JAMIE CARRAGHER hailed Liverpool’s glory night as the best European Cup final ever.

The Kop defender said: “This will go down in history — people will be talking about it in 20 or 30 years’ time.

“Stevie Gerrard and I grew up with stories of the past glories at Liverpool.

“This is our moment as it will go down as one of the best finals of all time.

“I honestly haven’t seen a game like that I don’t think.

“I said at half-time we had to go for it — we didn’t want to be beaten four or five-nil. Then we got the first goal.

“The save Jerzy Dudek made from Shevchenko at the end was unbelievable. I can’t believe we’ve just won.

“I’m on a bender for a week. We can celebrate for as long as we want.”

Liverpool keeper Dudek was on cloud nine after his penalty saves from Andrea Pirlo and Milan superstar Andriy Shevchenko.

The Polish star had earlier produced an amazing double save to deny Shevchenko deep into extra-time.

Dudek said: “I was waiting for this moment. I had difficult moments in this game but this is fantastic.

“I don’t know how I saved from Shevchenko. It was fortunate for myself that I did it — fantastic for me.”

Centre-back Sami Hyypia hailed Dudek as Liverpool’s man of the match. The Finland international said: “He’s the hero today — the magnificent saves from Shevchenko then the shootout.

“It’s unbelievable. They went 3-0 up and many thought the game was over. We decided to give it a go and we did it.”



KISS AND YELL ... Jamie Carragher and Steven
Gerrard are peck of the bunch in Istanbul
Picture: RICHARD PELHAM



Phil Thompson, who skippered Liverpool to European Cup glory in 1981, said: “I believed they could do it. Benitez deserves a bit of credit. He changed the system at half-time and when Didi Hamann came on they started to keep the ball.

“There was a banner in the Liverpool crowd at the semi-final that said ‘Let us dream’. The side fulfilled that dream.

“We always felt the European Cup was ours and it’s coming back to stay.”

AC Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti was devastated at throwing away a 3-0 lead.

He insisted: “We have had five minutes of madness that changed the course of things and cost us the cup.

“But we played a marvellous final even though we lost — we didn’t deserve it but we have to accept it.
“The team should be proud of how they played.

“At least I think we lost in an honourable way, although after conceding three goals so quickly we had problems.

"Milan were the better team and I just can’t explain what happened. Our three best penalty takers — Serginho, Pirlo and Shevchenko — were the three who missed.

“Even when we were 3-0 up, I felt we had to keep going to kill the game off.

“We didn’t do that for a few moments and it cost us. It has to go down as the most painful defeat of my career.”


Milan’s former Newcastle striker Jon Dahl Tomasson said: “We gave it away and it’s very disappointing.

"Liverpool played well in the second half and we had 10 minutes when our concentration went a bit. Everybody is down. We deserved to win.”

Argentine legend Diego Maradona hailed Liverpool’s display as the most amazing fightback he has ever seen.

The 1986 World Cup winner said: “Even the Brazil team that won the 1970 World Cup could not have staged a comeback with Milan leading 3-0.



ROAR BLIMEY ... Gerrard lifts trophy



“At 3-0 up, Milan must have been convinced that Liverpool couldn’t come back.

“But what has happened has happened. Milan never stopped playing and Shevchenko could have won it.

“I have seen comebacks like that in football but never against a team as superior as Milan were.”




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They never had to walk alone



FAN-TASTIC ... the Kop Army bathe the Ataturk Stadium in a sea of red



LIVERPOOL fans turned Turkey into a big part of Merseyside last night.

A staggering 45,000 Kopites made the 1,700-mile trip to Istanbul.

And the lucky 30,000 with tickets for the final easily outnumbered Milan’s followers in the Ataturk Stadium.

One entire end of the 80,000-seat ground was turned into a sea of red.

The Red Army delivered a thunderous rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” before kick-off — and an even louder one after the stunning shootout win.

Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard said: “The fans were the 12th man — they were brilliant.

“After the Carling Cup final a few people questioned my commitment but I’m just happy I can do this for the fans, the chairman and this club.”