Carlo Ancelotti confirms Milan wanted Liverpool in the 2007 Champions League final “to take revenge for Istanbul”.
The 2005 final saw the Rossoneri completely dominate the first half and take a 3-0 lead, but the English side came back into it and won on penalties.
Two years later, Pippo Inzaghi struck twice to win the Diavolo their seventh European Cup and the Coach who masterminded that success reflected on it in today’s Gazzetta dello Sport.
Carlo Ancelotti confirms Milan wanted Liverpool in the 2007 Champions League final “to take revenge for Istanbul”.
The 2005 final saw the Rossoneri completely dominate the first half and take a 3-0 lead, but the English side came back into it and won on penalties.
Two years later, Pippo Inzaghi struck twice to win the Diavolo their seventh European Cup and the Coach who masterminded that success reflected on it in today’s Gazzetta dello Sport.
“I wanted Liverpool,” Ancelotti wrote.
“I wanted them and the lads wanted them. It was too beautiful to be able to take revenge for Istanbul two years before.
“It was good to get to the end in the Champions League given that no-one at the start of the season bet so much as a Euro on us.
“The truth is that the win on the pitch came from a group of men. Real men, people who help each other on the pitch and off, fighting for a common goal.
“We weren’t favourites, maybe we weren’t even the strongest, but we lifted the trophy and that means we were a team.
“We went to Athens in the group against AEK and I let myself say something which might have appeared presumptuous: ‘We came here to get a measure of the pitch for the final’. And I believed it.
“Because everyone’s objective, from the President to the warehouse workers, was that: another Champions League.
“The 3-0 against Manchester United in the semi-finals was magnificent, the perfect game. I knew that win would give us more security for Athens.
“I had the starting XI in my head for some time, but there was just one doubt facing me. Inzaghi was in bits, he wasn’t even scoring in training matches.
“Gilardino, on the other hand, was flying and had scored against Manchester United. I thought for a while and then I decided: Inzaghi.
“Why? Quite simply I bet on Pippo’s ability to sniff out a goal and be decisive in a game like this. Luckily I didn’t get it wrong.”