Pictures: BRADLEY ORMESHER Dida saved Xabi Alonso’s penalty On the biggest club stage of all, It was a pivotal night in Gerrard’s No one will ever forget what he did. Perhaps it needed this stage to another goal less than two minutes later, it was Gerrard who turned a dream into reality. He ran into the box to latch on to a flick from Luis Garcia and was dragged down by Gattuso. but the Spain player lashed the rebound into the roof of the net. Gerrard had done it. He had proved to himself what he needed to know. That he could mix it with the best in the most trying of circumstances. career and maybe even in his life. It will be his monument, whatever happens in the future. It may be his parting gift to his club or it may be just the first of a series of stellar contributions to English football. unlock something in Steven Gerrard. After what he did last night, his place in Liverpool’s storied history is secure. Skipper Steven Gerrard heads Liverpool’s first to JUMP START: spark their rivals after 54 minutes He had done his best to rally his And he curled a perfect cross into He tried to wind up Vladimir Smicer had not given up and in the second half, he single-handedly turned the match on his head. team in the first half. He hit one precise corner to John Arne Riise that the Norway defender met perfectly on the volley but which slammed into Gennaro Gattuso. the path of the on-rushing Sami Hyypia who saw his header clutched on the line by Dida. when he came on to replace the injured Harry Kewell. He tried to stand tall while everyone around him was collapsing. And when it seemed all was lost, it was Gerrard who rose in the 54th minute to meet a cross from Riise and guide a header past Dida. After Smicer had scored , , SPORTS THE YEAR WRITER OF WRITER They had congregated in their Now and then, the bands gave way
Liverpool’s journeys to the European Cup final. thousands in one of the car parks outside the stadium, dancing to the music of a concert arranged specially for them. to the sound of Johnny Cash singing Ring of Fire, the song that had become the theme tune of Liverpool’s march on glory. All that seemed to be for nothing at half time. But how wrong we were. Because Gerrard
REPORTS FROM ISTANBUL FROM REPORTS
[email protected] colossus colossus That many had walked several BENITEZ IS STILL THE BOSS FOR US – PAGES 70 & 71 70 – PAGES US FOR BOSS THE STILL IS BENITEZ miles from the security checkpoints that ringed the wilderness which surrounds the arena. That they streamed towards it through valleys and up hills like disciples drawn to a striding across the broken preacher, ground with the occasional herd of startled goats for company. There is always a feeling of a pilgrimage about arriving at the stadium in the middle of the afternoon, before the blue skies were obscured by a blanket of clouds.
OliverHolt the world the the biggest the stages in made for made Gerrard a
Gerrard the world the the biggest the stages in made for made a Thursday, May 26, 2005 Thursday, May , DAILY MIRROR 72 E had strolledout on before pitch the to a flashing game, the AGE
looked all over at half-time BACK FROM THE DEAD: It How could Gerrard take the leap to At half time, it looked as though They appeared to have underlined They seemed to have made him To be involved in this was To be involved in this This was why he had made Steven Gerrard did not look Up there, on the balcony And what a furious None of us thought we would How can he leave after what When AC Milan turned this
P and their poor supporters, the plan that this could be the match that persuades Gerrard to pledge his allegiance to his side next season and beyond had felt like cruel self- delusion. greatness playing in a team that folded like this? Because in the first half, it wasn’t just looking like a defeat, it was looking like an embarrassment that made Liverpool seem like impostors, the frauds who had gatecrashed the big party. Milan had done Jose Mourinho’s job for him. the gulf that still exists between Liverpool and the pinnacle Gerrard seeks. They seemed to have told him that all the hoopla and the wonder of the build-up to this occasion had been for nothing. forget that Liverpool fans had started what he had wanted. To play what he had wanted. against Paolo Maldini, Andriy Clarence Seedorf and Shevchenko and to know that the eyes of the football world were trained upon him. his threats about leaving Liverpool. This was why he had teetered on the brink of a move to Chelsea at the start of the season. All to be here on a night like this. nervous. He was closer to nonchalant. He walked past a camera and waved into it before turning to applaud the Liverpool fans high in the stand opposite. between the two tiers, some supporters had hung a giant flag. “And you will know my name is Gerrard when I lay my vengeance upon you,” it said. vengeance it was. What an astonishing, breathtaking, wonderful, beautiful miracle of a vengeance it was. It was smile that said this was been had he stage the life. whole his craving a vengeance the like of which this competition has rarely seen, a vengeance that might even have surpassed Manchester United’s win over Bayern Munich in 1999. ever see a match turn around like that again, but Gerrard inspired something that matched it here last night. he did for his team last night? Because Liverpool proved last night that even if they are still lacking some quality, there is something in the soul of this football club and its captain makes up the difference. game into a rout before half time, when Maldini and Hernan Crespo turned it into a humiliation for Liverpool H THE MIRROR ED: ISSUE DATE: PAGE: BCMY xx xx ACMilan Liverpool ACMilan ACMilan Liverpool ACMilan GIVE USAHAND: Gerrardcelebrateshisgoal with strikerMilanBaros 33 GARCIA appeals penalty for a LUIS
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