By Redsfan
May 25 2005

Jamie Carragher has revealed his dream of winning the Champions League and parading the big cup around the Ataturk Stadium. Not for Jamie the pushing back of this thought in fear of disappointment, instead he allows himself to see the jubilation on and off the pitch. Interview from liverpoolfc.tv.

"I'm not just dreaming about us winning it, I've been thinking about it 24 hours a day," he told Liverpoolfc.tv. "I realise this is something you'll remember for the rest of your life. It's the biggest club competition you can win and who knows if we'll ever get this chance again? I never thought I'd be involved in a game like this and that's why I can't stop thinking about it.

"There's a lot of talk about us qualifying for the competition next year but as far as I'm concerned the most important fact at the moment is that we can win it this year. We can each be a European winner and take that to our graves. The only prize bigger in football is the World Cup and how many of us are going to win that? The focus should be on winning this game because if we do then it's something we'll remember for the rest of our lives.

"We always hear about teams and players from the club's past who have won European Cups. If we win it it's probably more of an achievement because if I'm being honest I'd say the teams from our past were better than the one we've got at the moment. We're not at their level yet so to get this far shows how well we've done and so credit must go to the players and management staff for what we've done in Europe this season.

"Don't forget this isn't even the manager's group of players. I'm sure when he brings his own playersin then you'll see even more of an improvement, especially in the Premiership.

"But, no matter who he signs, we may never get this opportunity again. We may have a better team in a couple of years time but we may never get to this final again. That's why it's so important we take this chance this year."

Standing between Liverpool and a fifth European Cup triumph tonight are six times winners AC Milan.

The Italian giants will kick-off the final as favourites to add to that impressive total, but Carragher is sure Liverpool's defeat of Juventus en route to Istanbul will have made Carlo Ancelotti's side sit up and take notice.

He said: "It looks like Juventus are the best team in Italy because they've won the league but that doesn't mean we'll beat Milan as well. They have a good pedigree in the European Cup, only Real Madrid have won it more, so we know what lies ahead. But the fact we've beaten the best team in Italy should give us the confidence to beat the second best as well.

"It will be a very difficult game. Maybe it will be the same as against Juventus when many people predicted a very tight game. Then again there might be an early goal in the match to open it up, so you never know. Italian teams are normally very strong at the back but Milan have a lot of strength up front as well in Crespo, Shevchenko and Kaka. They are strong at both ends of the field so we realise how difficult it is going to be.

"Maybe they weren't at their best in the semi final against PSV but you can't judge them on one game. If you did that then they could pick from a number of our poor performances this season and feel confident about beating us as well.

"I watch a lot of foreign football and I realise how good AC Milan are. At the start of the tournament I'd have said they are the best team in Europe and they've proved that by getting to the final.

"But we've got a real chance of beating them. Before the game I think we need to keep everything as normalas possible. You want to play your natural game and not freeze on the big occasion. It's going to be the biggest night of our lives and we want to do ourselves justice."

Carragher admits the scenes of jubilation following the semi-final victory over Chelsea were a joy to be part of - but now he is desperate for the real party to begin and for Liverpool to be crowned 'Champions of Europe'.

"I've watched the video and they were great scenes at the end of the Chelsea match," he added. "That atmosphere and that night will go down in history as one of the great European nights at Anfield. At the end of the day though it was only a semi-final and I'm sure the scenes will be even better if we can win the trophy.

"There's a Cup to win. We're not here as tourists to have a look around Istanbul, play in a nice stadium and enjoy ourselves. We're here to beat AC Milan."