Christopher Howie 

‘I have seen comebacks like that in football but never against a team that so clearly was superior as Milan were.’ 

These were the words of Diego Maradona after witnessing arguably the greatest Champions League night in its decorated history.

In 2005, AC Milan came into the Champions League final clash against Liverpool with a team replete with talent. Shevchenko and Hernan Crespo lead the lines with Kaka, Seedorf, Pirlo, Stam and Maldini in behind.

A flurry of goals saw Milan lead 3-0 at half time – a blur of movement and precision passing saw Hernan Crespo chip in one of the great Champions League final goals, Milan was swatting Liverpool aside and was on course to claim their seventh Champions League title.  

What happened next, in the ‘Miracle of Istanbul’ every football fan knows – this Milan team, a team of Goliaths was ultimately felled by a band of Davids. 
 
When recalling some of the greatest sporting comebacks, it’s worth noting how one remembers them. Are they from the point of the victor or vanquished? In other words, do we praise the sporting greatness of those who overcome or do we shame those that squandered winning positions and reflect on what could have been?

Nine times out of ten, fans recall winners; they’ll fawn over the series of clutch putts the 2012 European Ryder cup team sunk in Medinah, they’ll remember Tyson Fury rising from the canvas in Los Angeles in 2018 and most, will probably remember the heroic six-minute, three-goal salvo that Liverpool stunned AC Milan in Istanbul.

Instead, the ignominy of defeat is left to the players and fans – they each have to deal with loss themselves in their own way. 

Carlo Ancelotti couldn’t quite believe what he’d witnessed – ‘I think Milan played a marvellous final. We lost without deserving to lose.’ When Milan players reflected on what could have been, Andrea Pirlo was particularly affected and ahead of the 2006 World Cup Final remarked, ‘What happened in Istanbul taught us a lesson.

The experience and drama I will take with me into this final. I will never let a team get away with that again’ Similarly when reflecting on the incredible saves Dudek made at the death of extra time, Andriy Shevchenko said ‘If I shoot another 10,000 times, Dudek doesn't save it, not even once. But he did it when it counted though -- for the life of me, I don't know how it happened." 

Shevchenko wouldn’t have another opportunity to rectify his failures on goal that night, yet in 2007, two years after their collapse at the hands of Liverpool – AC Milan were pitted against the reds in the Champions League final once more, this time in Athens.

The core of the side that had contrived to lose so spectacularly was still present – there were a couple of additions with the likes of World Cup winner Massimo Oddo and Czech full-back Marek Jankulovksi but on the whole, not much had changed. Kaka’s star was shining its brightest and club hero Filippo Inzaghi, who had missed the 2005 final through injury – started his second Champions League final.

When looking back on the game, Inzaghi recalls “I remember thinking inside that if destiny has given me this opportunity to play a game I couldn’t play before against the same team, it probably meant I was going to score. I thought; Destiny wants me to be the star.”

It would be Inzaghi, the man dubbed by Sir Alex Ferguson to have been ‘born offside’, that would strike the first blow, fortuitously brushing in a Pirlo freekick of which he couldn’t have known too much about. 

The second goal was more deliberate, taking a slide rule pass from Kaka before rounding Pepe Reina and slotting home calmly. Milan celebrated wildly and with Inzaghi on his knees, punching his fists – painted a picture of a team who knew they’d won.

What scars they had carried into this game from the 2005 final seemed to ebb away – even when Dirk Kuyt flicked in a last-minute consolation goal – the game was all but done.

Liverpool may have been stronger but the Rossoneri were wiser, they’d learnt their lesson and in doing so, Milan had won their seventh Champions League title and for many, went some way of putting the shame of Istanbul to bed.