It’s been exactly 18 years since Liverpool produced the most famous comeback in football history, and not all of the cast members from that night still look the same.
On this day in 2005, the Reds fought back from 3-0 down to defeat AC Milan in the Champions League final in Istanbul, with Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer and Xabi Alonso scoring the all important goals in just six minutes to level the scores at 3-3.
Polish goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek proved the hero in the penalty shootout that followed, saving from Andriy Shevchenko to secure an improbable fifth European Cup for Liverpool. But all these years on, not all of those involved in the Miracle of Istanbul look the same (as you probably would expect). But there’s one key member of the team who looks drastically different.
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Smicer, who scored the second of Liverpool’s goals that evening, now looks dramatically different. Gone is the clean-shaven face and spiky hair that Reds fans were used to during the midfielder’s six-season spell at Anfield from 1999 to 2005.
In its place is a more slicked back hairstyle and rough beard, which may well be for the best when you consider that Smicer seems to enjoy spending some his spare time playing ice hockey these days.
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(Image: @smicer.vladimir/Instagram)
Now a TV pundit and a Reds ambassador, the former Czech Republic international spoke to the Liverpool Echo in 2017 about his role in Liverpool’s comeback against Milan in the 2005 final.
He said: “The day before the final it was my birthday. I turned 32. In the final training session I’d been the joker. I felt good. When I went on I felt free in my head. I really wanted to play so badly.
“I was determined to enjoy it. We were already 1-0 down and by half-time it was 3-0. I don’t think we actually played that badly, it was just that Milan were so good. Kaka was brilliant.”
(Image: @smicer.vladimir/Instagram)
Gerrard started the Liverpool fightback just after half-time, but it was Smicer who pulled the Merseysiders back to within one goal of their opponents.
“I scored a few goals from outside the box but none as important as that one,” Smicer added. “When I hit it, I knew it had come off the sweet spot! Maybe Dida saw it a bit late and wasn’t expecting it to come so fast.
“Stevie’s goal gave us belief, when I scored we all knew it was game on. I was celebrating alone because everyone was running to the halfway line. Luis Garcia was putting the ball back in the middle and we were like: ‘Let’s go and get another.’
(Image: Liverpool Echo)
“When Jerzy (Dudek) made the miracle save from (Andriy) Shevchenko I thought: ‘Come on, this is our cup. This has to be our night.'”
How right he was.
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