24-05-2025
'A club using its history' - 20 years since Istanbul and a 'full-circle moment'
"History is only the base for us, but you're not allowed to carry around your big history with you in a backpack."
Jurgen Klopp's words from his unveiling as the new Liverpool manager in 2015 still resonate with me to this day. The club had just celebrated the 10th anniversary of the Reds' famous win over AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul and this weekend we celebrate the 20th anniversary.
I was nine years old when Liverpool completed that miraculous comeback, but it was still a special night for me for so many reasons.
The watershed moment for me had been the 2003 Worthington Cup final and being able to stick it to every Manchester United fan I went to school with. Yet fresh off the back of the heartbreak of seeing Gerard Houllier depart and Michael Owen leave for Real Madrid, I wasn't overly ready to embrace new ideas and find new love.
I'd be lying if I said that the 2004-05 iteration of the Reds had completely captured my imagination. We'd gone from a Ballon d'Or winner to a couple of lads I didn't especially recognise and there wasn't tons of inspiration elsewhere around the pitch for a nine-year-old looking purely for footballing vibes at that stage.
AC Milan, by contrast, had vibes and football heritage in abundance. As their superstars cut swathes through Liverpool in that first 45 minutes, the idea of yet another football heartbreak so early in my career as a supporter completely overwhelmed me to tears. My brother, who was slightly longer in the tooth, had a similar reaction. My mum tried to reassure us that all hope was not lost.
'What does she know,' we agreed… We all know what happened next.
Those scenes caused my brother and I to go from despair upstairs to dancing on the dinner table. It was the greatest night of our lives to that point.
Luckily for us, Liverpool have since managed to add a couple more life-affirming moments to an already-rich tapestry. The symbolism of this weekend's anniversary and being able to see the Premier League trophy lifted by our captain in the flesh will not be lost on me.
A club using its history as a base but not carrying it round in their backpacks will experience yet another full circle moment.
And we're never gonna stop.
Find more from Josh Sexton at The Anfield Wrap
