#2 The pass – John Arne Riise to Steven Gerrard
The game – 2005, Liverpool vs AC Milan
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The story – The mother of all come-backs was this Champions League final in Istanbul. Underdogs Liverpool faced an in-form, star-studded AC Milan side in a match that would go down in history as the miracle of Istanbul.
In the first half, Liverpool found themselves in all sorts of trouble and went down 3-0 to Milan with goals from Paolo Maldini and a brace from Hernan Crespo. The game was dead and buried, or so Milan thought. At half time, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez delivered the team talk of his life. It certainly got all his players fired up and they came out in the second half, a rejuvenated team.
In the beginning of the first half John Arne Riise picked up the ball on the left flank and after a failed attempt at a cross, put another crisp, curling cross into the box. Liverpool skipper, Steven Gerrard met that pass with full force and accuracy and guided the ball into the Milan net. That goal, in that moment of the game, was the turn of the tide. Riise’s cross was perfectly put in for Gerrard to finish and would spark an unlikely Liverpool comeback.
They then scored again through Vladimir Smicer while Xabi Alonso’s follow up after a missed penalty would make it 3-3. The game went into extra time and heroics from Liverpool keeper Jerzy Dudek took the game to penalties. Once again Dudek came out on top in the shootout and would hand Liverpool the Champions League trophy.
