Steven Gerrard's remarkable influence on Liverpool's Istanbul heroes remembered 20 years on

Twenty years on from the miracle of Istanbul and the memories still bring goose bumps.

hero John Arne Riise recalls the rabble-rousing speech from and hearing You’ll Never Walk Alone coming through the dressing room walls. The scene was set for football’s greatest ever comeback when somehow Liverpool clawed their way back from 3-0 down at half time to fight back and beat AC Milan on penalties.

Riise believes it remains as “the craziest and the most iconic” match in Liverpool’s incredible history, surpassing all the other great European nights for the six-time winners. “Stevie talking, You’ll Never Walk Alone and the fans… we wanted to do it for them,” recalled Riise.

“When you look back, it was so powerful. Of course we never dreamed we could do it, but we wanted to give everything and that’s what took us there.”

The Miracle of Istanbul has been revisited in a TNT Sports documentary and features interviews with so many of the big personalities like Gerrard, Riise and great memories featuring Rafa Benitez’s miracle men.

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But it also sets out the context of the final and how Liverpool had been so inconsistent in the , had nearly crashed out of the Champions League and then upset the might of Milan when Carlo Ancelotti’s men were regarded as red-hot favourites.

It also recalls the semi final with at Anfield, the mind games with and that almost sets up the script for the final.

Riise said: “I get goose bumps just thinking about it! As soon as you sign for the club, you get told by the local lads - in my case it was and Steven Gerrard - that this is not a normal club. The fans get behind you. They are so special.

“They just want to see you give everything. If you do that, that’s what counts. It makes you run out, give everything for the club, they give you energy and they carry you through games.

“We didn’t have the best team by any means. We as players realised we were not good enough in the Premier League but, game by game and in a one-off, we could beat anyone. Rafa was so good with his tactics but also making us believe.

“Basically, us going into the final, did we really believe we could win? We were playing the best AC Milan team, especially defensively. A few players had an insecurity and were questioning: ‘We’re not good enough.’

“We conceded so early and with any doubts, it basically kills your belief. I don’t think we played so badly, they scored unbelievable goals and it just ran away from us.”

That half time scene in the dressing room remains the stuff of legend. Benitez’s tactics, team talk and the comeback from a seemingly impossible situation.

Riise said: “Everyone was down, a few players were probably thinking: ‘please don’t take me off!’ I think we were sat there, looking at our feet and thinking: ‘what happened?’

“Rafa came in with his piece of paper, he was very calm - as he always is - and he made some changes, changed the system and he also said that goals affect games, don’t lose the second half and he said; ‘if you get the first goal, you never game.’

“Stevie talked with the players, then the fans were singing: ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone and we heard that in the dressing room.’ The message was clear: don’t lose the second half.

“You have to understand that a lot of the players were so behind Stevie, we wanted him to succeed as captain. Of course you give everything for the club - but we also wanted to give everything for Stevie.”

Of course there have been other big nights. Other comebacks, like against on the way to winning the trophy in 2019. But, for Riise, nothing compares.

He added: “I think Istanbul was the best one, the craziest one and the most iconic. Milan were better than us player-by-player, they were so good defensively and we should have had no chance.

“Of course people will talk about the Barcelona one - and that was incredible. But it was at Anfield. Istanbul was away from home, far away from home and we were so underperforming in the Premier League that it just makes it all the more incredible.”

The Miracle of Istanbul: Liverpool 2005_ premieres on on Sunday 25 May at 21:45

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