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It is a night that I will never forget. The best night of my life... yet it all started out so bad. Here is my Istanbul story.
My brother along with several other family members packed their bags and flew to Istanbul. I, my husband and our two children decorated the outside of the house red and donned all the Liverpool gear. Finally the television coverage started. We watched all the build-up, the fans arriving at the Ataturk stadium in their Liverpool shirts and fezes. My 8 year old son and 7 year old daughter watched, completely unaware of the significance of this beautiful game, just content to watch their first hero, Steven Gerrard.
Kick off. Just 50 seconds went by and Maldini volleyed a ball right through the net. We were stunned. So were the players. "Oh well, at least it's happened early, we've got plenty of time to rectify the situation." Then Crespo added his name to the score sheet - twice. I watched silently in disbelief. Then my son burst into tears and stormed upstairs. A minute later he came back down with a Liverpool poster and to my horror he had written 'crap' right across it. I didn't even hear the half time whistle as I was too busy telling him off. I'll never forget what I said to him. "You call yourself a Liverpool fan? You can't love them when they're winning and hate them when they're down. That's disgraceful. When things go wrong that's when they need your support more than ever. You win together and you lose 'together'.
If any team has the heart, the fight and the passion to come back from this, it's us and it IS possible, ok it's very unlikely but it's possible."
He stopped crying and started apologizing. Then we looked back towards the television, the fans were singing. They were walking through one hell of a storm and they were singing, heads held high and singing. I had a lump in my throat as they confirmed in that song everything I had tried to tell him.
Second half. Let's just go out with a fight, with dignity. Maybe the players felt the same thing but the second half had barely began when Stevie G nodded one in. We screamed the place down and cheered him as he ran the length of the pitch raising his arms quickly as though to say, "Come on lads, another one puts us back in it, have another". Then another came. Vladi Smicer, a Liverpool hero for life now. Just maybe, this could be history in the making. I remember thinking it. Then I started believing it. "Come on, one more". I looked at my son and I was so pleased. If we win, I thought, this will stay with him forever. It will teach him to never give up, to never lie down and take defeat but to keep on fighting and to never lose faith or hope. Then it came. A penalty for Alonso, miss, rebound, goal! 3-3. Now the Milan team looked stunned.
Extra time. "Oh please get it over with now lads, score and finish it off, I couldn't bear the tension of penalties. That time dragged and my nerves were raw. Final whistle. Penalties. I was so excited but so nervous. Dudek v Dida. "What's Jamie Carragher saying to Jerzy?"
Milan took the first pen. Dudek danced on the line. So that's what Carra was telling him to do, a Brucey Special. Maybe it worked because Serginho volleyed that ball way over the crossbar. I couldn't even scream properly, my voice was almost gone. Didi Hamann for Liverpool, he should have been on from the beginning, GOAL! I was shivering with excitement. Pirlo next, SAVE.
Cisse, GOAL! Tomasson, goal. "Oh no, they've got one!"
Riise, saved. I couldn't bear it. Kaka next, goal. 2-2. I clung to my kids and just prayed. "Come on Vladi, score, score, score!" we all chanted. HE SCORED. 3-2. Milan had to score the next one, it was their last pen. Schevchenko. "He's missed! We've won! Oh my god, we've won."
Vladi, you will never be forgotten in Liverpool! Nor Hamann, Cisse, Dudek or any of those special players who took part in that game. My kids only had one hero at the start of that match, Stevie G. Two hours later they had a whole bunch of them and they learned a very important lesson too. Liverpool has been in their hearts ever since and I think it always will be, in good times and in bad.
And then there was the welcome home. Most of the fans were still in Istanbul yet the streets were swarming with red shirts and the occasional blue shirt congratulating their rivals.
Watching the players on the bus, obviously buzzing with pride, you could see how in awe of the fans they were. They were recording us on their mobile phones and waving the trophy for us. It was amazing.
The most significant point is that we now get to keep the trophy as we've won it five times, you've probably heard us singing about it.
