15 years ago, the most spectacular final of the Champions League took place. Liverpool FC made a memorable comeback – with a German international.
Dietmar Hamann felt a great emptiness when he entered the dressing room during the half-time break. From the bench, the German international had experienced how his Liverpool FC was not doing well at all. Against the ripped-off team of AC Milan, the English were trailing 3-0. The final of the Champions League seemed to be decided after 45 minutes.
But Rafael Benitez remained calm. Liverpool’s coach decided to take more risk. So he sent Hamann out to warm up. The midfielder was to replace fullback Steve Finnan. So Hamann left the dressing room and walked into Istanbul’s Ataturk stadium.
What he saw there was incredible. Forty thousand English fans chanting loudly “You’ll never walk alone”. The interim result could not spoil their mood.
Liverpool have won the handle pot for the fifth time.
A few hours later in the night the fans should sing even louder: Because they had previously experienced the most spectacular final match in Champions League history – with a positive outcome for their team.
Liverpool won the game 6-5 on penalties. So it was on 26 May 2005, 15 years ago, that the Reds secured the handle pot for the fifth time – and how.
“We couldn’t realise at all what had just happened,” Hamann said later in an interview with the world. “Just under two hours earlier, we had been sitting in the dressing room and we’d lost 3-0. And suddenly the trophy is standing in the middle of the booth.”
His team had already surprised on the way to the final. In the quarter-final against Juventus Turin, Liverpool had been underdogs – and got further. The semi-final opponents were Chelsea FC. The first leg ended in London 0-0. In Liverpool, Luis Garcia’s 1-0 goal was enough for the hosts to reach the final.