Andriy Shevchenko admits the ‘wound is still bleeding’ from the 2005 Champions League final collapse

Andriy Shevchenko admits the ‘wound is still bleeding’ from the 2005 Champions League capitulation in Istanbul and AC Milan striker would ‘wake up SCREAMING in the middle of the night’ thinking about Liverpool’s famous comeback

  • AC Milan looked to be on easy street after going 3-0 up in the first half 
  • But Liverpool replied through Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer and Xabi Alonso
  • Jerzy Dudek then produced an incredible save in extra time to keep it at 3-3
  • The Pole followed that up with the decisive shootout stop from Shevchenko
  • Shevchenko admits he hasn’t got over it – but still enjoyed a great career in Milan 

Andriy Shevchenko has revealed that he has still not got over AC Milan‘s collapse against Liverpool in the 2005 Champions League final.

Carlo Ancelotti‘s men led 3-0 at half time in Istanbul thanks to Alessandro Nesta’s first-minute strike and a double from Hernan Crespo. 

However, the English side fought back to level in five made second-half minutes as Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer and Xabi Alonso struck to force extra time. 

Andriy Shevchenko admits he has not healed from AC Milan’s 2005 collapse against Liverpool

An Alessandro Nesta strike and a Hernan Crespo double looked to have wrapped up the win

An Alessandro Nesta strike and a Hernan Crespo double looked to have wrapped up the win

However, Liverpool struck back through Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer and Xabi Alonso

However, Liverpool struck back through Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer and Xabi Alonso

Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek made an astonishing save from Shevchenko late on before making the decisive stop from the Ukrainian’s penalty in the shootout that followed to secure an improbable victory for the Reds in a game that became known as the Miracle of Istanbul.

Reflecting on the torment of that night, Shevchenko told Corriere della Sera in quotes carried by MARCA: ‘The wound is still bleeding. It bothers me that they said that we were carried away by the euphoria. 

‘(Captain Paolo) Maldini said at half time to be careful. 

‘The first months after the final I would wake up screaming in the middle of the night thinking about it. 

The English side then won after Jerzy Dudek's save from Shevchenko in the penalty shootout

The English side then won after Jerzy Dudek’s save from Shevchenko in the penalty shootout

Shevchenko feels that Carlo Ancelotti should have managed the game differently at 3-0 up

Shevchenko feels that Carlo Ancelotti should have managed the game differently at 3-0 up

The Ukraine legend left the San Siro after a seven-year spell that saw him score 173 goals

The Ukraine legend left the San Siro after a seven-year spell that saw him score 173 goals

‘Now that I am a coach I think about those minutes in which we scored three goals. It is not a criticism of Ancelotti, but I would have stopped the game, changed something.’

Shevchenko left Milan the following year, but only after a seven-year spell at the San Siro that saw him score 173 goals in 296 games across all competitions, winning the Champions League in 2003 and Serie A the following year, as well as finishing as the league’s top scorer in 2000 and 2004.  

The quotes are part of an interview promoting Shevchenko’s new book, My Life, My Football, in which he also discusses the impact that the legendary coach Valery Lobanovskyi had on him at Dynamo Kiev and the upheaval he experienced as a children when he had to leave the capital city in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.