[lfc-news] CL Final report - PA

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PA Sport, 25 May 2005

AC Milan 3 Liverpool 3 (After extra time, Liverpool win 3-2 on penalties)

History repeated itself for Liverpool here when they amazingly won the
Champions League in a penalty shoot-out after staging a stunning
comeback in normal time from three down.

Their fifth Euro crown came when marksman Andriy Shevchenko hit the post
with his crucial spot-kick to give Liverpool victory and send the
Anfield fans wild with delight.

The last time Liverpool won this trophy was back in 1984, and that too
against Roma was after penalties.

Milan had stormed into a three-goal first-half lead through Paolo
Maldini and a Hernan Crespo double, only to be stunned by an amazing
Liverpool fight back with three goals in six minutes at the beginning of
the second period through Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer and Xabi Alonso.

Kewell's final ended after just 23 minutes. He had suffered an ankle
injury earlier and was replaced by Vladimir Smicer, for what will be his
last game for the club before he leaves at the end of his contract this
summer.

That was a cruel blow for Kewell and Benitez's brave plan to start with
him in the first place, and with Milan controlling the game with their
technique and movement, it was already looking an uphill battle for the
Anfield men.

Baros was hardly getting a sniff against Jaap Stam, and there was no
fire and passion from Liverpool as Milan were strolling through the game.

There was a clear need for someone to take a grip from the Liverpool
point of view and start breaking up the flow of Milan passing. Gerrard
was trying but Xabi Alonso looked lost not and not sure of who he was
supposed to be picking up.

When Luis Garcia gave the ball away with a weak flick, Milan sped away
through Pirlo and when the ball found Andriy Shevchenko unmarked on the
left he finished with clinical ease - only to be denied by a linesman's
flag. Liverpool thanked their luck.

Already Milan had a stranglehold on the game, Gennaro Gattuso was
finding space to forage from, while Pirlo and Clarence Seedorf were able
to pick off Liverpool's passing and set in motion their own attacks.

And had it not been for Luis Garcia on the line after 14 minutes, it
could have been 2-0.

Crespo produced a clever flicked header on the near post that the
Spanish midfielder headed away from under the bar.

Liverpool still looked stunned. Riise gave away possession too easily,
Traore also looked to be struggling down the flank and even Steven
Gerrard was chasing shadows in midfield.

Kaka then dummied his way through the middle to feed Cafu on the right,
before continuing his run into the box to produce an uncontested header
wide.

Kewell's final ended after just 23 minutes. He had suffered an ankle
injury earlier and was replaced by Vladimir Smicer, for what will be his
last game for the club before he leaves at the end of his contract this
summer.

That was a cruel blow for Kewell and Benitez's brave plan to start with
him in the first place, and with Milan controlling the game with their
technique and movement, it was already looking an uphill battle for the
Anfield men.

Baros was hardly getting a sniff against Jaap Stam, and there was no
fire and passion from Liverpool as Milan were strolling through the game.

There was a clear need for someone to take a grip from the Liverpool
point of view and start breaking up the flow of Milan passing. Gerrard
was trying but Xabi Alonso looked lost not and not sure of who he was
supposed to be picking up.

When Luis Garcia gave the ball away with a weak flick, Milan sped away
through Pirlo and when the ball found Andriy Shevchenko unmarked on the
left he finished with clinical ease - only to be denied by a linesman's
flag. Liverpool thanked their luck.

Baros managed to get in the way of Alonso, better placed, to hook a shot
over and Riise again arrived on the left to fire another long range
effort over the top.

Baros was penalised for a supposed push on Stam and then for backing
into the Dutchman by Spanish referee Manuel Gonzalez.

But Liverpool did create a decent opening on 35 minutes when Riise
nodded across goal for Baros to flick the ball towards Luis Garcia, 15
yards out.

But the midfielder's touch escaped him at the worst time and he mishit
his effort wide, knowing such a half-chance for the Premiership side
just had to be taken against a team of Milan's class and authority.

Then came a key point in the game in the 36th minute.

Liverpool felt they should have had a penalty when Luis Garcia tried to
go past Alessandro Nesta - but appealed for a spot-kick when the ball
appeared to strike the stricken defender on the elbow.

Milan surged to the other end, Shevchenko crossed from the right for
Crespo to beat a helpless Dudek from six yards and double the Italians'
advantage.

Worse was to follow a minute before half-time. Kaka split the Reds'
defence with a wonderful pass and Crespo chipped the ball over Dudek to
make it 3-0.

Liverpool brought on Hamann at the break for Steve Finnan, pushing
Carragher to right-back, Traore to the centre of defence and Riise to
left-back, a complete rejig of their defence which had been so badly
exposed in the first period. Hamann took up a central midfield role,
allowing Gerrard to push forward.

