Athens showdown of Euro giants

The 52nd European Cup, and 15th under the current format of UEFA Champions League, will be played next Wednesday at the Olympic Stadium in Athens.

It will be the third final of this prestigious competition to be staged in the Greek capital after the ones of 1983 and 1994.

Milan and Liverpool, the finalists, are only placed behind Spain's Real Madrid for the number of times they have won the most coveted trophy in European football. Between them, they claimed the silverware 11 times, six for Milan and five for Liverpool.

While the San Siro giants will be looking to further close the gap on Real, who won the 'Big One' nine times, Liverpool will be seeking to move on a par with Milan and share second place overall.

The 2007 showdown is a replica of the 2005 final, branded as the most exciting in the tournament's history.

It was indeed an encounter not for the faint-hearted, as Milan led 3-0 but Liverpool made a remarkable comeback to draw 3-3 before winning on penalties.

The Liverpool players who played two years ago in Istanbul and are still in the squad are: Dudek, Finnan, Alonso, Carragher, Hyypia, Garcia, Gerrard, Kewell and Riise.

As on many other occasions Liverpool will fly the English flag in the final. The other three representatives, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United, all fell by the wayside. When three clubs from the Premiership made it to the semi-finals, many had expected an all-English final but United found the going tough against Milan.

But, what left many fans flabbergasted were Alex Ferguson's commented to The Sun after Manchester United lost to Milan.

"I'd bet for sure that Milan will win the Champions League. I'm absolutely certain of it. I told their manager Carlo Ancelotti at the end of our semi-final that there is no way he cannot win it now."

Ferguson is planning to toast a Milan victory with a bottle of wine given to him by Ancelotti after his side had lost in Italy.

Some critics of the game reckoned these words continued to fuel the bitter hatred that exists between United and Liverpool.

You would not expect such words from Sir Alex but the significant gap that stands between his side and Liverpool in Europe speaks volumes.

Ferguson has entered the continental competition for 21 successive years and all he has to show is one win plus one Cup Winners' Cup.

United have never even reached another Champions League final.

On the other hand, Rafael Benitez has steered Liverpool to a win in 2005 and another final in the three years he has been at Anfield.

Path to Athens

To reach their seventh Euro Cup final, Liverpool followed such path:

Third qualifying round: Maccabi Haifa (Israel): Home 2-1 (Bellamy, Gonzalez); Away (at neutral Kiev) 1-1 (Crouch).

Group matches: Away vs PSV Eindhoven 0-0; Home vs Galata-saray 3-2 (Crouch 2, Garcia); Away vs Bordeaux 1-0 (Crouch); Home vs Bordeaux 3-0 (Garcia 2, Gerrard); Home vs PSV Eindhoven 2-0 (Gerrard, Crouch); Away vs Galatasaray 2-3 (Fowler).

Second round: Barcelona: Away 2-1 (Bellamy, Riise); Home 0-1.

Quarter-final: PSV Eindhoven: Away 3-0 (Gerrard, Riise, Crouch); Home 1-0 (Crouch).

Semi-final: Chelsea: Away 0-1, Home 1-0 (Agger); won 4-1 on penalties (Zenden, Alonso, Gerrard, Kuyt).

European Cup finals

When they made it a nap-hand in Istanbul two years ago, Liverpool were not given a single chance after the first-half score of 3-0 and with Milan players already singing in their dressing room.

But the shrewd words of Benitez kept Liverpool alive and in seven magical second-half minutes Liverpool were 3-3 with goals from Gerrard, Smicer and Alonso.

Then, Reds keeper Jerzy Dudek repeated the penalty shoot-out performance of Bruce Grobbelaar in Rome in 1984 when his 'jelly' legs filled the Italians with nerves.

Liverpool won 3-2 on penalties (Hamann, Cisse, Smicer).

Formation: Dudek, Finnan (Hamann), Traore, Alonso, Carragher, Hyypia, Garcia, Gerrard, Baros (Cisse), Kewell (Smicer), Riise.

