Today is the 10 year anniversary of one of the most incredible nights in Champions League history, as on May 25th, 2005, Liverpool overturned a 3-0 half time deficit to beat AC Milan on penalties and win the Champions League.
Hernan Crespo scored twice to put Milan into a seemingly comfortable position before it all went wrong, and he has today given a brilliant interview to The Guardian where he details the moment that he believed turned the tide, along with several other insights into the mind of someone who was on the losing side that night.
We were focused on our play until Rafa Benítez changed the match with a move: Didi Hamann came in front of the defence to free up Steven Gerrard. That switch put us in a very difficult situation. And then something that only destiny can control happened. Like the great goal headed goal by Steven, Vladimir Smicer with that great shot, and then the penalty that was first saved and then scored by Xabi Alonso. But the best was saved for the last I guess.
By claiming that the "best was saved for last", Crespo was referring to Jerzy Dudek's miraculous save from Shevchenko in extra time, and the Argentine striker expressed his disbelief at that moment:
I will never forget Dudek’s save from Shevchenko’s effort, something incredible. I believe that Jerzy still to this day has no idea how he stopped that shot. How Shevchenko did not score that goal is surreal.
Crespo also used this opportunity to dismiss reports that had emerged which claimed the AC Milan players were already celebrating at half-time:
Nobody celebrated in the changing room, those stories are made up. In that Milan side we had players such as Alessandro Nesta, Maldini, Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Clarence Seedorf, Andriy Shevchenko and many others: do you think they would celebrate after 45 minute? Quite the opposite, there were some who were discussing how we should have been playing better, despite the fact we were beating Liverpool 3-0.
It certainly was one of the memorable comebacks in football history, and a night that Liverpool fans will never forget. You can read the full interview with Hernan Crespo here.
