[lfc-news] Liverpool defy belief - Post

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Liverpool Daily Post, 26 May 2005
Liverpool defy belief
By Andy Hunter, Daily Post

TODAY they will find a permanent resting place for the European Cup at
Anfield. Last night they somehow made room in the pantheon of Liverpool
managerial legends for Rafael Benitez.

Defying the odds has been the script of Liverpool's Champions League
campaign, yet the story of how Steven Gerrard came to get his hands on
the club's fairytale fifth continental crown defies belief.

Three goals down and outclassed by a rampant AC Milan they were down and
out after 45 minutes in Istanbul. Saving face was their only aim for the
second half. Only their remarkable strength of character - that allowed
Jerzy Dudek to write his name in Anfield folklore in possibly his last
game for the club - and Benitez himself explain what happened next.

The confidence that radiates from this Liverpool manager has never
wavered in the face of this season's trials, although it was a
superhuman effort that sustained him last night.

Weaker men would have buckled and thrown blame around the Liverpool
dressing room.

Instead, Benitez produced another of his famed tactical switches,
Liverpool produced the most astonishing comeback in cup final history,
and 75 minutes and a successful penalty shoot-out later, he had
delivered the trophy upon which the club's reputation was built.

He has made his people happy once again. To many, the substitution of
Dietmar Hamann against Bayer Leverkusen was the beginning of the end of
real hope under Gerard Houllier. How ironic then that the half-time
arrival of the German, another who may have made his final appearance
for the club, swung Liverpool back into this final and into a glorious
new era last night.

There was no inkling of the triumph to come as Liverpool made the worst
possible start.

Having caught Juventus and Chelsea cold at Anfield to reach the final
Liverpool were caught at their own game when Paolo Maldini scooped
Andrea Pirlo's clever free-kick beyond Dudek after only 49 seconds.

Despite pre-match assertions to the contrary Liverpool were over-awed by
the occasion and betrayed by their nerves in the beginning. Milan, too
good to decline invitations, revelled in the space allowed.

Once anxiety disappeared from Liverpool's game, however, they did find
hope and a measure of control.

Xabi Alonso was the first to emerge from the malaise, although only when
Harry Kewell made a galling early exit did Liverpool offer any real
purpose with Luis Garcia a far more effective second striker.

Benitez had gambled on Kewell and called it badly wrong. Even so, he had
every right to expect some repayment from the fading star. Instead he
got a repeat of the Carling Cup Final, with the Australian limping away
from an innocuous thigh injury - and to a chorus of boos from his own
supporters - after only 23 minutes. The night would get much worse for
those he left behind, before getting unbelievably, brilliantly better
thanks to a collective force of will.

Before Gerrard assumed the mantle in the second half the Brazilian Kaka,
playing off the front two, was the Milan destroyer. The first of several
outstanding runs ended in a goal for Andrei Shevchenko in the 29th
minute, only for Liverpool to escape thanks to a generous off-side decision.

Then came what everyone inside the Ataturk Stadium believed was the
game's defining moment in the 38th minute. Alessandro Nesto clearly
handled inside his own area as Garcia left him sliding on the floor yet
referee Manuel Gonzalez, no friend of compatriot Benitez, incredibly
waved play on.

Three passes later Kaka sent Shevchenko clear of the Liverpool defence
with a nonchalant flick and the Ukrainian picked out Hernan Crespo at
the far post for a simple finish. The game had appeared to swing
irrevocably away from Liverpool, and the sense of loss intensified two
minutes before the interval when Crespo added a fabulous third.

Again Kaka was the orchestra-tor, spinning away from Gerrard and
dissecting the Liverpool defence with an instant pass reminiscent of
Kenny Dalglish in his pomp. The one Chelsea player to reach the final,
Crespo, duly dinked the delivery over Dudek.

Game over? Even Liverpool's players thought so. Yet their remarkable
European support had other ideas and so, it transpired, did Benitez in
the bowels of the stadium. Before kick off the question of how Liverpool
could have reached this final without a league title for 15 years and
having finished 37 points behind Chelsea had dissolved into the more
positive; how could they possibly lose?

Even Istanbul carried a bias for Liverpool. Before it became known as
Constantinople the host city was originally called New Rome and, of
course, they always win there.

The hunger and passion that carried them through against the champions
of Italy in the last eight and the champions of England in the
semi-final shone through even now.

Tentative strains of You'll Never Walk Alone developed into a thunderous
rendition as the travelling Kop refused to give up hope during the
interval, although "We're gonna win 4-3" did seem a little optimistic at
the time.

It was on the pitch, however, where Liverpool played their ace in Hamann
and in five never-to-be-forgotten minutes --from the 54th to the 59th -
the new midfield diamond tore Milan apart to bring the constant
underdogs, somehow, miraculously, level.

Alonso set the tone by driving inches wide from 35 yards. Then Gerrard
began to stamp his mark all over on this astonishing final.

Freed to attack by Hamann's calm presence alongside Alonso the Anfield
captain rose majestically to send John Arne Riise's left-wing cross over
Dida with a towering header.

The comeback was on and Gerrard, whipping his supporters into further
hysteria as he raced back to the centre-circle, knew it.

Two minutes later Kewell's replacement Vladimir Smicer, yet another
heading for the Anfield exit, was teed up by Hamann for a 25-yard drive
that flew into the bottom corner with such power Dida could not change
its path with both hands.

Milan were powerless to stem the tide now tearing through them. Gerrard
led another wave into the area and was clipped by Gennaro Gattuso.
Penalty, although there should have been a red card as well. Amid the
mayhem Alonso was denied from the spot by a fabulous Dida dive, but
reacted quickest to send the rebound high into the battered Italian net.

With mission impossible accomplished and Milan eventually coming to
terms with Liverpool's shape the momentum inevitably faded as the
fastest 90 minutes in living memory flew by.

The Serie A runners-up finished strongest with Shevchenko denied by two
outstanding Jamie Carragher tackles and on the line by Traore after
Dudek had risked an Anfield lynching by spilling Kaka's cross at the
feet of the usually deadly striker.

Jon Dahl Tomasson sliced the first chance of a balanced extra-time wide
while Gerrard, as an emergency right-back, Carragher and Sami Hyypia
swept up everything Milan had to offer.

Shevchenko should have won the cup with only three minutes left when
Dudek blocked his header on the line and then somehow diverted his
rebound over the bar from only two yards. And so to the dreaded
penalties, down at the Milan end, but the momentum was with Liverpool as
soon as Serginho sent the first spot-kick over the Bosphorus and into Asia.

Then, as Hamann, Cisse and Smicer all converted, Dudek produced his
finest moment in an Anfield shirt to save from Pirlo and finally
Shevchenko, the man who won the European Cup for Milan with the fifth
penalty in 2003. Not this time.

With one more flying save the glory days returned to Liverpool -28 years
to the day that they were first crowned European champions with victory
over Borussia Moenchengladbach in Rome.

The subsequent years have brought both the highs and lows of Liverpool's
history but after suffering enviously on the sidelines for so long they
can rejoice from the peak of Europe. Liverpool reign in Europe once more.

As even Benitez will have to admit when he goes to buy his wife another
expensive watch this weekend, it is no longer just a possibility.

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