When the misfortunate Delfi Geli glanced a Gary McAllister free-kick into his own net in the 117th minute of the 2001 UEFA Cup final between Alaves and Liverpool, the Reds’ 62nd game of a gruelling season was done.
The own goal was a Golden Goal, with Gerard Houllier’s side the beneficiaries of a short-lived rule introduced to periods of extra-time that instantly confirmed the team who scored first the winners of the tie.
But not everyone in the Liverpool camp at the Westfalenstadion realised the match was over and that the third trophy of their historic campaign was now guaranteed.
Here, exactly 20 years on from that incredible, ridiculous 5-4 victory against the Spaniards, we relive the emotions, the errors and the ending of one of European football’s greatest ever finals through the memories of those who were there.
Liverpool are, understandably, exhausted as they fly out to the north west of Germany for the UEFA Cup final in May 2001.
Just four days before the showpiece occasion at the home of Borussia Dortmund, the Reds delivered a stunning comeback to defeat Arsenal in the FA Cup final amid soaring temperatures in Cardiff.
Houllier’s side have 61 hard-fought games – many of them ‘must-win’ – in their minds and legs and will have to try to battle through the mental and physical fatigue afflicting them if they are to fulfil their tag as favourites and lift a third piece of silverware of the season...
Phil Thompson: “It was hard to celebrate [after the FA Cup final]. We tried to tell the players that we wouldn’t celebrate, which we didn’t. From what I got to believe many years later, quite a few of the lads had a few scoops, but I think because we set down the rules – that we would celebrate after the last game against Charlton – so we went there all motivated, all prepared for our first European final for 16 years. It was massive.”
Gary McAllister: “You’ve just won the FA Cup but there was no opportunity to celebrate. I think we had a glass of wine with dinner and then our attentions were just swiftly turned to Alaves and getting over to Germany and getting prepared to go again. It was that type of season where the games just kept coming and they kept becoming more important than the previous one.”
Steven Gerrard: “What people don’t really appreciate in this year is we played a lot of football, it was challenge after challenge, the schedule was brutal. But we were on this crest of a wave, we rolled into each fixture and just had this belief about us that whatever it took on that day, we were prepared to do it.”
Jamie Carragher: “We were absolutely done. I remember travelling on the coach to that game and it didn’t feel like a cup final. Basically, we were knackered and this was our 62nd game of the season; we had played in the cup final [four] days before in blistering heat and we’d been battered and took a chasing in that game. I just don’t think we had the legs to win that game comfortably like we should have done, and we were hanging on basically. And that’s what made it one of the greatest UEFA Cup finals of all time, maybe the greatest.”
Markus Babbel: “It was a fantastic atmosphere and Dortmund was a perfect stadium to play in a final. For me and Didi it was special to play in our home country. My mother and father were there, my friends were there. That was special for me.”
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There is little hint of the rollercoaster still to come when Liverpool race into a 2-0 lead within the opening 16 minutes, courtesy of goals from Markus Babbel and Steven Gerrard.
Indeed, despite Ivan Alonso’s subsequent response to halve the deficit for Alaves – within moments of his introduction from the bench – the Reds carry a two-goal advantage into half-time after McAllister converts a penalty.
But that lead, somehow, disintegrates by the 51st minute.
Javi Moreno nets both for the opposition after the restart, with his second, much to Liverpool’s frustration, threaded underneath the wall from a free-kick at the edge of the box...
Emile Heskey: “As everyone was saying, ‘Jump, jump, jump’ I’m thinking, ‘I can’t jump, I don’t like jumping, I don’t mind going on my tiptoes.’ I’d rather them get it up and over me because that’s more difficult. But for some reason we all jumped and it went under the wall and I was like, ‘Oh no, I knew I shouldn’t have jumped.’”
Sander Westerveld: “We were 3-1 up at half-time and the boss told us to focus and said it wasn’t over yet. We were so comfortable and, unfortunately, we were soon back down to earth when Javi Moreno scored twice to make it 3-3. We conceded some stupid goals.”
Dietmar Hamann: “We should have never let them come back into the game. We kept Barcelona out for 180 minutes [in the semi-finals] and then when you are 2-0 and 3-1 up you’ve got to win the game.”
Houllier’s men slowly regain their senses, refusing to panic against rejuvenated foes. And soon, a potential fairy-tale scenario unfolds.
Robbie Fowler, sent on as a substitute in the aftermath of Alaves drawing level, dances into a shooting position 20 yards from goal and slices a right-footer inside the right post.
Surely the Scouser has provided the decisive input? The moment to clinch the club’s third UEFA Cup triumph? Relief for the thousands of travelling Reds inside the stadium?
And then Jordi Cruyff heads in a corner at the near post in the 89th minute. 4-4. Liverpool are going to have to dig deep yet again...
Sander Westerveld: “He was a metre in front of me and just headed the ball in. I fell on my knees and it was one of the worst moments for a goalkeeper, conceding a goal like that right at the end of the game.”
