Liverpool wins the Champions League final on penalties against AC Milan after the most dramatic (and, dare I say, incredible) comback in the history of this competition.

I must agree with Liverpool’s official website. This match was “Amazing, astounding, awe-inspiring, breathtaking, extraordinary, hair-raising, heart-stirring, magnificent, marvellous, miraculous, moving, overwhelming spectacular, spine-tingling, striking, stunning, stupefying, stupendous, wonderful.”

By the end of the first half, Liverpool was trailing Milan AC by 3-0 !!! Goals from Maldini (1′) and Crespo (39′, 44′) had already spoilt the party. Actually, the group of people I had invited home to watch the match left at that time. Everyone (except me, of course) thought that Milan AC had already won the match.

I had a gut feeling that something special was going to happen. I was in no way stressed.

At the beginning of the second half, Hamann was substituted for Finnan who was injured. Liverpool switched to a 3 men defense (with Traore, Hyypia and Carragher). Hamann and Xabi Alonso controlled the midfield while Gerrard was allowed to roam behind the attackers. And the match completely changed !

Liverpool scored 3 goals in 6 minutes, Gerrard (54′), Å micer (56′) and Xabi Alonso (60′). Suddenly, it was 3-3 :-)

The match went down to penalties after a fruitless extra-time with Steven Gerrard playing as a (perfectly adequate) right fullback to help the defense.

And owing to Dudek’s magic (a la Grobbellar) during the penalties, Liverpool won its 5th Champions League Cup !

The Cup is now our’s to keep.

Well done lads :-)

(Images courtesy GettyImages and BBC Sports)

SEMI FINALS (4 TEAMS)

The four teams qualified for the semi finals of the Champions League 2004/2005 are Liverpool, Chelsea, Milan and PSV.

First leg of the semi finals

Milan	2-0	PSV
Chelsea	0-0	Liverpool

Second leg of the semi finals

Liverpool	1-0	Chelsea
PSV	3-1	Milan

QUARTER FINALS (8 TEAMS)

Those 8 teams are qualified for the quarter finals : Liverpool, Juventus, Lyon, PSV, Chelsea, Bayern, Milan and Internazionale.

First leg of the quarter finals

Liverpool	2-1	Juventus
Lyon	1-1	PSV
Chelsea	4-2	Bayern
Milan	2-0	Internazionale

Second leg of the quarter finals

Bayern	3-2	Chelsea
Internazionale	0-3 (forfeit)	Milan
Juventus	0-0	Liverpool
PSV	1-1 (pen)	Lyon

ROUND OF 16 (16 TEAMS)

Quoting Bert Kassies, the eight group-winners and eight runners-up of the group stage qualify for the second round. The clubs that finish this stage in third position in their group move into the third round of the current UEFA Cup. The clubs that finish this stage in fourth position in their group are eliminated.

The draw for the 2nd round takes the following rules into account:
a) Clubs from the same association must not be drawn against each other,
b) The winners and runners-up of the same group must not be drawn against each other,
c) The group winners must not be drawn against each other,
d) The runners up must not be drawn against each other,
e) The runners up must play the first leg at home.

The group winners are seeded above the runners-up.

The 16 teams qualified for the second round are : Bayern, Arsenal, Liverpool, Leverkusen, PSV, Monaco, Real Madrid, Juventus, Barcelona, Chelsea, Bremen, Lyon, Manchester United, Milan, Porto and Internazionale.

First leg of the the round of 16

Bayern	3-1	Arsenal
Liverpool	3-1	Leverkusen
PSV	1-0	Monaco
Real Madrid	1-0	Juventus
Barcelona	2-1	Chelsea
Bremen	0-3	Lyon
Manchester United	0-1	Milan
Porto	1-1	Internazionale

Second leg of the round of 16

Chelsea	4-2	Barcelona
Lyon	7-2	Bremen
Milan	1-0	Manchester United
Internazionale	3-1	Porto
Arsenal	1-0	Bayern
Juventus	2-0 (aet)	Real Madrid
Leverkusen	1-3	Liverpool
Monaco	0-2	PSV

GROUP STAGE (32 TEAMS)

Between the 16 winners of 3rd round:

Liverpool (England/4), Anderlecht (Belgium/1), M. Tel-Aviv (Israel/2), Juventus (Italy/3), CSKA Moskva (Russia/1), Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine/1), Rosenborg (Norway/1), Monaco (France/3), Deportivo (Spain/3), Iternazionale (Italy/4), Real Madrid (Spain/4), Leverkusen (Germany/3), Sparta (Czech Republic/2), PSV (Holland/2), Manchester U (England/3) and Shaktar (Ukraine/2)

and the following teams:

Valencia (Spain/1), FC Barcelona (Spain/2), AC Milan (Italy/1), AS Roma (Italy/2), Arsenal (England/1), Chelsea (England/2), Werder Bremen (Germany/1), Bayern Munchen (Germany/2), Olympique Lyon (France/1), Paris St. Germain (France/2), Panathinaikos (Greece/1), Olympiakos (Greece/2), Porto (Portugal/1), Ajax (Netherlands/1), Celtic (Scotland/1) and Fenerbahce (Turkey/1)

These 32 clubs are drawn into eight groups of four. Clubs from the same country will not be drawn into the same group.

