Dirk: How Istanbul is inspiring me
Dirk Kuyt has revealed he's taking inspiration from Istanbul as he aims to reach a second European final of his career with Fenerbahce.
The Dutchman scored in the Athens final of six years ago - but it's Liverpool's trip to Turkey in 2005 that's spurring him on.
After knocking Lazio out of the Europa League, his Fenerbahce side are now preparing for a semi-final clash against Benfica.
And Kuyt is desperate to fire them to glory.
"I played in the Champions League final with Liverpool [in 2007] and I played important games with Feyenoord. I'm no stranger to big games," said the former Reds forward.
"I want to relive the Liverpool European Cup final with Fenerbahce.
"I'm here to write history and that's what we are doing. We have reached the semi-finals of the Europa League for the first time and are in the race for the league as well as the cup.
"There are no guarantees in football, for example Liverpool were 3-0 down against AC Milan in the Champions League final however, still managed to win the game.
"At the highest level you have to keep concentration, we knew that even though we had a 2-0 advantage over Lazio that we couldn't afford to lose focus."
The final of the tournament will take place in Amsterdam in May this year - and the 32-year-old is keen to reach the showdown in order to play back home in the Netherlands.
Kuyt said: "There will be minimum 40,000 Turks at the stadium however, you can be sure that the remainder of the seats will be filled by locals who will be on our side."