Scorers: 5 - Garcia; 4 - Gerrard; 2 - Baros; 1 - Alonso, Cisse, Hamann, Hyypia, Mellor, Riise, Sinama-Pongolle, Smicer; own goal - 1.

Heysel disaster

In 1984-85, Liverpool made it to the European Cup final where they met Juventus.

The final was played in Brussels at the Heysel Stadium, an inadequate venue for such a showdown between two of the greatest sides in Europe.

The final turned into a disaster as 38 fans, mostly Italians, died after riots in the stadium.

English clubs were subsequently banned from all European competitions for five years, Liverpool were suspended for six years.

For the record, the Italians won through a very dubious penalty, given after Boniek was felled one metre outside the area. Platini netted from the spot.

Formation: Grobbelaar, Neal, Beglin, Lawrenson (Gillespie), Nicol, Hansen, Dalglish, Whelan, Rush, Walsh (Johnston), Wark.

Scorers: 5 - Rush, Wark; 3 - Walsh; 2 - Nicol; 1 - Beglin, Lawrenson.

Fall of Rome

To claim their fourth honour in the renowned competition, Liverpool had to beat Roma at their own den.

Liverpool who had enjoyed glorious moments at such venue in 1977, returned seven years later (1984) to emerge triumphant once again.

Joe Fagan's Reds went ahead after 14 minutes through a Phil Neal netting. Yet Roma bounced back to equalise via Pruzzo and the score remained 1-1 after extra-time.

In the penalty shoot-out the eccentric Grobbelaar became the Liverpool hero as they won 4-2 on the night.

Formation: Grobbelaar, Neal, Kennedy, Lawrenson, Whelan, Hansen, Dalglish (Robinson), Lee, Rush, Johnston (Nicol), Souness.

Scorers: 5 - Rush; 3 - Dalglish; 2 - Robinson, Whelan; 1 - Neal, Johnston, Lee.

Real beaten in Paris

Liverpool had made it a hat-trick of honours in the European Cup in 1980-81 after a 1-0 victory over Real Madrid in the final at the Parc des Princes Stadium in Paris.

That season the Reds finished fifth in the championship and had to lift the trophy to compete in the tournament. Defender Alan Kennedy scored the goal that mattered five minutes from time with a blazing shot.

Formation: Clemence, Neal, A. Kennedy, Thompson, R. Kennedy, Hansen, Dalglish (Case), Lee, Johnson, McDermott, Souness.

Scorers: 6 - McDermott, Souness; 2 - Lee, Fairclough, R. Kennedy; 1 - Dalglish, Johnson, Neal, Hansen, A. Kennedy.

Reds retain honour

In 1977-78 Liverpool retained the European Cup in London, toppling FC Brugge at Wembley.

Kenny Dalglish, signed as a replacement for Kevin Keegan, capped a fine season by scoring the winner in a 1-0 win.

Formation: Clemence, Neal, Thompson, Hansen, Kennedy, Hughes, Dalglish, Case (Heighway), Fairclough, McDermott, Souness.

Scorers: 4 - Case; 3 - Dalglish; 2 - Neal, Kennedy; 1 - Callaghan, Hansen, Heighway, Hughes, Johnson, McDermott.

Munching Gladbach

In 1976-77 Liverpool claimed their first European Cup by beating Borussia Moenchengladbach once more in the final (after their UEFA Cup success), this time in Rome.

Bob Paisley's Reds wrote a great chapter in their glorious history at the Olympic Stadium, being crowned Kings of Europe for the first time with a 3-1 triumph over the Germans.

After leading through a Terry McDermott goal, the Germans replied through Allan Simonsen early in the second half. Yet, the Reds were not to be denied and made their superiority count with goals from Tommy Smith and Phil Neal.

Keegan left for SV Hamburg after this match.

Formation: Clemence, Neal, Jones, Smith, Kennedy, Hughes, Heighway, Callaghan, McDermott, Keegan, Case.

Scorers: 4 - Keegan, Neal; 3 - Heighway, Johnson; 2 - Case, McDermott; 1 - Fairclough, Ken-nedy, Toshack.