Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher played some 508 games for the club but the most significant of those will always be a particularly storied appearance in Istanbul.
The Reds’ heroic comeback victory against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final has a lore of its own at this point, with films, books, and even a play have been created about the story of how Rafa Benitez cobbled together a team to bring the trophy to Merseyside for the fifth time.
Carragher, now a well-known pundit, has been speaking on ITV’s Granada Reports about the night that he and his teammates booked themselves a permanent place on the club’s honour roll.
“I mean me best memory of the game probably starts at halftime try and forget the first half try and get that out of the way,” says the 40-year-old.
Sitting in the dressing room at the Ataturk Stadium, the Liverpool players famously could hear their travelling support bellowing out their anthem.
“I think we were aware of it in the dressing room in some ways,” says Carragher on this topic. “You felt sorry for the supporters.”
“I mean we were in obviously in the bowels of the stadium so you couldn’t hear it loud and blasting but it’s like it was floating along, it was almost like a hymn really and it was lifting you felt great. But on the other hand you’re thinking were losing three nill ... the money they’ve spent through to get here.”
But what was the best moment on a night full of life-changing memories?
“I think the greatest moment when Shevchenko missed the penalty [that meant Liverpool had won the trophy],” explains the Sky Sports pundit.
“There’s a great picture where we’re all stood like at the start of a 100 metres. It goes off, the bang, and we all take off and I get there first - one of the slowest players in Liverpool’s history.”
