LIVERPOOL:CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WINNERS 2005

Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez says they have no special plans to combat the threat of AC Milan's Andriy Shevchenko in the Champions League final.
Shevchenko poses the main danger to Liverpool's hopes in Istanbul, but Benitez said: "If you only see Shevchenko it's a big mistake.

"They have a lot of good players and you must consider them all.

"We must look at all the players and be aware of them all. We cannot afford to just keep our eyes on Shevchenko."

Benitez was in confident mood in Istanbul, dismissing claims that Liverpool have been fortunate to reach the final.

He said: "I will say again that if anyone wants to look at our videos of the Champions League games, they will see we have played very well."

Benitez refused to give anything away about his team selection, amid claims he used Harry Kewell just behind striker Djibril Cisse in a training session.

I think he is on the same level and maybe better than (Jose) Mourinho. He is more humble

Djibril Cisse on his boss Benitez

Liverpool mounted defensive rearguard actions to beat Juventus and Chelsea, but Benitez was playing his cards close to his chest.

He said: "Each team is different. We have a different team and maybe we cannot do the same things as PSV Eindhoven did against AC Milan.

"We will try to do the things that are good for us and bad for AC Milan. We will try to see the weak points of AC Milan and try to beat them.

"We know how important the game will be for us and for the club but we don't have any anxiety, we have confidence. We have nothing to lose and a lot of things to win, so we will try to do our best.

Liverpool striker Milan Baros says the Champions League final could be his last game for the club.

The 23-year-old Czech, unhappy at not playing enough, was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying: "I have had several offers from other clubs and it is now the job of my agent to talk to them.

"Maybe I'll leave Anfield, maybe I'll stay. We'll listen to what is offered."

If Baros has said what he's reported to have said on the eve of the European Cup final, I'd ship him back to Merseyside!

From Bob
Have your say on 606

But Benitez, asked on Tuesday about the Daily Mirror's story, asked a journalist: "Do you believe the English press? Always when you talk about a player before an important game, the manager cannot say anything.

"I just want to see Milan Baros score lots of goals (on Wednesday)."

Baros is in a fight with fit-again Djibril Cisse for a place in the team.

Cisse, who has just returned to the France squad after a double broken leg, said: "Rafa (Benitez) is one of the best coaches I have had.

"He's very clever and knows how to adapt to different systems. With Guy Roux he is one of the best coaches I have worked under.

"I think he is on the same level and maybe better than (Jose) Mourinho. He is more humble. Sometimes it is good to be confident but not too much."

Liverpool defender Sami Hyypia says the final is a chance for Benitez's squad to put their names alongside the other Anfield stars who have won the European Cup.

He said: "This is an opportunity to bring the cup home and write our place in history alongside the other players who have won the trophy with Liverpool.

"It would be wonderful to win and this could be my only chance and I can't just let it go away from me."

Head 2 Head
AC Milan Vs Liverpool

AC Milan are without midfielder Massimo Ambrosini, who has a thigh injury but are otherwise at full strength for Wednesday's Champions League final.
Strikers Hernan Crespo and Filippo Inzaghi are vying for a starting place in the Milan front line.

Long-term absentee Chris Kirkland is the only player missing for Liverpool.

Milan Baros is set to start at the expense of Djibril Cisse, while Dietmar Hamann is likely to win a place in midfield at the expense of Igor Biscan.



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Head-to-head


AC Milan and Liverpool have never previously met in European competition.
AC Milan have played 22 matches against English clubs, winning eight, drawing seven and losing seven.
One of these was an European final - Milan beating Leeds United 1-0 in the 1973 Cup Winners' Cup final.
Liverpool have played 14 matches against Italian clubs, winning five, drawing three and losing six.
Two of these matches were Champions Cup finals. The first was in 1984 when Liverpool drew 1-1 against AS Roma in Roma's own stadium and won the trophy 4-2 on penalties.
The second was a year later against Juventus with the Turin based team winning 1-0 through a Michel Platini penalty.
European history- AC Milan


AC Milan have won six Champions Cup/Champions League trophies (1963, 1969, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003).
Milan have also won two Cup Winners' Cups (1968, 1973), four Uefa Super Cups (1989, 1990, 1994, 2003) and three Intercontinental Cups (1969, 1989, 1990).
AC Milan are going for their third Champions League title which would equal Real Madrid's record of three.
AC Milan won the trophy in 1994 and 2003. Other than Real and Milan, no other team has won it more than once.
AC Milan have also lost two Champions League finals, both by 1-0 margins, to Olympique Marseille in 1993 and Ajax in 1995.

