Twenty years on, the image of a beaming Steven Gerrard lifting up the European Cup is one of the enduring visuals of what was perhaps the greatest Champions League final of all time.
The Liverpool skipper was front and centre, both literally and metaphorically, during the Miracle of Istanbul, with his 54th-minute goal kick-starting the Reds’ barely-believable comeback against AC Milan that saw their 3-0 half-time deficit wiped out in six second-half minutes after the interval.
The two sides would head into extra time, with Jerzy Dudek making a stunning late save from Andriy Shevchenko before the referee called time on 120 minutes of engrossing action at the Ataturk Stadium.
You may like
Gerrard on the Miracle of Istanbul 20 years on
Penalties were then required to determine the winner which gave Dudek – whose performance in the final was ranked at no 50 in FourFourTwo’s list of the greatest individual performances of all time – the chance to be the hero.
Employing Bruce Grobbelaar-esque distraction tactics, the Pole saw Serginho fire the first penalty of the shootout over the bar, before he saved from Andrea Pirlo and then denied Shevchenko’s vital fifth spot kick, winning the cup for the Reds.
Gerrard was due to be Liverpool’s fifth penalty taker, but the former England midfielder admits he wasn’t exactly relishing the opportunity to win it for his side.
“I wasn’t concentrating on Shevchenko’s penalty,” Gerrard tells FourFourTwo. “I was focusing on taking the next one for us, which was terrifying.
“I was absolutely sh**ting my pants, it was the most nervous I’d been on a football pitch. Having said that, if someone had offered me the chance to scrub my name off and not take it, I’d have told them that I still wanted to take it.
“People asked me if I was disappointed not to have scored the winning kick, but I didn’t want all of the glory and wouldn’t change anything from that night. I was glad when Jerzy blocked Shevchenko’s penalty.
“It was the best night of my life… apart from the birth of my children.”
Gerrard would finish is 17-year Liverpool career with seven major honours, including the 2006 FA Cup final, when he netted a stoppage-time equaliser to level the scores and force extra time ahead of another penalty shootout – during which he was bumped up to third in the order and duly converted his spot kick.
