AC Milan 2, Liverpool 1 (D,Post)

May 24 2007 Ian Doyle at the Olympic

The flow of the game from either side wasn’t helped by the over-officious refereeing of Herbert Fandel, for whom physical contact appeared some kind of alien concept.

Unsurprisingly given their previous experience, Milan were intent on holding on to their advantage and strangle the life out of proceedings, but Liverpool’s greater need inevitably meant gaps began to appear in a backline that had appeared worryingly indecisive after the interval.

With the game drifting away, Benitez belatedly introduced Crouch, the man Milan had claimed to fear, with 12 minutes remaining.

But moments later, and with Mascherano off the pitch, Milan played the counter-attack to perfection and Kaka played in Inzaghi to slip the ball under Reina for his and his team’s second.

Crouch solicited a fine tip over from Dida as Liverpool mustered a response.

And they pulled one goal back a minute from time when Pennant’s corner was helped on by Daniel Agger and Paolo Maldini’s back before Kuyt headed in from close range.

The goal, though, had come too late, although Liverpool weren’t helped by the feeble Fandel truncating an already suspiciously short three minutes of injury time by 19 seconds.

Of all the prophetic banners draped around the Olympic Stadium, there was the one that best encapsulated the confidence coursing through the Liverpool support travelling to Greece. “Scousers in Athens: Smashing plates, collecting cups.”

The plates might be in pieces this morning, but so too are their hopes of a sixth European Cup.

AC MILAN: Dida, Oddo, Nesta, Maldini, Jankulovski (Kaladze 79), Gattuso, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Seedorf (Favalli 90), Kaka, Inzaghi (Gilardino 88). Subs Not Used: Kalac, Cafu, Serginho, Brocchi. BOOKINGS: Gattuso, Jankulovski.

LIVERPOOL: Reina, Finnan (Arbeloa 88), Carragher, Agger, Riise, Pennant, Alonso, Mascherano (Crouch 78), Zenden (Kewell 59), Gerrard, Kuyt. Subs Not Used: Dudek, Hyypia, Gonzalez, Bellamy. BOOKINGS: Mascherano, Carragher.

ATT: 74,000

REFEREE: Herbert Fandel (Germany).