AC Milan have been eliminated from European competition by an English club on three occasions with the last happening in the 1978/1979 season.
In 1965/1966, Chelsea knocked AC Milan out of the Fairs Cup at the last 16 stage.
Tottenham Hotspur beat Milan on aggregate in the 1971/1972 Uefa Cup semi-final.
Manchester City were the victors against AC Milan in the quarter-final of the 1978/1979 Uefa Cup.
European history- Liverpool


Liverpool have won four Champions Cups (in 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1984). The Reds also won three Uefa Cups (1973, 1976, 2001) and two European Super Cups (1977, 2001)
However, reaching this season's Champions League final is Liverpool's best ever performance in the Champions League.
This season marks Liverpool's third CL participation. They previously reached the 2001/2002 quarter-finals and were knocked out at the first group stage a season later.
Liverpool's last appearance in the final of a European competition was in the 2000/2001 Uefa Cup season when they beat Alaves 5-4 in sudden death extra time after the match had ended in a 4-4 draw after 90 minutes.
The last time Liverpool reached a Champions Cup/Champions League final was 20 years ago when they lost 1-0 to Juventus in a final marred by crowd violence in which 39 people were killed.

Liverpool's very first European campaign was ended by an Italian club with Internazionale beating them in the semi-final of the 1964/1965 Champions Cup.
Since then, Italian clubs have ended Liverpool's participation on just two more occasions.
Juventus beat Liverpool in the 1984/1985 Champions Cup final and Genoa knocked Liverpool out in their next European participation - the 1991/1992 Uefa Cup - at the quarter-final stage.
Current European form - AC Milan


AC Milan have won six of their last eight Champions League matches, drawing one and losing one.
AC Milan have lost twice in this season's Champions League - 2-1 in Barcelona and 3-1 at PSV in the semi-final second leg.
The semi-final against PSV is the only time that AC Milan have looked in trouble in this season's competition.
With the match almost over, the second leg score was 2-0 in PSV's favour which would have meant extra-time. However, Massimo Ambrosini headed an injury time goal and Phillip Cocu's immediate response for PSV was not enough to stop AC Milan progressing on away goals.

AC Milan's only failure to score in this season's Champions League came in their final group phase match when they drew 0-0 away to Celtic.
AC Milan have not drawn a Champions League match since - a total of six CL games without a draw.
Current European form - Liverpool


Liverpool have won four and drawn three of their last seven matches in the Champions League.
Liverpool have lost three matches in Europe this season, all by a score of 1-0.
In the third qualifying round in August, Liverpool lost at home to Grazer AK but their 2-0 away win was enough to put them through.
Liverpool lost two of their six Group A matches, away to Olympiacos in September and away to AS Monaco in November.
Liverpool were almost knocked out of the Champions League at the group stage. In their final match against Olympiacos, they needed to win 1-0 or by a margin of two goals. Liverpool conceded the first goal which meant that they needed to win 3-1 given that AS Monaco were winning comfortably in La Coruna. The equaliser came after 47 minutes but with 10 minutes to go, the score was still 1-1. Neil Mellor then made it 2-1 and captain Steven Gerrard scored the third goal with just four minutes remaining.
Liverpool have not conceded more than a single goal in any European match this season.
Liverpool have only scored one goal in their last three Champions League matches and it is very questionable whether Luis Garcia's winner against Chelsea should have been given.
They have also kept three clean sheets in those matches.
Player and disciplinary info - AC Milan


No players are suspended for the final.
Milan striker Andrei Shevchenko has scored 34 Champions League goals in his career whilst teammate Filippo Inzaghi has 30 to his name.
16 of Shevchenko's 34 CL goals were opening goals.
With his opening goal against PSV in the first leg of the semi-final, Shevchenko equalled the record for most opening goals which is held by Raul.
Andrei Shevchenko has netted six times in the 2004/2005 CL season. Van Nistelrooy (eight), Adriano (seven), Makaay (seven) and Wiltord (six) are the only players to have netted at least as many goals.

