Summit meeting a first for finalists

By Peter Sterling

Liverpool FC's match with AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League final in Istanbul on 25 May will not just create history on the pitch – it will also generate quirky twists of fate, trivia and coincidences to delight fans for years.

Biggest clubs
Europe's biggest clubs, now meeting with greater regularity since the introduction of the Champions League 12 years ago, usually find their previous games reviewed and analysed in endless detail with players vowing to right old wrongs, ready to avenge painful defeats - or inflict new ones.

Never met
But the 50th final of Europe's biggest club competition will, unusually, feature two sides who have played in 21 continental finals between them since 1958 and a combined total of 504 European matches - but who have never played each other.

Significant part
Despite that, England and English teams perform a hugely significant part in Milan's history – and Italy and Italian teams are indelibly woven into Liverpool's story.

English name
Milan, whose first president was an Englishman, have never been known by the Italian name 'Milano' but kept the English appellation after starting life as Milan Cricket and Football Club in 1899.

Wembley first
So there was a certain poignancy about their first European Champion Clubs' Cup success being achieved at London's Wembley Stadium in May 1963 when they beat SL Benfica. To emphasise just how deep football's roots go, Cesare Maldini, the father of current Milan skipper Paolo Maldini, was Milan's European Cup-winning captain 42 years ago.

Seventh final
Paolo, who lifted the trophy when Milan overcame Juventus FC in Manchester in 2003 to become European champions for the sixth time, is set to make his seventh appearance in Europe's showpiece final and will be hoping for his fifth winner's medal.

Chasing record
That would leave him one behind Francisco Gento's record of six, achieved with Real Madrid CF between 1956 and 1966, and level with José María Zárraga and Alfredo Di Stéfano who both played in Real's first five winning finals.

Milan winners
Most of Milan's squad picked up Champions League winner's medals two years ago, but the only player in the Liverpool squad with one is Fernando Morientes, a victor with Madrid in 1998, 2000 and 2002, but cup-tied after appearing for the Spanish club earlier this campaign.

Fifth trophy
Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez also has a European winner's medal after leading Valencia CF to glory in the UEFA Cup last season, and he believes Liverpool can add a fifth European Cup to their earlier triumphs of 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1984.

Italian opponents
Their fifth European Cup final in 1985 was marred by the Heysel Stadium tragedy in Brussels when 39 fans died after a wall collapsed. They met Juventus for the first time since in this season's quarter-finals, winning 2-1 on aggregate, and now face a third successive Italian opponent in the final after playing AS Roma and Juventus in 1984 and 1985.

English rivals
Milan have encountered and beaten an English team in a European final before, seeing off Leeds United AFC 1-0 in the 1973 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. They have also scored two 1-0 wins over another English side this season – Manchester United FC - whom they eliminated in the quarter-finals.

Magical night
With almost two weeks to go, it is too early to analyse current form and count the groin strains to help determine the winner. Past European exploits might not have a major impact on the big day either, but all the strands together suggest a magical night ahead in the Turkish city.