Andrea Pirlo has made what seem a surprising admission about AC Milan’s defeat to Liverpool in the 2005 Champions League final.
Incredibly we’re almost at the 20-year anniversary of the Miracle of Istanbul, when Rafael Benitez’s Reds famously overturned a 3-0 half-time deficit to triumph on penalties at the Ataturk Stadium.
The Rossoneri would get revenge on us in the European showpiece two years later in Athens, something for which their legendary ex-midfielder (to whom Ryan Gravenberch was compared by John Barnes) is grateful after the shellshock of what happened in Turkey.
Pirlo reflects upon 2005 Champions League final
Speaking to Milan TV (via MilanPress), Pirlo was able to reflect philosophically upon his team’s scintillating first-half performance in Istanbul, even though his side ended up on the wrong end of an incredible Liverpool comeback.
The former Italy international said: “The rematch [in 2007] made everything a little sweeter, also because it means that from up there someone gave us the chance to have revenge, also because I think that the 2005 final is one of the most beautiful ones we played and also perhaps as finals ever.
“We had played a great game; it was dramatic. With the rematch, a few things went back to our side. As a coach I played my first match in that very stadium, and I lost it.”
Pirlo’s Milan played their part in Istanbul epic
While history will forever show that it was Liverpool who lifted their fifth European Cup in 2005, any Reds fan who watched the final will remember just how sublime Milan played in the first half that night (Jaap Stam subsequently shot down claims that their players celebrated in the dressing room at half-time).
Any team in Europe would’ve struggled to live with Carlo Ancelotti’s side, whose rapid movement tore through our defence before Benitez’s game-changing introduction of Didi Hamann at the interval (and the subsequent switch of formation).
Both teams played their part in what’ll forever rank as one of the greatest European Cup finals of all time, and it was no mean feat for LFC to have thwarted a Rossoneri side who won the tournament two years before and after that Istanbul epic.
Pirlo’s pain was compounded by him having a penalty saved by Jerzy Dudek in the shootout, although he played in both of Milan’s triumphs in 2003 and 2007, and there was also the small matter of winning the World Cup with Italy in between.
Classy as ever, time appears to have been a healer for him judging by his philosophical reflections on the unforgettable events of 25 May 2005.
