By European Football
May 26 2005

Milan players and staff were obviously downbeat about losing a game they dominated apart from 10 minutes of madness, but the players and owner took time out to speak to the press. Clarence Seedorf said:

'We paid for not playing up to the situation for six minutes. I should watch them again to understand how many mistakes we made and how well they played. We are very sorry, 3-0 at half time was an important result. They did very well to defend, and Dudek also made some superb saves. It went like this. Moreover, from the spot those players who usually don't make mistakes failed. We didn't win either the league or the Cup, but this remains a positive season. Appearing in these finals is always important, you cannot always win. Next year we will try again, we want to take our revenge.'

Alessandro Nesta complimented his opponents, saying:

'It is true, we were unlucky but they also did well and scored three goals within six minutes. We should have won, but words go with the wind. This is a hard defeat to accept. Why didn't I shoot the penalty? I didn't feel like going against the odds.'

Manuel Rui Costa also tried to analyse the sad events of the game:

'We feel bitter, it is difficult to swallow and even more difficult to explain. Considering the first 45 minutes, it is almost impossible to explain why we didn't win. The first half was perfect, then the incredible happened. Those minutes seemed to be a nightmare, so we cannot analyse them now. We just have to go ahead with courage; we always have to show courage.'

Captain Paolo Maldini had bitter words to comment on the defeats:

'We are all really disappointed about how things developed. However, I prefer losing such games showing a good football, we just failed 10 minutes out of 120. We didn't play up to our potential for a short time and were punished. The psychological aspect of the game changed, then some coincidences, their second goal at their second attempt, everything was difficult. This is a really hard defeat to accept, at the end of the day it is only a sporting victory so you just have to be relaxed with it, but I will certainly remember this evening for a long time. My goal? It was useless, the only thing that really counted was lifting the Cup.'

Andriy Shevchenko chipped in with:

'The first and the second half were two different games, but you know how thin the line is between a win and a loss. At half time we told each other that we had to play and do it well, but if a side manage to score three goals within six minutes this means that they deserve praise. Now we have to wait and swallow this defeat before starting again with the necessary lift. My chance in the dying minutes? I wanted to shoot powerfully and quickly, and I would guess that if you ask Dudek, he also wouldn't be able to explain how it was possible that the ball didn't find the net. This is football.'

Carlo Ancelotti had nothing to reproach his players for, apart from the six minutes when Liverpool got back into the game:

'There is plenty of disappointment, we were one step away and then it fell apart. We played well throughout, except for six minutes of insanity that threw everything away. However, I am not going to blame my players, they did everything they could. We have shown that we are not second to anyone in Europe. We will be back to win this cup. I repeat, we are the strongest in Europe.'

Hernan Crespo, who scored a useless double, said:

'It was too much. It was too beautiful to be true. It is hard, but this is football. Three-nil at half time, with me scoring two goals. I repeat... it was too beautiful to be good. I cannot understand how it happened, I cannot find a reason, however we will try again next season, we will take our revenge. Liverpool did very well, they also risked a lot, but when things must go the wrong way in football, they just do. We had many chances, it went like this, the save on Sheva was incredible at the end, but we gave our best. I congratulate them.'

Silvio Berlusconi spoke after the game:

'Football is like politics: you think you have won and then you don't. Liverpool's three goals were very strange. They had three chances and took them, while we had plenty at the end. Milan played really well. As for Carlo Ancelotti leaving, I don't think so. I don't sack anyone.'