The ‘Miracle of Istanbul’ in 2005 remains one of the greatest nights in Liverpool’s recent history and it took place exactly 20 years ago today.
Rafa Benitez’s shellshocked side found themselves 3-0 down in the Champions League final after Paolo Maldini’s first-minute goal was followed up by a Hernan Crespo brace before the break.
Reds skipper Steven Gerrard kick-started the Liverpool comeback when he struck on 54 minutes, and by the hour mark, the Premier League side were level through Vladimir Smicer and Xabi Alonso. Liverpool would go on to win 3-2 on penalties and claim their first European Cup for 21 years.
The game is, unsurprisingly, ranked No.1 in FourFourTwo's list of the best Champions League games of all-time.
Local lad's bittersweet night
Naturally, this match has gone down in folklore among the red half of Merseyside, but for one homegrown Liverpool player of that era, it was a bittersweet evening.
Stephen Warnock had made his Reds breakthrough that season, making his debut for the club following loan stints at Bradford and Coventry.
By the time the Champions League final came round, the left-back had notched up 30 appearances for the team and was in the matchday squad for each of their Champions League matches up to the final. He was then included in the 18 for the final when the squad was announced at Liverpool’s training ground.
But later that day, assistant Paco Ayestaran phoned him up, admitting that there had been an era, and Warnock would not be part of the squad in Istanbul.
“My memories of that win are of disappointment,” Warnock told FourFourTwo in association with NewBettingSites.uk, 20 years on. “To play a part leading up to the final in a lot of the games, to play or come on and have an effect in games, then to be told you’re in the squad for the final was absolutely incredible.
"To be involved with your boyhood club was huge, then to have it taken away was so disappointing. It made me fall out of love with the club. I felt let down.
“The biggest disappointment was that it wasn’t the manager who rang me, and still to this day, he’s never told me why. It’s a lack of respect.
"I respect him as a coach for giving me my opportunity at Liverpool and what he did for the club, but there’s still a lack of respect as a man. You have got to own it and make the call, not leave it to your No.2. If you’re the boss, you deal with that situation.”
It turned Warnock’s dream into a nightmare – on the night when Liverpool won the European Cup, he understandably had mixed feelings. “If you look at the pictures. I was stood at the back, not interested in getting in any of them.
"There might be one of me at the back, and you can tell I’m not impressed, not happy at all. I would have treated it differently if I were more mature.
“It took a while to get over. I’m over it now, it’s just everyone else brings it up in interviews – they know it’s a story that shows there was more to Istanbul than meets the eye. It was an incredible game, but for me, the final was hard to watch at times.”
