I remember sitting with my dad and my grandfather at home watching the game. It was a cold night in May, and the rain was pouring down from the grey sky. The discolored grass was covered in frost, and the candles were all alight. It was a perfect night for football.
I remember sitting in the couch, watching AC Milan scoring goals by goals in pain, and suddenly I realized that Milan was leading with 3 points on Liverpool. I remember realizing that this night was not going to be a pleasant night after all. I felt the tears were pushing on, and they were about to run down my cheeks. I started wondering if the next half was going to be as sad and painful as the first one.
The second half began. I tried to compile the hope that was still left inside me together. I found some, and I decided it was enough to watch the second half. Suddenly I heard the Liverpool-fans singing the most beautiful and touching song ever made: “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. I could feel the small amount of hope left in me increasing drastically as the fans sang!
And I certainly think that the hope inside my favorite team started to increase as well! Suddenly I see Steven Gerrard flying through the air, heading the black and white ball of leather in the back of the net. The entire stadium is shouting and cheering of joy! I could feel the hope roaring inside me! Just minutes later I see our wonder-substitute Vladimir Smicer receiving the ball from Dietmar Hamman. He’s heading towards AC Milan’s goal, charging his right foot and hits it. I remember watching the ball moving against the goal in a tremendous speed. And what do I see? I see the ball stretching the net as if the net was a big cone! Smicer scores!! I was ecstatic, what would happen now!? And then, four minutes later, Steven Gerrard is heading against the goal. He receives the ball from Milan Baros right in front of the goal, and... NO! He has fallen! It’s a penalty! I couldn’t believe my own eyes. Liverpool was now back in the game, and now our chance to make it tie was here! I’ve never felt my heart beating as fast as it did when Xabi Alonso went up to take the penalty. I remember the whistle was blown and Alonso ran against the ball. He hit the ball. It was heading against the target, but I also see Milan’s goalkeeper Dida diving in the in the right direction. He saved the penalty! But Alonso has not given up. The ball is still free, and he hits it again. This time it was pushed into the goal! I could not believe my own eyes. The score was 3-3 now! It was a tie, and the match was heading towards extra time and possibly a penalty shootout.In the extra time, AC Milan was pushing against Liverpool’s goal, but a fantastic Jerzy Dudek in the goal made it extremely hard for Milan to score! He did several extraordinary saves! This was going to end up as a tie, I just knew it. I knew this was going to result in a penalty shootout!
The shootout was now up and I could see the players suffering of nervousness. I was just hoping that our players had strength and stamina to make a last attempt on winning this match.
Serginho for Milan is up to take the first penalty. He looks like a nervous wreck! He runs against the ball. He hits it! But the ball flies over the top of the goal! What an amazingly bad penalty! Now Dietmar Hamman runs up to take the first penalty for Liverpool. Finally we have the chance to take the lead of this match. Hamman hits the ball and… He barely scores!! Dida got his hand on it, but it was not enough. Then Pirlo is coming to take his penalty for Milan. I remember that I was praying for Dudek to save this one! That could make us a huge lead! Pirlo is heading against the ball. Dudek dances around on the line, disturbing Pirlo. Pirlo hits it, but it’s saved by Dudek!!! Extraordinary save by Jerzy Dudek!!
But this was not over. Djibril Cissé was going to take his penalty now. I prayed for him to score on this one. An even bigger lead was to come if this one goes in. And now Cissé’s heading against the ball. He shoots it to the right, and he tricks Dida to dive the wrong way!! The ball goes in! 2-0!! How was Milan going to catch up on this one? Maybe Thommesen could do something about it. The man mentioned was taking AC Milan’s third penalty. Thommesen hits it hard, and sadly the ball goes in the back of the net. A small amount of hope was raging inside of the Milan-fans!
And now it was John Arne Riise. For once, Liverpool was not going to score this time. Dida made an amazing save! But still we had the best opportunity to win this! Now it was Kaka for Milan. And again they score! Well placed penalty by Kaka! But now it was Vladimir Smicer’s turn, the second goal scorer in second half. If he scored at that point, Liverpool would have the match point which means that if Milan missed the next penalty, Liverpool would win! And what do I see? I see a perfectly placed penalty from the amazing Smicer! Extraordinary!
Now it was all up to Andrej Shevchenko. If he didn’t score now, AC Milan would lose the match. I was shaking of nervousness and agitation! This was our shot, our shot at winning this whole damn thing. Shevchenko was taking this one. I cannot believe the pressure on his shoulders on that moment. He looked very nervous as he was walking/running toward the ball. Shevchenko hit the ball. It seems like the ball is heading towards the middle of the goal. And I see Dudek diving to the right. I thought the ball was going in. I thought he had scored. But then I looked up, squinting at the TV. The ball was not in the net. It was rolling on the grass in front of the goal-line. Suddenly I see Dudek sprinting against his teammates, shouting and cheering, waving his arms in the sky. At that moment I realized we had actually won it. Liverpool had won Champions League!!!