Istanbul memories inspire Benítez

It was perhaps the most astonishing final in the 51-year history of the European Champion Clubs' Cup. Trailing 3-0 after 45 minutes against AC Milan, Liverpool FC manager Rafael Benítez masterminded a comeback and victory that assured his place in Anfield folklore. As he prepares to meet Milan again, the 47-year-old Spaniard looks back on that famous night in Istanbul two years ago.

The Champions League is the most important competition in the world. Given how the game went, it was the most exciting match in Europe and you won't see a final like that in 100 years.

We were talking before the game about not making mistakes but we started by giving the ball away then conceding a goal from a free-kick. Normally I'm really calm, especially at half-time. But this time I was writing, 2-0, what can I say? And in English. Then we conceded the third. Suddenly it was even more difficult, but hearing the supporters the message was clear; we needed to do something for them. It was perhaps the most important game, you're losing 3-0 and you need to say something in English. It was really difficult for me.

If you compare how I speak English now with two years ago, you would say I have learned a little bit. Imagine then, talking in another language, having to express something urgently in ten or 15 minutes. It's not easy. The main problem is not when you say something, it's when they answer because you can't always understand them, especially some of the Scouse.

The first thing we had to do was prepare a plan to stop Kaká so I told Didi Hamann he would come on. We had discussed the details and Hamann was going to do his warm-up. After I finished my speech the physio told me [Steve] Finnan wouldn't be able to play and I would have to change him. By then [Djimi] Traoré was going to the showers and I said, "Djimi, change again, we can't play Finnan". That was after about eight minutes of half-time. Everything was under control, then in one minute we needed to change everything. To change your plan in English is a real problem so we had to be very happy with the consequences.

We knew if we scored an early goal we would be back in the game and that's what happened. When we scored the third I thought we were there and I had more confidence. When they missed a chance at the end, I was sure we could beat them on penalties.

I shook hands [with Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti], said "sorry" and wished him the best. My opinion of him is very high. He was doing everything to win. At half-time he was winning 3-0, then we started scoring goals so he needed to change and used Serginho on the left to try and open the game up. He was really good but we had a little bit of luck. He will maybe be wondering why. In Italy they would maybe say he could have been more defensive in the second half, but AC Milan are a top side, they like to play offensively and they like to play with the ball.

I was with some friends in the hotel afterwards and I said, "Do you want to see the cup?" and they said of course so I told them to come with me. But the security man said we couldn't. I told him, "But I'm the manager," but he wouldn't let us through to see the trophy.