Until then we take a look at the 16 man squad that took part in that famous final and see what they have achieved, where they are and what they are doing with their lives now.
Jerzy Dudek
First up its Wobbly legs 2.0 himself Jerzy Dudek. As we all know Jerzy played a crucial role in the final on several occasions. Fans to this day are still unaware how he managed to save that Shevchenko strike from 6 yards out, we believe scientists are still looking into this. He also recreated Bruce Grobbalar in an attempt to distract the opposition, as we all know it worked.
Dudek left Liverpool for Real Madrid a few seasons later where he didn’t get regular football but was a favourite amongst his teammates.
These days Jerzy can be found in his native Poland as a racing driver, yes you read that right, racing driver.”Motor racing was my passion before football. I raced go-karts but of course that stopped when I became a professional footballer. When I quit football I also missed the adrenaline you got from playing,”
“But you need passions in life – they are what keep you going. Motor racing gives me a lot of joy and I’m loving it.”
We admire his passion and desire to keep pushing himself, good luck Jerzy.
Djimi Traore
Poor old Djimi Traore, he got a tough time at Liverpool and its not surprising given his Tuesday night shambles at Turf Moor earlier that season. On the plus side he is able to boast at the fact he has more Champions League medals than Zlatan Ibrahimovic, swings and roundabouts Djimi.
Its fair to say Djimi has been busy boy since then, I’d probably sit down for this. He has had stints at the following clubs in the space of seven years;
- Charlton
- Portsmouth
- Rennes
- Birmingham
- Monaco
- Marseille
- Seattle Sounders
Its fair to say he’s collected some air miles in that time and he is probably just as dizzy as he was against Burnley. Traore finally did settle at Seattle Sounders where he went on to become an assistant coach for the second team before being promoted to the first team. We wish him the best of luck and pray he doesn’t teach youngsters the art of clearing the ball off the line!
Sami Hyypia
Sami ‘The Brick Shit-house’ Hyypia was also a crucial part of Liverpool’s Champions League success. He can be forgiven for his first half performance as Shevchenko, Kaka and Crespo ruined him with their pace. The Finnish centre back left Liverpool for Bayern Leverkusen before retiring in 2011. Sami then went onto management, firstly as an assistant for the Finnish national team before taking the reigns at Leverkusen between 2012-14. Since then he had a quick stints at Brighton and Hove Albion and FC Zurich. It appears Sami has taken a break from the game, we assume he’s looking for the right proposition.
Jamie Carragher
Arguably one of the best performers for Liverpool in that second half Vs Milan. Riddled with cramp and tiredness Carra showed the ‘die hard’ attitude which made him such a fans favourite. Since retiring Carra has gone on to work for Sky Sports as both pundit and co-commentator. He has also become well known for his role in Monday Night Football giving honest yet brutal feedback.
Its also worth a mention that Jamie has become something of a professional troll over recent years, often destroying Gary Neville much to the amusement to everyone else on the planet. Its not just Gary ‘nose’ Neville thats fallen short of an argument. Jermaine Jenas, Danny Simpson and the smug faced, irritable know-it-all Richard Keys have also been shot down by the Liverpool hero.
Jamie Carragher, we salute you.
Steve Finnan
The 2005 final wasn’t exactly Finnan’s finest game but he was instrumental all the same through out each of the stages. In 2015 the hashtag #FindSteveFinnan was set up as an out of club event was created to reunite the winning side after a decade. Rumours of him stacking shelves in Aldi on Craggy Island turned out to be false and he was found in London. Steve remains in London where he as set up a property company ‘Finnan Developments’ with his brother Sean.
Finnan has often stated his desire to not pursue a further career in football and that management or punditry isn’t for him, fair play Steve.
Xabi Alonso
Well its no secret what this man has achieved since leaving Liverpool. In his own words he has “Played for his childhood club, the best team in England, the best team in Spain and the best team in Germany.”