Goalkeeper Dida kept the second longest streak without conceding a goal ever in the Champions League earlier this season.
His total of 622 minutes without conceding a goal was 36 minutes short of Edwin van der Sar's competition record when it was ended by PSV's Park.
Captain Paolo Maldini is the second oldest captain ever in a Champions Cup/Champions League final.
Maldini will be 36 years 10 months and 29 days on final day. Only Barcelona captain Antonio Ramallets was older when he played in the 1961 final.
If Milan win the final, Maldini will be the oldest captain to lift the trophy beating Peter Schmeichel who was 35 years, six months and eight days old when Manchester United won in 1999.

Maldini will play in his seventh Champions Cup/Champions League final having already appeared in 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 2003.
This equals the total of Alfredo di Stefano and is one short of the record of eight held by Real Madrid's Francisco Gento.
Maldini's teammate Alessandro Costacurta can become only the fourth man in history to play in six Champions Cup/Champions League finals if he takes the field. He previously played in 1989, 1990, 1993, 1995 and 2003.
If Costacurta plays, he will be the oldest outfield player ever in a Champions Cup/Champions League final. He will beat Lothar Matthaus' record by nearly a year and rise from his current fifth position.
Goalkeeper Dino Zoff is the only player to have played a Champions Cup/Champions League final at a more advanced age than Costacurta. Zoff was 41 years, two months and 27 days when he played for Juventus in 1983.

Clarence Seedorf is the only player to have won the Champions League with three different clubs. He won with Ajax in 1995, Real Madrid in 1998 and AC Milan in 2003.
Seedorf is one of only seven players to have won European trophies with three different clubs.
Paolo Maldini is Milan's most experienced Champions League player with 86 appearances, all for AC Milan.
Five other Milan players - Clarence Seedorf (70), Andrei Shevchenko (66), Alessandro Costacurta (61), Alessandro Nesta (52) and Filippo Inzaghi (50) have broken the half century barrier.
Dida, Maldini, Seedorf and Kaka have played in all 12 of Milan's Champions League matches this season.
None of Milan's players have been on the pitch for every minute of their Champions League campaign.
Player and disciplinary info - Liverpool


No players are suspended for the final.
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard will be the third youngest captain to play in a Champions Cup/Champions League final.
On final day, Gerrard will be 24 years, 11 months and 25 days old. Only Benfica's Antonio Pancheco (1990) and Olympique Marseille's Didier Deschamps (1993) were younger.
If Liverpool win the trophy, Gerrard will be the second youngest captain ever to lift the trophy. He is three and a half months older than Deschamps was in 1993.
Gerrard is the fifth player to captain Liverpool in a Champions Cup/Champions League final and the youngest by more than two years. Phil Thompson was the previous youngest in 1981.

Luis Garcia is Liverpool's top scorer in this season's Champions League with five goals. He is joint sixth in the top scorers list for the competition.
With Morientes (70 CL career matches, 26 goals) and Mauricio Pellegrino (45 CL career matches) not eligible, Jerzy Dudek is the most experienced player in the Liverpool squad with 43 CL appearances and Luis Garcia is the most dangerous striker with five CL career goals.
Four of Liverpool's players have played all 12 Champions League fixtures - Steve Finnan, John Arne Riise, Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia are the quartet.
Hyypia is the only player on either side to have played every minute of his club's CL fixtures this season.
Liverpool's Vladimir Smicer will celebrate his 32nd birthday on the day before the Champions League final.
Other miscellaneous facts


AC Milan trainer Carlo Ancelotti is one of only four people to have won the Champions Cup/Champions League as both player and trainer. He won the 1989 and 1990 competitions as a player and won as a trainer in 2003.
The other people to have achieved this are Miguel Munoz, Giovanni Trapattoni and Johan Cruijff. Only Munoz won more than once as both a player and trainer.
Ancelotti can become the 15th trainer to win the Champions Cup/Champions League more than once.
The last person to achieve this was Vicente del Bosque, who won it 2000 and 2002 as trainer of Real Madrid.
Currently, Liverpool do not have a place in next season's Champions League if they win the trophy. The FA have decided to give the fourth place to Everton.

Liverpool finished the Premiership season three points behind Everton in fifth position.
Liverpool trainer Rafael Benitez is aiming to become the 14th trainer to win a European trophy in successive seasons. Former Liverpool trainer Bob Paisley is the record holder winning the Uefa Cup in 1976 and the Champions Cup in 1977 and 1978.
As last season's triumph for Benitez was with Valencia, he will be the first to achieve this with different clubs.
Two trainers have won the Uefa Cup and followed it up with the Champions Cup/Champions League the following season.
Bob Paisley in 1976 and 1977 was the first and last season, then FC Porto trainer José Mourinho became the second person to do it.

