25 MAY 2005, Shevchenko sets up to take the decisive penalty, Dudek takes a deep breath before the referee blew his whistle. Shevchenko goes straight down the middle while Dudek went to his right but denied the ball to go in somehow with his left hand and thus Liverpool wins their fifth Champions League title. Too fast? Let’s start from the beginning.
ROAD TO THE UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL OF BOTH THE TEAMS
# AC MILAN
AC Milan fell in the same group as Barcelona, Shakhtar, and Celtic. It can’t be termed as a group of death but AC Milan doubts their chances of finishing above Barcelona. AC Milan won each of the 1st leg against Barcelona, Shakhtar, and Celtic but fell on their faces when they faced Barcelona in the return leg of the group stage. Though Barcelona won against them AC Milan went against all odds and finished above Barcelona.
In the round of sixteen, they faced Sir Alex Ferguson’s side Manchester United. AC Milan won both the home and away leg by 1-0 margin and thus entering the quarter-final where they faced their neighbour Inter Milan. San Siro went buzzing as AC Milan went one more step towards the final by winning both the Milan Derbies without even conceding once.
In the Semifinals AC Milan faced the Netherland Champions PSV Eindhoven, the first leg went as off they planned, beating PSV at San Siro by 2-0 but they suffered their first defeat since they got defeated by Barcelona in the group stages in the 2nd leg of the Semifinals when PSV almost pulled it off but got eliminated because of away goals rule. Although PSV won the match 3-1 but that one away goal from AC Milan was enough to snatch them a place at the finals.
# LIVERPOOL
Liverpool’s UEFA Champions League campaign started way before AC Milan’s as they had played the qualifying round because of finishing fourth in the Barclays’s Premier league the previous year. They faced an Austrian side in the qualifying round. Though they won the 1st leg 2-0 which was an away leg Grazer AK came back strong against Liverpool in Anfield and won the reversed leg 1-0 but that wasn’t enough for them to qualify for the main group stage. Liverpool shared the group stage with AC Monaco, Olympiacos, and Deportivo La Coruna. Liverpool and Olympiacos finished the group stage equal on points but Liverpool finished above Olympiacos as 2nd due to goal difference while AC Monaco finished as table toppers.
After that Liverpool were really hard to beat as they went on to win against top teams like Leverkusen, Juventus and Chelsea in Round of 16, Quarter Finals and Semifinals resp. without even losing a single leg in all of that, before entering the finals where AC Milan was already waiting. After showing a heroic performance against top teams Liverpool hoped that this could be their year.
THE EPIC FINAL
The match was being played at Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul on 25th May 2005. The attendance of the match was 69000 all hoping to see an entertaining match filled with the thriller.
Liverpool reached their 6th Champions League final making it the first time since 1985 when they lost to Juventus by 1-0. While for AC Milan who ended the 2nd in Seria A that season were hot favourites to win the trophy after appearing in the finals for the second time in three years.
FIRST HALF
Rafael Benitez side went 1-0 down within 56 sec when the AC Milan skipper Maldini volleyed the ball into the net from a well-executed set-piece. Though Liverpool made a couple of a good chance they failed to convert any of them in the first half before Crespo splashed water on the dreams of Liverpool fans by passing the ball into their net two more times.
After the first half whistle, Liverpool were 3-0 down and it was all clear to most of the football fanatics who was going to lift the trophy but just then the miracle happened.
SECOND HALF
Carlo Ancelotti hoping that Milan continue their first-half momentum but on 54th minute Gerrard guided the ball into the top right-hand corner of the goal with a strong flick of his head. It gave some hope to the Liverpool fans as they now have to score 2 more goals in the remaining 35 minutes to be equal on terms. 56th Minute Šmicer beat Dida with a long-range shot into the bottom left-hand corner to leave Liverpool a goal behind. It got even worse when just 4 minutes later Liverpool were awarded a penalty when the captain Gerrard was brought down by Gattuso denying an open goal scoring opportunity. Dida failed to stop Xavi Alonso scoring from the rebound after the initial penalty was saved by him. For Liverpool, the mission impossible is accomplished after they were 3-0 down on 54th minute have made it all square again within the next 6 minute.
Carragher and Traore were the rock at the back and denied AC Milan to take the lead on two occasions before the referee blew the end of the second-half whistle.
EXTRA TIME
Both the squads were fatigue moving onto the extra time, managers brought on some fresh legs to rebuild the energy in players. There was only one big chance in the second half of the extra time when Shevchenko both the shots on goal was saved by Dudek taking it into the penalties.
PENALTIES
AC Milan’s Serginho skied the first penalty before Hamann scored with a broken toe and put Liverpool ahead on penalties. Dudek became a hero as he saved the second penalty that too coming off the boots of Pirlo before Liverpool’s Cisse scored his penalty to put Liverpool 2–0 up. Tomasson scored Milan's next penalty to make the score 2–1 in Liverpool's favour. Riise was next for Liverpool, but his penalty was saved by Dida. Kaká then scored the subsequent penalty to level the scores at 2–2. Vladimír Šmicer took the next Liverpool penalty, and he scored to give them a one-goal advantage.
Just when Shevchenko sets up to take the decisive penalty, Dudek takes a deep breath before the referee blew his whistle. Shevchenko goes straight down the middle but Dudek went to his right but denied the ball to go in somehow with his left hand and thus Liverpool wins their fifth Champions League title.
