Latest news with #MiracleofIstanbul
South China Morning Post
6 days ago
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Liverpool's Champions League hero Dudek ‘too scared' to watch famous final
Jerzy Dudek, one of the heroes of Liverpool's astonishing 2005 Champions League final victory over AC Milan, said he had been 'too scared' to rewatch the famous Istanbul clash for fear of being overcome with emotion. The English and Italian clubs are set to meet in a Kai Tak Stadium friendly on Saturday, 20 years after Liverpool recovered from 3-0 down to level at 3-3 before beating Milan on penalties in a match christened the Miracle of Istanbul. 'Life changed for everybody in our team after that night,' Dudek said. The goalkeeper made a stunning close-range stop from Andriy Shevchenko deep into extra-time. In the penalty shoot-out, Dudek's tactic of cavorting on his line to unsettle the Milan takers paid off, as he denied Andrea Pirlo and, decisively, the hapless Shevchenko. 'When I came back home my father was asking what I was doing in the goal, with all the dances,' Dudek said. 'I've never watched it from the first minute to the last, only the highlights and penalties. I have probably been too scared, because of the emotions. 'I've been waiting for a special occasion. Maybe this summer, as it's the 20-year anniversary, I'll grab my friends and we'll watch it together. The fact everyone still talks about it shows we did something special.'
Indian Express
16-07-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
Rebounds from penalties could be banned; one-shot rule might be implemented
Football could see one of its oldest rules abolished in time for the next World Cup. According to reports in Times London, proposals have been put forth to The International Football Association Board to disallow taking rebounds from penalty kicks. The suggestion, if ratified, means the penalty-taker or his teammate cannot have a second attempt on goal if the initial shot is saved or it cannons back from some part of the post. Basically, penalties would be one-shot affairs, as during shootouts in knockout games. One of its fiercest advocates has been the legendary Italian referee Pierluigi Collina. 'I believe there is an excessive gap between the opportunities available to the attacker and those of the goalkeeper,' Collina once told Repubblica. The rule has fashioned some of the most iconic moments in the game, like the Xabi Alonso's goal in Liverpool's Miracle of Istanbul, when AC Milan's goal goalkeeper Dida saved the Spaniard's first attempt but latched on to rebound, which completed the Reds' comeback from 3-0 to 3-3. The scoreline remained thus and Liverpool won in the shootout. He details the extra advantage the team gets. 'On average, 75% of penalties are already scored, and often, the penalty kick is a bigger chance than the one taken away by the foul. On top of that, the attacker is also given a chance to play the rebound off the goalkeeper. In my opinion, goalkeepers should be complaining. I've already mentioned this in discussions we've had at IFAB,' he elaborated. He floats one-shot-rule as the solution. 'One solution is the 'one shot' rule. Just like in penalty shootouts after extra time. No rebound. Either you score or play resumes with a goal kick, period. This would also eliminate the spectacle we see before a penalty is taken, with everyone crowding around the area. It looks like horses at the starting gates before the Palio di Siena,' he detailed. If the penalty taker misses, the ball will be assumed dead and the defending team would be awarded a goal-kick. The move, experts reckon, could prevent overcrowding, and thus time wasting, before the kick. But the rule-tweak would not be implemented straightaway. Usually, the proposal is placed during IFAB's annual business meeting in November and are then voted on at the AGM in March. Historically, the IFAB has been conservative and passes a rule after detailing trialling. But in recent times, it has been liberal with radical rule changes.
Irish Daily Mirror
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
LFC Istanbul 20th Anniversary special edition, on sale now
It was and it will be the best final ever,' says Rafa Benitez about Liverpool's fifth European Cup win in 2005. It's now 20 years since the Reds defied the odds to overcome a 3-0 half-time deficit to AC Milan in Istanbul to triumph on penalties. In this special Liverpool Echo 48-page celebration of the Miracle of Istanbul we bring you the inside story of how it was achieved, as told by the people who were there. Click HERE to buy online and have it delivered directly to your door, or you can purchase it in participating supermarkets, high street retailers and independent newsagents on Merseyside, in Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland from July 2, 2025. Online postage and packaging costs apply.