Liverpool will probably start the final with just two domestic players, Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard. This will be the lowest ever total of domestic players starting an Champions Cup/Champions League final.
Liverpool will play the final in red against a team in white. On each of the four occasions that they won the Champions Cup, they played in red against a team playing in white.
AC Milan will play in white. They have won two of their three Champions League finals playing in white. They won in 1994 and 2003 but they also played in white in 1995 when they lost 1-0 to Ajax.

AC Milan will finish second in this season's Serie A. Their 3-3 draw at home to Palermo on Friday, 20 May handed the championship to Juventus.
Liverpool finished fifth in this season's Premiership. They also reached the Carling Cup final, losing 3-2 to Chelsea.


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European Cup/Champions League Final General stats


The 2005 Champions League final will produce the 50th winner of the Champions Cup/Champions League.
There have been 49 previous finals with 50 matches played because of a replay in 1973/1974.
38 of the 50 matches have been settled in normal time.
Four have been won in extra-time whilst the remaining eight have had no decision after extra-time.
Of those eight, seven were settled on a penalty shoot-out and one was settled in a replay.

15 finals have been decided by a score of 1-0, the most common scoreline.
The biggest wins have been by four goals - Real Madrid beat Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 in 1960, Bayern Munich beat Atletico Madrid 4-0 in the 1974 replay, AC Milan beat Steaua Bucharest 4-0 in 1989 and FC Barcelona by the same score in 1994.
In total, 129 goals have been scored at an average of 2.58 per match.
Of these, 51 came in the first half, 70 in the second half and eight in extra-time.
The 15 minute interval in the match with most goals comes between the 61st and 75th minutes where 33 goals have been scored.

The team scoring the first goal have won the final 31 times without the need for a penalty shoot-out. The team conceding the first goal has won 11 times without the need for a penalty shoot-out.
Real Madrid have scored most goals in finals with a total of 30. This year's finalists AC Milan have scored the second highest total of 17. Liverpool's total is just six goals in five finals.
18 different Spanish players and the same number of (West) German players have scored in the 49 previous finals.
There have been four hat-tricks in the finals, the last one coming in 1969 when AC Milan's Pierino Prati scored three goals in the 4-1 win against Ajax.
The quickest goal in a Champions Cup/Champions League final was in the first minute of the 1959 final when Enrique Mateos scored the opener for Real Madrid in their 2-0 win over Stade de Reims.

AC Milan goalkeeper Dida kept a clean sheet in the 2003 final. One more hour without a goal conceded will give him 180 minutes in Champions League finals without a goal against.
Only five goalkeepers have achieved three hours in the final without a goal against, the record being 276 minutes by Bayern Munich's Sepp Maier across three finals in the 1970s.
The last to achieve this was AC Milan goalkeeper Giovanni Galli who kept clean sheets in the 1989 and 1990 finals.
Most successful clubs and countries in the 49 previous finals


Real Madrid hold the record of finals won with nine.
21 different clubs in total have won the 49 previous Champions Cup/Champions League finals.
36 different clubs have played in a Champions Cup/Champions League final.
Last year's finalists AS Monaco were the last team to make their first ever final appearance.

Spanish and Italian clubs have won 10 Champions Cup/Champions League finals each. English clubs are the next most successful with nine victories.
In total, clubs from 10 different countries have won the competition.
France were the last to add themselves to the list with Olympique Marseille's win in 1993.
Clubs from 13 countries have contested the final. Belgium, Greece and Sweden are the only countries whose finalists have failed to take the trophy home.

Go LIVERPOOL!!!!

I hope Hitman for your sake, that Liverpool win today......I'll be following it here with interest while doing work !
I'm glad Man U losers aren't in the final, and liverpool is much more of a deserved team as they've played very well......

InshAllah victory will be liverpools

Inshallah Liverppol will win and thats only cos they an English side.

i think liverpool will go with cisse instead of baros and kewel or garica playing behind him

milan to win 2-1

few hours 2 go

2-0 to Liverpool

liverpool will beat milan 3-1 and hopefully everton will be made to give up thir place in champions league, because all they would do is humilate themselves and english football in europe!!