But in the 47th minute when Cafu sent over an angled cross from the
right, Dudek on the near post managed to fumble the ball and it bounced
back dangerously into play.

Alonso saw a 30-yard effort fly inches wide with Liverpool at least
trying to make a fight of things. But still the defensive errors
continued and Traore's slip let in Kaka for a run which was halted by
Hyypia's foul.

And it took a flying save from Dudek to turn away Shevchenko's drive
from the resulting free-kick touched to him by Pirlo.

But Liverpool were still going forward and on 52 minutes Gerrard sent a
looping header over Dida from Riise's cross and the red faithful
erupted, with Gerrard urging them to turn up the volume.

And it worked. Two minutes later Hamann fed Smicer and the Czech saw an
edge of the box drive beat Dida to bring the Reds to within one goal of
Milan.

Amazingly on 60 minutes Liverpool were level.

Gerrard was brought down in the box by Gattuso as he surged forward to
reach a Smicer pass.

Referee Gonzalez pointed to the spot and refused all appeals to send off
the former Rangers midfielder.

Alonso stepped up to take the penalty and Dida pushed it out diving to
his right only for the Spain midfielder to smash the rebound into the
roof of the net to send the Liverpool fans into delirium.

Liverpool were a totally changed side now. Gone was the indecision and
fear of the first period, replaced by men with conviction.

Riise was next to test Dida, firing in a 30-yard strike which the Brazil
keeper palmed up before catching gratefully.

A far more fluid, mobile Liverpool stretched a worried Milan who must
have felt at the break that the cup had been won.

Milan hit back and on 69 minutes Traore was on the line to hack away a
Shevchenko drive that threatened to restore the Italians' lead.

Gerrard and Smicer both had long range efforts over the top, while Luis
Garcia was finding far more space to exploit and Gerrard had a far more
attacking role.

Carragher was booked for a 75th-minute foul on Gattuso, before Gerrard
played a 50-yard pass for Luis Garcia to chest down in the box, but he
was unable to bring the ball fully under control.

Carragher made a fine saving tackle on Crespo before Baros was booked 10
minutes from time for a push on Nesta.

Baros was replaced by Cisse in the 84th minute, with the Italians
sending on Jon Dahl Tomasson and Serginho for Crespo and Seedorf at the
same time.

Stam saw a close range header flash wide on 88 minutes, the last major
incident of the 90 minutes.

In the first period of extra time Tomasson just failed to reach a
left-wing cross and Pirlo saw a 35-yard shot clear the bar before also
firing a free-kick high over.

Gerrard now found himself patrolling a right-sided role, even to the
point of right-back at one stage to halt the runs of substitute Serginho.

With three minutes left, Serginho's cross forced Dudek to make two
remarkable saves, both from Shevchenko. The first was point blank, and
from the rebound the Polish keeper somehow deflected the rebound effort
over the top, sending the game into penalties.

Serginho missed Milan's first spot-kick - Dudek's dancing on his line
clearly put him off - allowing Hamann to fire in Liverpool's first
effort. Then Dudek saved Pirlo's next effort, allowing Cisse to ram home
the next one to give Liverpool a two-goal lead.

Tomasson kept his nerve to score from the next kick, and Dida saved
Riise's next effort to crank up the tension, with Kaka levelling the
scores with the next Milan effort.

Smicer was next up to send Dida the wrong way, and then amazingly
Shevchenko hit the post and Liverpool had won the trophy.

AC Milan: Dida, Maldini, Cafu, Nesta, Stam, Gattuso (Rui Costa 112),
Kaka, Pirlo, Seedorf (Serghino 86), Crespo (Tomasson 85), Shevchenko
Subs not used: Abbiati, Costacurta, Dhorasoo, Kaladze
Booked: none
Goals: Maldini 1, Crespo 39, 44

Liverpool: Dudek, Carragher, Finnan (Hamann 45), Hyypia, Traore, Alonso,
Gerrard, Kewell (Smicer 23), Luis Garcia, Riise, Baros (Cisse 85)
Subs not used: Carson, Biscan, Josemi, Nunez
Booked: Carragher, Baros
Goals: Gerrard 54, Smicer 56, Alonso pen 61

Penalties: Serghino misses (0-0), Hamann scores (0-1), Pirlo saved
(0-1), Cisse scores (0-2), Tomasson scores (1-2), Riise saved (1-2),
Kaka scores (2-2), Smicer scores (2-3), Shevchenko misses (2-3)

Att: 65,000
Referee: M Gonzalez (Spain)

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