Topic: The 25th of May, Happy Istanbul Day and Rome day.

[DangerScouse]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLvBRxtaL6c&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[Geezer08]

Best night of my life!!

[Robert_B]

Happy Istanbul day!

Watching old videos on youtube, reading these stories... I'm getting a bit emotional!

I remember watching the game in the union bar at UEA. Obviously deflated at half time. Can't remember if I phoned him or if he phoned me, but my brother was winding me up at half time. All I said was words to the effect of "We came from 2 down to beat Fulham, so we can do it here too". More in jest than anything; but in a way, my usual ultra-pessimistic attitude towards football matches paid off in that 15 minutes. I know if we were winning 3-0 at HT, i'd never have let myself get ahead of myself as there's still plenty of time to screw things up. And in that moment, the shoe was on the foot. We were down, but not out, and with half the game left there's always a chance, no matter how slight.

As the Gerrard goal went in I was happy because at least we had registered. When Smicer scored... Christ, it was a wonderful, wonderful moment. The sort of moment where the stars align and you believe anything can happen. The penalty, the equaliser... A bit of a haze, but I remember now s**ting myself, because we now had something to lose again!

The rest of the action was exhausting, when Shevchenko had his header and rebound saved it was all in slow motion, I had resigned myself to them scoring twice, but it just never happened. The penalty shoot-out was almost regulation. There are no words to describe that game of football. "Unbelievable", "Incredible"... They don't seem to hit the spot. It was a genuinely magical event.

[chromed]

What a day, what a night. Incredible happy instabul day everyone.

[mightykopite8]

From The Sun(Malaysia, not the UK version ) morning after the game. Absolutely pricess

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/5272/20130525231215929.jpg

[Benitez Adoramus]

Best day of my life

The locals in the Grand Bazaar shouting 'Milan' at us and then adding 'Baros'
The crazy drive to the stadium with 2 taxis driving alongside each other at 70 mph so Reds could swap cans
The red sitting in the boot of a taxi with his crate of Efes
The locals giving us a guard of honour to the stadium with the Carlsberg wigs/scarves on that Reds had thrown to them
The Biscanbul bus
The stadium in the middle of a moonscape with a sea of red ants winding it's way towards it
The depression of the first half
The defiance and pride of YNWA at half time that changed my mood into defiance
The fairytale ending
The stunned silence on the coach after the game where I kept repeating 'We're champions of Europe'
The chaos in the airport with noone sure when/if they would get a plane and you had to buy vouchers to buy anything
The long wait in the airport tent with continuous singing - it would subside for a bit and then the whole airport would be up again

Wouldn't swap it for anything

[StrikingMidfield]

This should be a bloody official holiday.

[andyrol]

And it was about this time the 'bouncers' wouldnt let anyone else in the 'first national'. Remember john barnes was in there and me an me mate were doing rounds of 6 bottles of smirnoff ice!brilliant couple of days.

[rhylred]

One of my mates Brendan the postie from Bristol drove up to Liverpool on the monday to meet up with all the lads before we flew out on the tuesday
After the game, as everyone who was there knows it was chaos at the airport,5 of us supposed to fly out on the thursday night turned out our flight had disappeared
We were still there on the friday morning&one of our stewards told me there was emergency air malta flight coming in from Egypt to take us back to the uk only trouble
instead of landing in Liverpool it landed in Bristol,fair dos to the Avon police they had a whip round & on each coach seat taking us back to liverpool there was bag with a can of pop,a sarnie & a twix
Best thing was about 10 mins into the journey we went  past Brendans house,poor bugger had to go back to Whiston pick up his car&drive back to Bristol..

[TheTeflonJohn]

I remember talking to a Turk Gala fan outside the ground and he couldn`t believe the amount of reds that were there.

Second best experience of my life after the birth of my babies. I made the mistake of telling my Mrs that and she said something along the lines of "well what about when you met me".

Felt like saying, are you having a fucking laugh love.

Oh and Happy Birthday Leo

[TheTeflonJohn]

One of my mates Brendan the postie from Bristol drove up to Liverpool on the monday to meet up with all the lads before we flew out on the tuesday
After the game, as everyone who was there knows it was chaos at the airport,5 of us supposed to fly out on the thursday night turned out our flight had disappeared
We were still there on the friday morning&one of our stewards told me there was emergency air malta flight coming in from Egypt to take us back to the uk only trouble
instead of landing in Liverpool it landed in Bristol,fair dos to the Avon police they had a whip round & on each coach seat taking us back to liverpool there was bag with a can of pop,a sarnie & a twix
Best thing was about 10 mins into the journey we went  past Brendans house,poor bugger had to go back to Whiston pick up his car&drive back to Bristol..

