Sunday will be 20 years since the incredible comeback from Liverpool in Istanbul to beat AC Milan and win the Champions League, and reminds a new TNT sports documentary of that famous night
Twenty years after the miracle of Istanbul and the memories still bring goose bumps.
Liverpool hero John Arne Riise remembers the Rabble-Rousing Speech by Steven Gerrard and never hears that you will only get through the dressing room walls. The scene was set for the biggest comeback of football when Liverpool somehow clawed back a road of 3-0 during the break to fight back and beat AC Milan on punishment.
Riise believes that it remains as “the craziest and the most iconic” match in the incredible Champions League history of Liverpool, which surpasses all other great European nights for the six times winners. “Stevie talks, you will never walk alone and the fans … We wanted to do it for them,” Riise recalled.
“If you look back, it was so powerful. Of course we never dreamed that we could do it, but we wanted to give everything and that is what brought us there.”
The miracle of Istanbul has been revised in a TNT sports documentary and has interviews with so many of the great personalities such as Gerrard, Riise and great memories with Miracle Men of Rafa Benitez.
But it also describes the context of the final and how Liverpool had been so inconsistent in the Premier League, almost crashed from the Champions League and then the power of Milan was disrupted when the men of Carlo Ancelotti were considered red -hot favorites.
It also remembers the semi -final with Chelsea in Anfield, the Mind Games with Jose Mourinho and that almost sets up the script for the final.
Riise said: “I just get goosebumps! As soon as you draw for the club, you will be told by the local boys – in my case it was Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard – that this is not a normal club. The fans come behind you. They are so special.
“They just want to see that you give everything. If you do that, that is what counts. It gives you up, give everything for the club, they give you energy and they carry you through games.
“We did not have the best team in any way. We as players realized that we were not good enough in the Premier League, but game per game and in a one -off we could beat someone. Rafa was so good with his tactic but also let us believe.
“In short, we who entered the final, we really believed that we could win? We played the best AC Milan team, especially defensive. A few players had an uncertainty and asked:” We are not good enough. “
“We admitted so early and with any doubts it actually kills your conviction. I don't think we played so badly, they scored incredible goals and it just ran away from us.”
That half -time scene in the dressing room remains the stuff of the legend. Benitez's tactics, team talk and the comeback from an apparently impossible situation.
Riise said, “Everyone was down, a few players probably thought,” Please don't look me out! ” I think we sat there, looked at our feet and think, “What happened?”
“Rafa came in with his piece of paper, he was very calm – as he is always – and he made some changes, changed the system and he also said that goals influence games, not losing the second half and he said;” If you get the first goal, you will never play. “
“Stevie talked to the players, then the fans sang:” You will never walk alone and we heard that in the dressing room. ” The message was clear: don't lose the second half.
“You have to understand that many players were so behind Stevie, we wanted him to succeed as a captain. Of course you give everything for the club – but we also wanted to give everything for Stevie.”
Of course there have been other big nights. Other comebacks, such as against Barcelona on the way to winning the trophy in 2019. But there is nothing to compare for Riise.
He added: “I think Istanbul was the best, the craziest and the most iconic. Milan was better than the American player per player, they were so good defensive and we should not have had a chance.
“Of course people will talk about the Barcelona – and that was incredible. But it was in Anfield. Istanbul was away from home, far away from home and we were so under -performance in the Premier League that it just makes it more incredible.”
The Wonder of Istanbul: Liverpool 2005_ Premières on TNT Sports 1 and Discovery+ on Sunday 25 May at 9:45 PM
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