Let’s get it on for Euro glory

May 16 2007 by Tony Barrett, Liverpool Echo

ISTANBUL will always be one of the most glorious chapters in Steven Gerrard’s life – but the Liverpool skipper is adamant it won’t be the end of his European success story.

Lifting the European Cup on that glorious night was the ultimate in schoolboy fantasies come true and Gerrard says that rather than quench his thirst for success, it has given him a hunger to repeat the experience over again.

And he has such faith in manager Rafa Benitez and his Liverpool team-mates producing the goods against AC Milan once again that he is already dreaming of lifting European football’s most glittering prize for a second time in Athens.

Gerrard said: “I'm just as hungry to lift it this time as I was the first time and when I look back upon my career it would be unbelievable to look back on more than one European Cup.

“As a player you want to win as many trophies as possible and obviously the Champions League is the biggest.

“That night in Istanbul is the best night of my footballing life so far and I want to go and match it in Athens.

“I've watched the highlights of the Istanbul game many times, listened to the commentary and read all the stuff in the papers and it was a fantastic night.”

In the 2005 final AC Milan ran up a 3-0 half-time lead before famously being pegged back and ultimately defeated by a Liverpool side inspired by their captain.

But it is the memories of the manner in which the Reds fell behind which are at the forefront of Gerrard’s thoughts.

And he has total confidence the same thing will not happen this time.

He said: “We have learned an awful lot since 2005. In the first half we were cut open and we didn't play in a compact way as a team but we've learned our lessons from that. The idea in Athens will be to keep it tight early on, shut Milan out and try to score the first goal.

“We will be better prepared this time. We've got a lot of players who played in 2005 who can take that experience into Athens with them.

“The manager has bought some good players since so the squad is stronger and the starting eleven is stronger than the one which won it in 2005.