Jamie Carragher: “We could have gone then. Even though we were a better team than Alaves, we could have wilted. Because that’s a massive blow when you concede late on, you’re a minute away from winning the UEFA Cup and they score from a set-piece. And to go again from there probably shows the character, even though it wasn’t a great performance. We were really poor on the night. But again it just shows the character of that team, which was very special.”
Danny Murphy: “It was a game that went back and fro, and even though they kept coming back, for some reason I never thought we were actually going to lose. I know they scored late but we were stronger and we felt strong. The confidence we had, the belief in ourselves that had come from getting over the line in the other two finals, was massive in that game.”
Steven Gerrard: “I fancied us before the game, we felt like we were the favourites, but we made some key mistakes in the game. That’s the reason why the scoreline was probably as it was. I always felt we had the players and the personnel to go and hurt Alaves – and we did. We always looked a threat going forward. But we needed our match-winners and our big players to stand up and be counted on the day, and we did.”
Dietmar Hamann: “When they scored to make it 4-4 in the last minute and then we go into extra-time, usually you lose these games, but I think that was one of our strengths again. The unity, the bond comes into it and you have to deal with adversity.”
McAllister stands over a free-kick near the left touchline with just three minutes remaining of the additional half-hour forced by Cruyff’s equaliser. A penalty shootout looms.
Not even the Scot, who is in the midst of a stunning purple patch, can consider trying to score from this angle, so instead he floats a cross into the area searching for a teammate.
Alaves’ Geli rises highest and meets the ball first – but judges his connection wrong. It skims off the top of his head, loops over his own goalkeeper and finds the far corner.
A Golden Goal. Liverpool are the 2001 UEFA Cup winners.
But who actually knows...?
Phil Thompson: “Some of the players on the night, some of our players who were actually playing, didn’t know it was a Golden Goal. You would find that astonishing, wouldn’t you? How come they didn’t know the rules? Not only that, Patrice Bergues, our coach who was on the bench, when Gary McAllister flights the ball in, it comes off the top of Geli’s head and you can see the ball nestling in the bottom corner – that gave us it – we as a staff rushed on to the pitch. But some of the players were [saying], ‘Why is the staff, why is everybody on the pitch? Why is everybody celebrating?’ They didn’t know it was a Golden Goal.”
Jamie Carragher: “I’m not sure too many of us really knew the rules about the Golden Goal towards the end.”
Steven Gerrard: “I should have been aware… but I wasn’t totally confident! It was one of those where you were running around celebrating and not just celebrating Gary’s goal, but also looking for people’s reactions just to confirm to you that the game was done and dusted.”
Emile Heskey: “I remember the goal going in and no-one knowing what to do because that was sudden death if I’m right? Golden Goal. And no-one knowing what to do, so we were like, ‘What happens?’ It was like 10 seconds before everyone went and celebrated and everyone jumped on Macca.”
Markus Babbel: “I knew it because I had experienced the same procedure in Euro 96 with Germany when we beat the Czech Republic. As soon as I saw Gary was kicking it, I knew the ball was in the goal. I was so happy.”
Sander Westerveld: “I forgot about the Golden Goal! I turned around to the fans and clenched my fists and was thinking, ‘They are never going to score again now.’ And it took me five or six seconds to see everybody cheering. It hit me it was a Golden Goal and I’ve never sprinted so fast in my life to catch up and celebrate with the lads!”
Confusion quickly turns to prolonged celebration as the players, staff and supporters unite inside the Westfalenstadion to toast yet another astonishing achievement by this very special team.
They have taken the hardest possible route to glory once again, but Houllier’s men emerge from one of the most dramatic finals ever seen having made more major history...
Dietmar Hamann: “I remember all of us lined up together with the fans singing You’ll Never Walk Alone. It was just memories I will never forget. In Germany, Liverpool have always had a big following but I think everyone realised that night Liverpool is back. The scenes and the celebrations afterwards, I don’t think any club could do that as well as this football club and that’s why it makes Liverpool so special.”
Jamie Carragher: “We all seem to remember exactly what happened in Istanbul, but this in some ways was a crazier game. This one finishes 5-4, an iconic stadium at Dortmund as well. It’s almost sort of forgotten. Even the celebrations at the end, we were all together as a team and the supporters were singing songs for Houllier and different things. It was a great night.”
Danny Murphy: “Once we won, it was a remarkable feeling. I don’t think in the moment you can quite take in what you’ve done and been part of.”
Sami Hyypia: “We played many exciting finals – 2006, 3-3 against West Ham; obviously Istanbul; and Alaves is another exciting final. Nine goals in a final, though, that’s not often that comes around!”
Steven Gerrard: “A bizarre night, a bizarre game. Obviously delighted and really proud to be on the right end of that.”
Emile Heskey: “It was wonderful. The hairs on the back of your neck stand up and you get a bit emotional, don’t you? It was one of those days that was just fabulous.”