As part of Nissan's Take Me To Milan campaign, we hear the unbelievable stories of fans attending previous finals as we gear up for this May's showpiece event
Every football fan's worst nightmare is finding themselves 3-0 down at half-time in the UEFA Champions League. However, that's the exact position Liverpool fan Michael Bailey found himself in back in 2005 as he watched his beloved club outplayed and outfought against AC Milan in Istanbul. What followed was arguably the greatest comeback in the competition's history with the Premier League giants going on to win on penalties. The game inspired Michael so much he would go on to write a book about it!
What are your memories of the day of the final?
We had left Liverpool early that morning and spent 14 hours travelling to the stadium, it was just one of those days that you’ll never forget. I had obviously been to Wembley with Liverpool a lot of times but I had never known at atmosphere like the one outside the Ataturk that night. It sounded like the whole of Liverpool was there.
Did the mood change as a disastrous first half unfolded?
I’ve been to games where the atmosphere has been great but the game has been flat as a pancake but that obviously wasn’t the case in Istanbul. That said, being 3-0 down at half-time wasn’t part of the script most of us had in mind when we set off!
What happened at half-time?
We were getting humiliated in front of half the footballing world but we were determined to show Milan and the rest of Europe what we were capable of. We started singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ about five minutes before the players walked out and the feeling just grew and grew that something special was about to happen.
Fancy waving the flag at the UCL final in Milan? Post your selfie below for a chance to win! #TakeMeToMilanT&Cs apply: http://bit.ly/1oo8TnJ. Promotion closes at 23:59 BST on 13/04/16. Entrants must be 18+. Centre Circle Carriers must be aged between 14-20. Carriers aged 14-17 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian (the winner of the promotion).
Posted by Nissan on Tuesday, 5 April 2016
And it did…
When the first goal went in we had at least saved face but we scored so early that I genuinely thought we were back in the game. Everything then happened so quickly. What makes it all the remarkable was that this Milan team were the best in the world – Cafu, (Paulo) Maldini, Kaka – but we just ripped them to shreds. When the second goal went in, it went ballistic in the stands. It was just surreal.
How did it feel once Liverpool had equalised?
We were in dreamland but by extra-time we were running on empty. Stevie G was playing at right back and penalties was really the best we could hope for. As it was we held our nerve. When (Jerzy) Dudek saved (Andriy) Shevchenko’s kick the whole of the Liverpool end erupted. I had never known a feeling like it. No-one wanted to leave the ground, we all wanted to drink in the atmosphere for as long as possible. It had such an impact on me that I ended writing a book about the entire day.
How was the after party?
We had a great night, I’ll say that! The following day I bought some Turkish sport’s newspapers for people back home. They cost about 20p. We then had to qualify for the next season’s Champions League and started our campaign against Total Network Solutions (TNS) of the Welsh League about two months later. Copies of those papers were buying sold for a fiver outside the ground and they were flying off the stands! It’s funny, you speak to some Liverpool fans and they’ll tell you that Istanbul ruined football for them – and in some ways they’re right. None of us will see anything like that again.
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- Goal