Xabi of course scored the rebound from the penalty to level the scores at 3-3. It was the first of many honours for Alonso who went on to win the following;
Real Madrid
- La Liga: 201112
- Copa del Rey: 201011, 201314
- Supercopa de España: 2012
- UEFA Champions League: 201314
Bayern Munich
- Bundesliga: 201415, 201516, 201617
- DFB-Pokal: 201516
- DFL-Supercup: 2016
Spain
- FIFA World Cup: 2010
- UEFA European Championship: 2008, 2012
This highlights just how world class Xabi was. I was devastated to see him leave the club as rumours that Gareth Barry was set to replace him grew. Im sure Alonso is made up with his trophy collection since then. To compare I think Barry won a Domino’s voucher back in 09′. Well done.
Steven Gerrard
Well this shouldn’t take long, we have all been tracking his every move since he left like Russian spies. Gerrard of course continued at Liverpool for some years before being benched at Real Madrid inevitably left him no choice but to consider his options. He of course moved on to LA Galaxy where he was also regarded as a fan favourite.
Stevie returned to Liverpool where he has taken up management roles with youth teams as well as being touted as Jurgen Klopps ‘Young Padawan’ as the Anfield faithful are desperate to see him as first team manger in years to come.
He’s now gone off to Rangers. Although PES have secured rights to the SPFL. Swings and roundabouts.
John Arne Riise (OO AHH)
Riise of course set up Stevie G for the first goal in what started the immense comeback and also had his penalty saved during the shootout. John stuck around Liverpool for a few years and was the culprit in the 08/09 Champions League semi final as he scored an own goal in the 95th minute which Liverpool then lost. The latter stages of his Liverpool career saw him replaced by Fabio Aurellio even though he had recently signed a new contract and expressed his desire to finish his career on Merseyside.
He then moved onto to Roma before having stints at Fulham, APOEL, Dehli Dynamos (yes that is a real team), Aalesund and Chennaiyin F.C. More recently Riise was the victim of a prank in which he was interviewed in Malaysia but the questions were a wind up to say the least. Riise had the last laugh though as he walked off.
He’s now a football agent, keen golfer AND has his own YouTube channel!
Milan Baros
To this day Milan Baros is the only Liverpool player who started the game in Istanbul who still plays to this day. His best moment was probably getting out of the way for Vladimir Smicer. The 35 year old striker hasn’t given up on his playing career just yet as he plies his trade in the Czech Leagues. After leaving Liverpool in 2005 Baros beats Traore in club per season top trumps!
Aston Villa
Lyon
Portsmouth
Galatasaray
Baník Ostrava
Antalyaspor
Baník Ostrava
Mladá Boleslav
Slovan Liberec
Where ever you lay your hat Milan.
Harry Kewell
Harry Kewell was unfortunately riddled with injuries during his Liverpool career. He didn’t last long during the Champions League Final but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
He soon left for Galatasaray in 07′ before moving onto clubs in India and Australia. Harry is now having a go at management at Crawley Town, he’s got some great experience and has worked with some quality players in his career .
Substitutes
Scott Carson
Well if you have made it this far and could actually give two shits what Scott Carson is up to these days then you have got far too much time on your hands. We would love to tell you that he has moved back into his mums house and eats spam out of his belly button but Scott is currently playing for Derby County. To be honest the first option sounds better.
Djibril Cisse
Cisse or The Lord of the Manor of Frodsham as he is otherwise known hasn’t wasted his time after playing finished. He’s created his own clothing brand and fragrance ‘Mr Lenior’ which translates as Google it. And around that he also likes to DJ, he always was a pretty cool guy so none of this is really a surprise.
Vladamir Smicer
Smicer played his last game for Liverpool during the final and scored two goals from which he will be fondly remembered. He currently represents Liverpool for charity games and travels the world with several other legends in honour of the club.
Didi Hamann
Didi has had several outlets since leaving Liverpool. The German Midfielder has had a dabble at management with several clubs, punditry and has written articles for twentyfour7. He’s also likely to be found on Twitter have ‘Top Banter’ with his mates or playing Golf.
Josemi, Nunez and Biscan
Again if you have it this far then we appreciate your existence. We have grouped these three together as we are not convinced they were ever footballers in the first place. So at this point we could make anything up. Here it goes.
Josemi is a bartender at Morgans Tavern in Benidorm. He makes a belter Strawberry Daiquiri than he does an assist.
Nunez is a painter a decorator in Torremolinos in which he owns the company.
Igor Biscan runs a kebab house in Bradford.
If you have any other suggestions where the latter three maybe, please comment.
Ross Chandley
@rossic89
