Roller-coaster man!

May 21 2007 by James Pearce, Liverpool Echo

“If this final finishes the same way as the Champions League final in 2005 I’ll be quite happy to suffer during the game.

“We would love for it to go to penalties if it means we come out on top.”

If the final does go the distance the Reds will be rightly confident of glory, having won 10 of the 11 shoot-outs they’ve been involved in. Taking into account last season’s FA Cup final and the recent Champions League semi-final triumph over Chelsea, Reina has kept out five of the seven penalties he has faced.

Alonso said: “It’s always important to have good keepers. Two years ago Jerzy was a key player for us and Pepe is also very good at saving penalties.

“He practices a lot and does his research – studying and analysing how they shoot their penalties.

“He prepares well as do those players who shoot. We will have practised for them and if it reaches penalties then we will be confident.”

The Spanish midfielder is wary of the threat posed by the Italians but insists he is unperturbed by their talk of revenge.

In fact Alonso says there’s a determination among the Reds to show they’ve learned from what happened in the first half in Istanbul.

“In the second leg of their semi-final Milan played really well,” he said. “They were dynamic, they played with a good tempo and were much better than Manchester United. But in the final it will be different.

“We’re confident because we’ve improved from two years ago and have progressed as a group.

“We don’t look at it as a revenge game for them but as a very good chance for us to lift another cup.

“Two years ago we conceded in the first minute and that broke all the plans we had. After that they had more space and played really well in the first half.

“We have to make sure that doesn’t happen again. This time we want to perform our plan.

“We’re working on trying to make sure we don’t repeat those big mistakes we made.”

The midfield battle will go a long way to deciding the contest.

Two years ago the Reds’ lack of a holding midfielder in the first half allowed Milan to run riot. Inspired by Brazilian Kaka, they unlocked the Reds’ defence almost at will.

Rafa Benitez won’t make the same mistake again with Javier Mascherano likely to be handed that holding role.

Alonso, who was left on the bench for the second leg against Chelsea, is hoping the boss gives him the chance to play alongside the Argentinean, with Gerrard on the right.