I was on that flight mate. Gutted when we were told we had to land at Bristol.

[rhylred]

It was like gettin on a bus no passport check nothing

[Guz-kop]

Just watching the Istanbul goals again, it never ceases to amaze me how far up the pitch Carra was for the 3rd goal. He's in the penalty area when Gerrard gets the penalty. Amazing what momentum and belief can do to a team.

And as an aside, always love this piece on lfc.tv ; what the world were saying when we booked our place in the final...
http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/mama-we-re-all-famous-now

[Gnurglan]

8 years, remember it like it was yesterday.

[Mostar]

Probably the best video ever made about miracle in Istanbul. If this doesn't give you goosebumps nothing will.

<a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/x106qzm_make-us-dream-liverpool-vs-milan-2005_sport" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/x106qzm_make-us-dream-liverpool-vs-milan-2005_sport</a>

[Gnurglan]

Was looking for some stats and found this

http://en.classics.uefa.com/match=1086988.html

[rafasredangel]

8 years ago I was meant to be revising for my final university exam - obviously wasn't.

Turned up for the exam the next day, still drunk! Just wrote 'Liverpool Champions League Winners - 5 times!' across the top of the paper and put my head on the desk. Strangely that was my worst module result  scrapped a 2:2 thanks to my essays and managed to get a 2:1 overall.

Can't believe it was 8 years ago, seems like it was only a yesterday.

[Marty 85]

GERRARD!!!!!

[west_london_red]

I miss those days like you wouldn't believe, we were the best rated team in Europe, regularly putting the best teams on the planet to the sword, how I yearn for those days again!

[Andy-oh-six]

Istanfuckingbul. Unbefuckinglievable.

[Yorkykopite]

We're on our way to Roma, on the 25th of May
Vatican bells will be ringing......

I can still hear this song echoing off all that immense ironwork in the roof of the old Spion Kop as 28,000 sets of vocal chords let rip. Hope, expectation, being on the threshold of greatness - perhaps these are more intense things to feel than actual fulfilment. And the month of May '77 was all about being on the threshold. The sense was there that we were going to achieve something historic. Personally I don't think the Kop has ever been so marvellous as the period between St Etienne and Rome '77.  The spring of '77. And May 25th, of course, was the day we we given the keys to heaven.


'We're all going to Rome, we're all going to Rome
You won't get no tickets, they've got none to spare
We've had to stop drinking to save up the fare
You can tell Moenchengladbach the Kop will be there,
We're all going to Rome.'

[TheMissionary]

It could be argued that Istanbul day should be 26th May 'cause it was past midnight when Jerzy saved the last penalty.  I'm of an age that means that Rome 77 day takes precedence so if we move Istanbul day to 26th I can have two days celebrating.

I know...lone voice in the wilderness.

[PROPER crazyemlyn72]

too many tears reading this thread.

[aggerdid]

Probably the best video ever made about miracle in Istanbul. If this doesn't give you goosebumps nothing will.

<a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/x106qzm_make-us-dream-liverpool-vs-milan-2005_sport" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/x106qzm_make-us-dream-liverpool-vs-milan-2005_sport</a>

you know at like 1:58 is that dean lennox kelly out of the early shameless series? always wondered

[mikey_LFC]

Crazy comparison to be had here is the winners starting in 1977 for 8 years vs 2005 for 8 years.

                 Winner                     Runner-up                                               Winner             Runner Up
1976-77    Liverpool                    Borussia Mönchengladbach     2004-05   Liverpool           AC Milan
1977–78   Liverpool                    Club Brugge                             2005-06   Barcelona         Arsenal
1978–79   Nottingham Forest    Malmö FF                                   2006-07   AC Milan            Liverpool
1979–80   Nottingham Forest    Hamburg                                   2007-08   Man Utd           Chelsea
1980–81    Liverpool                    Real Madrid                             2008-09   Barcelona         Man Utd
1981–82    Aston Villa              Bayern Munich                             2009-10   Inter Milan        Bayern Munich
1982–83    Hamburg                    Juventus                                 2010-11   Barcelona         Man Utd
1983–84    Liverpool                  Roma                                          2011-12   Chelsea            Bayern Munich
1984–85    Juventus                    Liverpool                                  2012-13   Bayern Munich  Borussia Dortmund

Just shows how long we dominated Europe for, and how dominant English football was. For as long as between now and Istanbul we were Kings of Europe, the best team in the world. And it was sadly brought to an end by that tradegy, who knows how many we could have won during that period under King Kenny. Anyway in the time between now and 2005 we had won 4 European Cups and added another final too. It would be my absolute dream for us to get back to that point again.

