No Athen Joy for Reds

For the Italian, it was a sweet revenge. For Liverpool, they will ponder why they were not sixth time lucky having dominated most of the games.

The Italians have 2 person to thank. One is their goalkeeper Dida and the other is the man in black. I cast my mind back to what the commentator said before the game. "Milan have won the all the European Cup Final when the German referee was the offical for the games except in Istanbul 2005." Mind you, Milan did not lose in normal time in 2005. So as you can see, history favour the Italians.

It turned out to be true. The German referee gifted Milan a free kick just a minute before half-time. Milan scored from the resulted free-kick. It was a physological blow for Liverpool who controlled the game from the start. Replay showed that there was minimal contact on Kaka by Alonso. The referee could have waved play-on.

Dida redeemed himself this time by producing crucial saves from Pennant and Gerrard from each half. The two shots were going in until the save. If Pennant shot went in, Liverpool would likely to win the Cup because Milan will need to attack more and Liverpool can exploit with their pace against the ageing Milan's defence. However, Kuyt's goal is a mere consolation.

I'm very proud of the the way Liverpool played. They dominated but lost. Rafa can say "The better team lost." Sounds familiar? You bet.