Someone remembers the half-time team talk in Istanbul incorrectly.
The 70,000 who packed into the Atatürk Olympic Stadium on 25 May 2005 were treated to one of the most remarkable comebacks in footballing history as Liverpool turned around a three-goal deficit to claim their fifth European Cup triumph.
Legendary Reds captain Steven Gerrard kickstarted the comeback with a goal nine minutes after the break.
And Djibril Cisse, who came off the bench in the 85th minute, has claimed that Gerrard made his teammates believe with a half-time team talk for the ages in Istanbul.
The Frenchman reportedly told RMC Sport that Gerrard kicked everyone but the players out of the dressing room 13 years ago.
Djibril Cissé to RMC: “I will never forget Gerrard’s team-talk at HT during the 05 CL final. Steven gets up & asks the coaching staff to leave the dressing room, he wanted to be alone with the players. All the staff left, even the physios who were giving treatment to players.”
— DaveOCKOP (@DaveOCKOP) September 9, 2018
However, Jamie Carragher doesn’t quite remember things the same way as his former teammate.
Carragher responded to the transcription from journalist Dave O’Connell by pouring doubt on Cisse’s version of events.
https://twitter.com/Carra23/status/1038770754026962944
https://twitter.com/Carra23/status/1038784994548875264
Gerrard discussed what went down in the dressing room at the break of the 2005 Champions League final during an appearance on BT Sport two years ago and he didn’t make any mention of ordering the staff out of the room.
Gerrard actually credited then-manager Rafael Benitez with “weaving his magic” and turning the result from a potentially humiliating defeat into a historic victory.
“Rafa sorted us out and we were a completely different team. He was very calm which was surprising because we were expecting him to lose it a little bit,” Gerrard said.
“Early on, everyone was talking, trying to help each other out and ask each other why we were so bad in the first half and why Kaka was causing us so many problems. So there was a lot of noise early on but Rafa comes in, calms everyone down and gives us that inspirational team talk which helped us go on and get back into the game.”