Group A	Deportivo (Spain/3)	Liverpool (England/4)
	Monaco (France/3)	Olympiakos (Greece/2)
Group B	Real Madrid (Spain/4)	AS Roma (Italy/2)
	Leverkusen (Germany/3)	Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine/1)
Group C	Bayern Munchen (Germany/2)	Juventus (Italy/3)
	Ajax (Netherlands/1)	M. Tel-Aviv (Israel/2)
Group D	Manchester U (England/3)	Olympique Lyon (France/1)
	Sparta (Czech Republic/2)	Fenerbahce (Turkey/1)
Group E	Arsenal (England/1)	Panathinaikos (Greece/1)
	PSV (Holland/2)	Rosenborg (Norway/1)
Group F	FC Barcelona (Spain/2)	AC Milan (Italy/1)
	Celtic (Scotland/1)	Shaktar (Ukraine/2)
Group G	Valencia (Spain/1)	Iternazionale (Italy/4)
	Anderlecht (Belgium/1)	Werder Bremen (Germany/1)
Group H	Porto (Portugal/1)	Chelsea (England/2)
	Paris St. Germain (France/2)	CSKA Moskva (Russia/1)

A computer draw determines the final position of the teams within their group. These positions determine the order of the home and away matches. The following match sequence applies:

1st match day:	2 v 3	4th match day:	1 v 3
	4 v 1		4 v 2
2nd match day:	1 v 2	5th match day:	3 v 2
	3 v 4		1 v 4
3rd match day:	3 v 1	6th match day:	2 v 1
	2 v 4		4 v 3

For the 1st match day, the results are:

E	Arsenal	1-0	PSV
E	Panathinaikos	2-1	Rosenborg
F	Celtic	1-3	Barcelona
F	Shakhtar	0-1	Milan
G	Internazionale	2-0	Bremen
G	Valencia	2-0	Anderlecht
H	Porto	0-0	CSKA Moskva
H	PSG	0-3	Chelsea
A	Deportivo	0-0	Olympiacos
A	Liverpool	2-0	Monaco
B	Leverkusen	3-0	Real Madrid
B	Roma	0-3(f)	Dynamo Kyiv
C	Ajax	0-1	Juventus
C	M. Tel-Aviv	0-1	Bayern
D	Fenerbache	1-0	Sparta
D	Lyon	2-2	Man. United

For the 2nd match day, the results are:

A	Monaco	2-0	Deportivo
A	Olympiacos	1-0	Liverpool
B	Dynamo Kyiv	4-2	Leverkusen
B	Real Madrid	4-2	Roma
C	Bayern	4-0	Ajax
C	Juventus	1-0	M. Tel-Aviv
D	Man. United	6-2	Fenerbahce
D	Sparta	1-2	Lyon
E	PSV	1-0	Panathinaikos
E	Rosenborg	1-1	Arsenal
F	Barcelona	3-0	Shakhtar
F	Milan	3-1	Celtic
G	Anderlecht	1-3	Internazionale
G	Bremen	2-1	Valencia
H	Chelsea	3-1	Porto
H	CSKA Moskva	2-0	PSG

For the 3rd match day, we have:

A	Liverpool	0-0	Deportivo
A	Monaco	2-1	Olympiacos
B	Leverkusen	3-1	Roma
B	Real Madrid	1-0	Dynamo Kyiv
C	Ajax	3-0	M. Tel-Aviv
C	Juventus	1-0	Bayern
D	Fenerbahce	1-3	Lyon
D	Sparta	0-0	Man. United
E	Panathinaikos	2-2	Arsenal
E	Rosenborg	1-2	PSV
F	Milan	1-0	Barcelona
F	Shakhtar	3-0	Celtic
G	Anderlecht	1-2	Bremen
G	Valencia	1-5	Internazionale
H	Chelsea	2-0	CSKA Moskva
H	PSG	2-0	Porto

And for the 4th match day, we have:

E	Arsenal	1-1	Panathinaikos
E	PSV	1-0	Rosenborg
F	Barcelona	2-1	Milan
F	Celtic	1-0	Shakhtar
G	Bremen	5-1	Anderlecht
G	Internazionale	0-0	Valencia
H	CSKA Moskva	0-1	Chelsea
H	Porto	0-0	PSG
A	Deportivo	0-1	Liverpool
A	Olympiacos	1-0	Monaco
B	Dynamo Kyiv	2-2	Real Madrid
B	Roma	1-1	Leverkusen
C	Bayern	0-1	Juventus
C	M. Tel-Aviv	2-1	Ajax
D	Lyon	4-2	Fenerbahce
D	Man. United	4-1	Sparta

The 5th match day brought:

A	Monaco	1-0	Liverpool
A	Olympiacos	1-0	Deportivo
B	Dynamo Kyiv	2-0	Roma
B	Real Madrid	1-1	Leverkusen
C	Bayern	5-1	M. Tel-Aviv
C	Juventus	1-0	Ajax
D	Man. United	2-1	Lyon
D	Sparta	0-1	Fenerbahce
E	PSV	1-1	Arsenal
E	Rosenborg	2-2	Panathinaikos
F	Barcelona	1-1	Celtic
F	Milan	4-0	Shakhtar
G	Anderlecht	1-2	Valencia
G	Bremen	1-1	Internazionale
H	Chelsea	0-0	PSG
H	CSKA Moskva	0-1	Porto

And finally, the final 6th match day produced:

E	Arsenal	5-1	Rosenborg
E	Panathinaikos	4-1	PSV
F	Celtic	0-0	Milan
F	Shakhtar	2-0	Barcelona
G	Internazionale	3-0	Anderlecht
G	Valencia	0-2	Bremen
H	Porto	2-1	Chelsea
H	PSG	1-3	CSKA Moskva
A	Deportivo	0-5	Monaco
A	Liverpool	3-1	Olympiacos
B	Leverkusen	3-0	Dynamo Kyiv
B	Roma	0-3	Real Madrid
C	Ajax	2-2	Bayern
C	M. Tel-Aviv	1-1	Juventus
D	Fenerbahce	3-0	Man. United
D	Lyon	5-0	Sparta