WE'RE gonna win 4-3!" they said at half-time. They might have got the method of victory incorrect, but otherwise no wonder they say Liverpool supporters are the most knowledgeable in football.
 Not content with having played a part in the finest UEFA Cup final of all time four years previous, Liverpool contrived to manufacture the most amazing European Cup showpiece since the days of Puskas, Di Stefano and all the other greats of a black-and-white age. But last night was very much technicolour - with red the predominant hue. It was the colour of the terraces as Anfield decamped en masse to the Turkish capital. It was the colour of those same faces as Liverpool teetered on the brink of complete humiliation after probably the most one-sided first half this occasion has ever seen. And it was the colour on the trophy as Steven Gerrard held it aloft after definitely the greatest comeback in European Cup final history. If anyone wants to be put through the emotional wringer, they could do a lot worse than take up supporting Liverpool next season. For such a schizophrenic side in a similarly Jekyll-and-Hyde campaign, it was apt that they should plumb the depths and scale such dizzying heights within one evening's work. Milan's magnificent first-half performance will live long in the memory of those privileged to be here. But what will resonate further is the Liverpool comeback which epitomised the character, grit and sheer belief that brought Rafael Benitez's side to the final in the first place. And then there were the penalties. Always the great leveller, who would have thought Jerzy Dudek, the much maligned, much abused Jerzy Dudek, would prove Liverpool's heroes with penalty saves to deny dead-ball specialists Andrea Pirlo and Andriy Shevchenko and render John Arne Riise's spot-kick aberration meaningless. Skipper Gerrard and his teammates will revel in their status of Champions League winners. And he'll be staying on next season, you can bet on it. It was amazing Liverpool were taking those penalties in the first place. Three goals behind by the break and looking every inch a beaten side, by the hour they were level as, inspired by the previously subdued Gerrard, the skipper sparked a fightback with Vladimir Smicer - in his last match - netting from long range and Xabi Alonso sidefooting home the rebound after his penalty was saved by Dida. | 