Daily Mirror
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
LFC Istanbul 20th Anniversary special edition, on sale now
A 48 page celebration special of the miracle of Istanbul It was and it will be the best final ever,' says Rafa Benitez about Liverpool's fifth European Cup win in 2005. It's now 20 years since the Reds defied the odds to overcome a 3-0 half-time deficit to AC Milan in Istanbul to triumph on penalties. In this special Liverpool Echo 48-page celebration of the Miracle of Istanbul we bring you the inside story of how it was achieved, as told by the people who were there. Rafa Benitez and his players describe in detail what really happened in the dressing toom at the Ataturk ahead of the remarkable second-half turnaround Steven Gerrard explains why Liverpool's victory will never be replicated by another side. Liverpool fans reminisce about how they celebrated the win, in Istanbul, Merseyside and around the globe. John Arne Riise explains why the players' respect for Gerrard was crucial in the penalty victory. What happened next for the Reds' Champions League winning players. How the ECHO covered the greatest moment in Liverpool's history. Relive the celebration bus parade when 750,000 fans turned the city into the 'Red Sea'. Click HERE to buy online and have it delivered directly to your door, or you can purchase it in participating supermarkets, high street retailers and independent newsagents on Merseyside, in Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland from July 2, 2025. Online postage and packaging costs apply.
Belfast Telegraph
24-05-2025
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
Steven Gerrard: Liverpool's ‘Miracle of Istanbul' will never be repeated again
'Miracle of Istanbul' and 'Istanbul 2005' entered the sporting lexicon a long time ago and it is testament to the achievement of Rafael Benitez's Liverpool team that it remains the go-to recollection when it comes to comebacks. The facts hardly need repetition: 3-0 down at half-time to a star-studded AC Milan team boasting the likes of Kaka, Hernan Crespo, Andriy Shevchenko, a comeback sparked by Steven Gerrard, Jerzy Dudek's 'save of my life' from Shevchenko in extra-time before more goalkeeping heroics in the penalty shootout. Gerrard believes it will be a feat which will never be repeated. 'If you look at the recent Champions League winners and how it is moving forward, I don't think that will be done again because we weren't in the best top 10 teams in Europe,' he told a special edition of The Reds Roundtable, alongside Benitez and team-mate Sami Hyypia, posted on the club's YouTube channel. 'If you think about some of the teams we competed against in terms of ability across the squad – compared to Milan, Juventus and I'm not sure how much money Chelsea spent to put that squad together – for Rafa to guide us to win that European Cup is probably one of the best jobs you will see, pound for pound I would say.' The outcome of the game all hinged on the half-time team-talk Benitez delivered to his shell-shocked players, who returned to the dressing room after what Gerrard described as 'the most difficult walk off a pitch'. But with echoes of You'll Never Walk Alone being belted out by their unbowed fans, Benitez came up with the tactical plan which would change the course of history. Sacrificing right-back Steve Finnan for defensive midfielder Dietmar Hamann released Gerrard to attack more and his flicked header nine minutes into the second half was followed by goals from Vladimir Smicer and Xabi Alonso, following up his saved penalty. 'I was taking notes at 2-0 down what I have to say in English and then we conceded the third goal,' said Spaniard Benitez. 'So then I have to think and the first thing is stay calm. After that I have the note, 'if we score one goal we will be back in the game'. 'The main thing was (have) a plan. If they know that you have a plan they will follow, even if you are wrong, but because we did it so many times they will believe in you.' Gerrard and Hyypia were impressed by their manager's calmness amid the chaos. 'I think the belief was quite low when we were walking to the dressing room,' said Hyypia. 'I think many managers would have screamed their lungs out to us, that we were so poor in the first half.' Gerrard added: 'That's where I saw Rafa's best performance as a manager in that four or five minutes he spoke for. Without that guidance and those instructions and that calmness we don't go out and change the way we play. 'But we could see behind the mask – 'Rafa's seething here. He is not happy with us'.' Events in Liverpool's more recent history, namely the 2019 semi-final second-leg comeback from 3-0 down against Lionel Messi's Barcelona, have drawn comparisons but Gerrard does not think the two equate. 'I think the Barcelona game is close, because obviously they were 3-0 down playing against Messi, (Luis) Suarez. But this is the final, it's different,' he said. 'It affected so many lives, especially in this city, in the country and beyond. 'Obviously we are all focused on the journey with the current team but to leave that legacy we did is obviously a very proud feeling. I wish I could do it all again.'