3-0 to Milan.It will be men vs boys

the boys have beaten Juventus and Chelsea to face AC i dont see why the cant do it again

1-0 to either...hopefully liverpool!

What Umer,

Jealous that man u couldn't buy their way into the final mmmm ?

either milan will crush liverpool 4-0 or liverpool will win 1-0...

i hope the latter!

45 mins 2 go

Milan will win 3-0

Spoke like a true jealous Man U fan ....

How am I jealous? If I make a prediction that you don't like, that makes me jealous? If I think Milan are a much better side than Liverpool that makes me jealous?

?

men vs boys - UMER????


we have already seen that when milan played utd!! - lpool cant play worse than utd did against milan - MILAN SCHOOLED THEM!

I was joking but obviously you didn't get it......If Man U is such a good team, how come they're not in the UEFA Finals then ?? Obviously you didn't get what I was referring to......If you think Milan is a better side then fine, that's your opinion......Perhaps your'e taking losing a little too seriously......

Well I accepted Man United aren't in the final a long time ago. They deservedly went out to a team that was better on the night.

And I understand what you're referring to. You think I'm jealous because Liverpool are in the final and United aren't.

I can honestly say I'm not. Good luck to Liverpool. They're going to need it.

Maldini scores

1-0 milan already

maldini after 50 seconds...

GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahahah now liverpool cant defend as they always do.Can liverpool pull a man united now i dont think so.

Ac milan coach said they wud score after 3 mins..!

u shud be backing the english team... X) X)

i expect such behaviour form bucaneer fans...!

Forza Meelan :cool:

lol

Kewell coming off and being replaced by the mighty Vladamir Smicer

Were you backing Man Utd in 1999? I highly doubt it, so therefore I suggest you stop being hypocritical.

2-0 Cresspo.Milan just look different class compared to liverpool.

i dont no whether to be happy that liverpool are losing or sad but anyway they should have definatly had a penalty......

How the hell did this **** UEFA cup team liverpool get in the final.I wanted to see a good final not men vs boys.Chelsea or even juventus would have been better for Milan.

3 nil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3-0 Game over.I predicted 3-0 but not in the 1st half LOL.The game may end with milan scoring 6 or 7.

What a goal

hernan crespo dinks the ball in the back of the net goodnight liverpool feel sorry for the fans who paid so much money to go and watch them....

LOOOL!!!! were hitwoman lmao ha ha

This is terrible a player who plays for a british team has won the match 4 da italian team. Dats jus friken gr8

I feel for all the scousers out there. I want them to win

half time 3-0

3-0 Half time.I am shocked i expected more from Milan,like scoring 5 or 6. X)

i actually was so get ur facts right b4 opening ur mouth!

I hope the british immigration dnt let crespo back in da country, the stupid unwanted italian sucking up asylam seeker.

commiserations liverpool fans..

OK, Amjid, I'm sure you were.

So if you back English teams, why were you laughing when Milan knocked United out this year?

AJ Kicking some @ss

I knew this was going to happen! People we taking it almost for granted that Liverpool were going to win! Stuff them right back in their faces!

i dont really feel that sorry for liverpool since when united got beaten in the fa cup final quite alot of liverpool fans tried rubbing it in

AJ supporting man utd yeah right.

i was laughing coz u said u wud beat milan!

i only back another english team if there in a final!

AJ comes back with another good reply. What'll Jameel's response be?

aj who do you support?
????????
????????????????????????????

Well I guess thats your only option since Arsenal aren't ever gonna get there.

Who cares havnt you noticed no1 likes man u besides man u supporters thats why people love it when they lose.

when was last time united won a football cup final?

Yes I have noticed that, and I've taken it as a complement over the years.

haha

Last year.

When did Arsenal last win the champions league?

so did u take lossing on saturday as a compliment!

Last year against Millwall :$

Errrm, no. I said i take it as a complement that people love for United to lose. I didn't say anything about taking losing as a complement.

2nd Half has began.I think Milan should consider sending on the girls team.

Or maybe liverpool should consider sending on the mens team.

goal!!!!!!!! gerard 3-1

Liverpool get a consolation

can it be possible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! can liverpool do the imposible!!!!!!!!!!!!i highly dout it lol

goal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3-2

im gettin shivers in my back go liverpool although i hate you go!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3-2

Milan should not be bothered by the 2 fluky goals.

penalty for liverpool

penalty!!!!!!!!!!!!

i have seen many miracles but this isMOD EDIT:SWEARING