DerbyX]

I watched the game and am a Liverpool supporter myself. I must say after the first half I was feeling rather dejected. especially since the channel I was watching it on was televising it in italian and they were quite gleeful. Not so in the second half eh guys!!

Now if they can only manage to win the FA cup & league next year!!

[GreatBriton]

What confuses me is how they only managed to be the 5th best in England this season, whilst at the same time becoming the best team in Europe by winning the European Cup.

If they perform like that in the Premiership, they would win it.

[DerbyX]

They have been very inconsistent over the last 10 years. Remember when they won the Uefa cup, FA cup and Carling cup in 2000? Then nothing. Owen would score 4 goals in a single game then none for 6 score 2 or 3 again then none ..... You get the picture. Owen & Fowler were Englands striker duo but they didn't continually produce.
My hopes are high but the owners were saying that they would rebuild next year, although that was before LFC qualified for the semis? Case in point would be steven gerrald who nows says he'll stay. He said before that he didn't want to be part of a rebuilding team.

[xerxes]

That was probably one of the best games of football I have ever seen (it's about #3). What a comeback. Now, if only they could play that way in the EPL.

[devioustrevor]

...and I missed the freaking game.

I instead watched LOTR: Return of the King on MFest


I did watch extra-time and the shootout though. Dudek made two wicked awesome saves off of Shevchenko in the 29th minute of ET. After those two saves by Dudek and then missing the penalty kick Sheva must feel like such a goat.