FCBARCELONA.CAT
Main menu
Content menu
Football
23.05.2007 09:00
Who will succeed Barça?
Sergi Nogueras
Liverpool and AC Milan meet in the Champions League Final tonight to find out who will succeed FC Barcelona as the greatest club in Europe.
Barcelona’s title defence ended, of course, against Liverpool in the second round of this year’s championship, and the Reds have gone on to reach their second final in three years, and against the same side they met in Istanbul two years ago, Italian club AC Milan. Both these sides are historical giants of the European game. The Serie A outfit are chasing an amazing seventh title tonight, while Liverpool are after their sixth.
2005 re-match
Athens is the venue for a replay of one of the
most thrilling European finals ever witnessed. In the Ataturk Stadium two years ago, Milan went
ahead within a minute, and by half-time it looked all over as they went in 3-0 up after simply
playing Liverpool off the park. What happened after has gone down in Champions League folklore.
Incredibly, the Merseysiders, coached by Spaniard Rafa Benitez, scored three times in quick
succession to cancel out the deficit, and then rounded off a shocking night for the Milanese with a
penalty shootout victory.
Ex-Barcelona presence
There are three former Barcelona players in the Liverpool ranks. Goalkeeper Pepe Reina, Boudewijn Zenden and Luis Garcia. The latter will be missing through injury, while Milan’s Ronaldo is cup-tied after already appearing in this year’s edition for Real Madrid.
Milan opt for white
Curiously, although they were given first choice of colours, Milan have preferred to play in their
all-white change strip in Athens tonight. This is all to do with history, as five of Milan’s
six European Cup Final victories were secured wearing their away strip. Milan won the title in
62-63, 68-69, 88-89, 89-90, 93-94 and 2002-03, while Liverpool did likewise in 76-77, 77-78, 80-81,
83-84 and 2004-05.
