‘I missed Liverpool’s Champions League parade because my flight was delayed. I cried - I was part of that too’ Florent Sinama Pongolle on his 2005 regret

While he didn’t play in the iconic 2005 Champions League final victory over AC Milan, former Liverpool forward Florent Sinama Pongolle played a key part in the Reds victory that season.

Had the one-time France international not netted an equaliser against Olympiacos in Liverpool’s 3-1 victory that secured their passage out of the group stage, the Miracle of Istanbul may never have happend.

By the time the final came around, the former Le Havre youth product had picked up a knee injury, so was ruled out of the final, but like the rest of his team-mates who had not made the matchday squad, he made the trip to Turkey with the team.

Florent Sinama Pongolle’s Liverpool Champions League frustration

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After the Steven Gerrard-inspired comeback and Jerzy Dudek’s penalty heroics, Liverpool had won their fifth European Cup and the party began - but not everyone was able to join in, as Sinama Pongolle recalls.

“Even 20 years later, I don’t know,” he tells FourFourTwo. “I can’t understand how a club like Liverpool allowed the players who weren’t in the matchday squad for the final to be left behind.

“Our flight was scheduled to leave two hours later, but was delayed, and by the time we landed, the parade through the streets had already started. All I could do was go home and watch the celebrations on TV.

“I cried out of frustration, because I would have loved to be on that bus celebrating with my team-mates. I was part of that too.”

An estimated one million people lined he streets of Liverpool for the parade to celebrate their team becoming champions of Europe for the first time since 1984.

And as if missing that wasn’t bad enough for Sinama Pongolle, the luckless Frenchman would later see his Champions League winners’ medal and replica stolen.

“They were stolen,” he continues. “There was a gang that used to break into footballers’ houses when we were away.

“Pepe Reina, Daniel Agger and Peter Crouch were victims too. Eventually they caught the thief. Thankfully, my first coach at Le Havre, Jean-Francois Domergue, now works at UEFA in Switzerland.

“He heard about it and checked whether the mould for the 2005 Champions League medals and replicas still existed.

“Two years ago, I received them again, along with a letter from UEFA – that made me really happy.”