There is something magical about the Champions League. When the two sides line up and the famous song rings around the stadium, the hair on thousands of necks stand and salute instantly.
Europe’s finest going head to head, striving to better themselves over the cream of the continent, and we (In England) have been lucky enough involved hugely in the edge-of-your-seat drama which has occurred in some of the biggest events in the competition.
Who can forget the treble winning comeback from Manchester United? 1-0 down to Bayern Munich after just 6 minutes, a score-line that would keep until right up until the final minutes, until Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer snatched a goal each in injury time to ensure the trophy would be heading to Manchester. Cue a famous flip from goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, a memory that is etched into many Manchester United fan’s head.
Liverpool fans will be arguing that their comeback trumps anything displayed by their ‘friends’ from Lancashire, and many would agree with them.
When they travelled to Istanbul in 2005, they couldn’t have wished for a worse start to the game after Paolo Maldini put AC Milan 1-0 up after less than a minute. Things got worse for the scousers when Crespo’s double saw the Italians hold a 3-0 lead at half time. However, as the Milan fans whipped out the bottles of bubbly, the unthinkable happened. A Quick-fire double from Steven Gerrard and and Vladmir Smicer early in the second half gave Liverpool a real chance to level it up. Xabi Alonso was given the chance to do just that when his team was given a penalty, but when the Spaniard missed the spot kick, fans must have feared the worst. Fortunately for them, and Alonso, he reacted quickest to the rebound and slotted the ball into the net. The game went to penalties, and when Jerzy Dudek’s left hand denied Andriy Shevchenko’s decisive kick, the Scouse section of Turkey erupted.
Was this the greatest night ever in the Champions League’s history?