The 2005 UEFA Champions League final will forever be remembered as arguably the greatest football world has ever witnessed. On that May night in Istanbul, AC Milan were 3-0 up at the break against Liverpool, but the Reds somehow managed to return, salvage a 3-3 draw, survive extra time and Andriy Shevchenko’s colossal chance and win the trophy on penalties.That match will probably remain engraved in the minds of everyone lucky enough to have watched it – either live or on TV – including the Rossoneri fans. Only their feelings will be much different.Considering how they lost the UCL trophy, it’s logical that players from that particular Milan generation rarely speak of that final. However, speaking for the YouTube show Prime Video Sport, the San Siro crew’s legend, Alessandro Nesta, decided to “open the can of worms” and recall probably the toughest loss he experienced in his 21-year-long career.”We started in the first half saying that we would break them, we were fired up. We were cold. Did we celebrate in the locker room? No. It was some idiot from the other team, I don’t even know his name, who said these things… We also discussed, the atmosphere was quite tense, we knew it was still a long way off,” claimed Nesta via Tuttosport.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Still, the current Monza boss highlighted one particular Liverpool player who “kept them up.””Do you know who kept them up? Gerrard. He was everywhere, he was an animal. Then in the second half the episode where you concede a goal, the second where you don’t understand how and then you get a bit short-armed. We knew at the end of the first half that it was still a long way off and that we would have to play hard. It’s happened other times too that you concede goals…” the 49-year-old said.Gerrard in a duel with Milan’s Gattuso and Cafu during the 2005 final (©Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)The former Italian international showed that he still vividly remembered Shevchenko’s massive opportunity in extra time, which could have brought the Rossoneri the trophy as well as that he hadn’t been allowed to take a penalty in the shootout.”At 3-3 we started again, Dudek makes a sensational save that he doesn’t even know how he did: he opens his arm and Sheva shoots at him from a metre and the ball goes soars. Then we go to penalties and lose. It was a thing… Everything went badly. I took one penalty in the Super Cup and I scored against Gigione [Buffon]. After that, that was it, they didn’t trust me anymore. When we went to Istanbul I offered to take it again, but the coach didn’t let me take it,” he revealed.🗣️ “I can’t explain how I saved it.”🔴 Sensational double save by Jerzy Dudek in 2005 final 🤯🤯🤯#UCL | @LFC https://t.co/JfZ1MXLDLS pic.twitter.com/AxJ41hRToN— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) June 11, 2020 The atmosphere after the game was abysmal, but things didn’t get any better in the days, weeks, and even months later.”In the locker room, no one spoke, no one dared. We were with our families, we went to eat and there was silence… We were all dead. Throughout the summer months, for that half second when you open your eyes when you wake up, I said: ‘It’s not possible, come on, it’s not true’, Nesta admitted, pointing out one teammate who had a rough time following the defeat.”Rino [Gattuso] wanted to leave in the summer, but Galliani convinced him, but we were all depressed anyway. Rino was dead, I think he whipped himself all summer. He was bad, you know how he is.”Nesta passing by the UCL trophy after the ceremony (©AFP)Still, the Rossoneri managed to bounce back two years later, winning the club’s seventh – and currently last – Champions League, and in the best possible way – taking a cold vengeance on Liverpool!”When we saw each other again, we recharged. There was a strong group of Italians, the right ones. We said to each other that it couldn’t end like this. We got back to work. Maldini said the right words, he didn’t talk much: ‘Let’s roll up our sleeves, we’re starting again’. We just had to get over it. Paolo [Maldini], Rino [Gattuso], Andrea [Pirlo], Ambro [Massimo Ambrosini]… They were right and we started again,” Nesta concluded.##NAJAVA_MECA_8810368##
