Soccer: Celebrations for Liverpool

Written by Administrator

Monday, 30 May 2005

Success for Liverpool in Istanbul as they made an outstanding come back from three goals down at half-time to go on and win the Champions League final on penalty shoot-out. There was huge celebrations across Istanbul last night as well as back home in Liverpool. At Fado - an Irish pub in Taksim , Liverpool fans watched with their heads in their hands for the first half of the match as the Reds went to half-time 3 goals down. But the mood quickly changed when Gerard scored the first goal for Liverpool in the 54th minute. Smicer's goal followed in the 56th minute giving the fans some hope that all was not lost. Then in the 60th minute the tension that had been on everyone's faces was replaced by dancing and singing as Alonso clinched the third goal with a penalty shot. The match then went to extra time but with no goals went to penalty shoot-out. Penalties were taken in the following order: AC Milan Serginho - Pirlo - Tomasson + Kaka + Shevchenko - Liverpool Hamann + Cisse + Riise - Smicer + Over 30,000 fans turned up for the match at the Ataturk Olympic stadium and although there were a few arrests during the night, there was very little trouble in both countries. This is the first-time an English team has won the cup since Manchester United in 1999. Turkish Prime Minister sent a message to Tony Blair congratulating him on the win. Blair's reply was :"Unbelievable. Incredible. Brilliant. The whole country is very proud of you." Liverpool is a city already awaiting the return of their heroic team, celebrations were being prepared in the early hours of this morning to welcome them home.

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