Since Milan in 90 no country/league has even had two winners in a row. Back then we had 6 in a row and 7 in 8.

[Hij]

The full half time You'll Never Walk Alone.

Someone must have it, someone must have it. I never got any pictures in Istanbul, but Sky only play 10 seconds of it on their clip. Someone out there, please, must have the full or near to the full clip of YNWA that day, if you do please post it.

[S]

Best night of my life!!

I'll go along with that. Absolutely unreal. I'll never forget those few months when we beat Juventus, Chelsea and Milan. For some reason, I guess because we won it, I remember every non-Liverpool related moment of my life in those few weeks too. Underdogs, guided by an exciting new manager, upsetting some of the best sides in the world. It was made all the better because of how unbelievably nerve-wracking some moments were. 25 May was probably the best day of my life, but that whole period was glorious.

[justsean]

Top 3 moments of my life.

I absolutely love Jerzy Dudek after watching that interview that was posted further up this page. What a man.

[jillcwhomever]

We're on our way to Roma, on the 25th of May
Vatican bells will be ringing......

I can still hear this song echoing off all that immense ironwork in the roof of the old Spion Kop as 28,000 sets of vocal chords let rip. Hope, expectation, being on the threshold of greatness - perhaps these are more intense things to feel than actual fulfilment. And the month of May '77 was all about being on the threshold. The sense was there that we were going to achieve something historic. Personally I don't think the Kop has ever been so marvellous as the period between St Etienne and Rome '77.  The spring of '77. And May 25th, of course, was the day we we given the keys to heaven.


'We're all going to Rome, we're all going to Rome
You won't get no tickets, they've got none to spare
We've had to stop drinking to save up the fare
You can tell Moenchengladbach the Kop will be there,
We're all going to Rome.'

It's a hard one Yorky. You're certainly right the atmosphere when we were playing against St Etienne, was mighty special. Wasn't lucky enough to go to the final, but it was amazing on the TV, those red and white flags everywhere. The classic Joey Jones banner, that I still think is one of the best ever banners. I guess back then we were in the middle of our dominating era, we kind of took it for granted, we had so much success.

As far as Istanbul was concerned it was so unexpected. Remember going into the competition with the attitude, we'll see what we can do. Yet with each win, I was getting more and more excited, there seemed to be a inevitabilty about it all. By the time we despatched Juventus, I really believed we would get there. The atmosphere at Chelsea was right up there with all the great former nights we'd had. As far as Istanbul was concerned, it was the most incredible experience, end of story.  Rafa and the players will always have my gratitude for that night and day. 

Have to say can't understand those who are reluctant to look back and celebrate days such as these. What's the matter with them, why are they so embarrassed by it? While I agree we need to look forward, we also need to celebrate what was. Instead of wanting to hide these successes away in a cupboard, we should treat them as an incentive for the latest players to aim for. This football club should never be afraid, we have conquered everest before, we will conquer it again. 

[aggerdid]

i remember at 3-3 thinking that no matter what happens now we've done ourselves proud. that feeling lasted till about 90 minutes i'd say. like at 3-0 ht it was looking like we we're going to be on the end of a beating

[justsean]

Every time I watch the highlights I think Smicer's shot for our 2nd goal is going to deflect off Baros and go hopelessly wide.

That was a millimetre or two away from being the case. Insane.

[Po The Panda]

9 years ago can't believe it!

[Snail]

Nearly a decade, crikey.

[El Ninos Black Eye]

'Hello, Hello! Here we go'

[Fiasco]

I still can't believe it happened. It's probably, at least possibly, the best game of football you will ever see. It had pretty much everything and it all happened on the biggest stage of all in club football.

[markedasred]

It could be argued that Istanbul day should be 26th May 'cause it was past midnight when Jerzy saved the last penalty.  I'm of an age that means that Rome 77 day takes precedence so if we move Istanbul day to 26th I can have two days celebrating.

I know...lone voice in the wilderness.

I'm going with this as I have the shirt and barely left the house today, so can go out in it tomorrow. Meanwhile, a happy 25th to you all. Great memories, and a little less bittersweet this year. Here's to many more!

[Haemoglobin]

Nearly a decade, crikey.

I know, what the fuck is that about.

"I remember it like it was yesterday" is such a cliche, but no way did this happen that long ago. That's basically a full third of my life. Nonsense.

[TheFlyingScouseman]

This exact time 9 years ago, the blue noses were having their greatest moment in their history. And Rafa was giving that team talk.

[Solomon Grundy]

I wish I could go back and relive that night in the Ataturk again. AMAZING!

[rhylred]

37 years ago I was in Rome  celebrating with 2 litre bottles of vino & a block of cheese !!!