Wednesday in Athens Greece, UEFA Champions League final

[The General]

It's Liverpool, Milan again!

Kaka should lead the Rossoneri to UEFA title.

Published May 20, 2007

True story. Two years ago, Everton fans gathered in a neighborhood pub while city rival Liverpool played AC Milan in the 2005 UEFA Champions League final. Because it was Liverpool playing for the trophy, the television was turned off.

"Let them walk alone" was the attitude of the Evertonians, who couldn't bear the idea of seeing Liverpool conquer Europe for a fifth time. But on this night, the news Everton supporters wanted to hear got back to the pub: Liverpool was losing 3-0 at the start of the second half. Gleeful at the thought of seeing the Reds humiliated by Milan, the bartender turned on the television.

The rest cannot be rationally explained.

In the span of six surreal minutes, Liverpool got goals from Steven Gerrard (54th), Vladimir Smicer (56th) and Xabi Alonso (60th) to tie the score at 3. Behind the chorus of roughly 40,000 Liverpudlians singing the club's anthem, Rodgers and Hammerstein's You'll Never Walk Alone, at Istanbul's Ataturk Olympic Stadium, Liverpool went on to beat AC Milan in penalty kicks.

As Everton and Milan fans can attest, one team's fairy tale is another's tragedy.

Liverpool midfielder Luis Garcia summed up historic comeback thusly at the club's Web site: "We were sitting in the dressing room and we could clearly hear thousands of fans singing You'll Never Walk Alone. Can you imagine how that felt? We were 3-0 down in the Champions League final and all we could hear were 45,000 people letting us know they still believed in us. We knew they had endured a long journey and made so many sacrifices to be there. It was at that point we started to believe, too."

Wednesday, at Athens, Greece, almost to the day of the 2005 miracle in Turkey, Liverpool will play AC Milan again for European club supremacy. The odds of the same thing happening -- Liverpool coming back from a three-goal deficit to beat the Rossoneri -- are nil. No way. Not a chance. It's simply not possible because supernatural events happen only once.

Two years ago, I wrote, "Logic suggests AC Milan will win its seventh European title, but the fates point to Liverpool." The fates, like that crowd at Athens, may yet be on Liverpool's side again, but the guess here Kopites (Liverpool fans) is this time logic will prevail.

Under Spanish coach Rafael "Rafa" Benitez, Liverpool has won two titles in two years -- the Champions League and England's F.A. Cup. That the Reds have reached the UEFA final again, despite finishing a distant third in the EPL, is a testament to their qualities as a tournament team.

But, while much has stayed the same for the clubs since the last final, AC Milan will have the best player on field and perhaps the world in Brazilian forward Kaka. Named Ricardo Izecson Santos Leite at birth, Kaka was instrumental in forging Milan's 3-0 halftime lead in the 2005 final. Now 25, he is at the peak of his game, scoring 10 goals to lead all scorers in Champions League play.

Kaka scored three goals in Milan's 5-3 aggregate win over Manchester United in the semifinals, each of them providing a master class in finishing. He scored with his left foot from a difficult angle, beat three defenders in a 1-on-3 challenge, and first-timed a Clarence Seerdorf pass with his right foot from distance. This is his moment to mark his turf among the game's current stars and he has the team to help make it happen.

Live from Athens

ESPN2 will treat Wednesday's match with all the pomp and circumstance of a World Cup final. J.P. Dellacamera will host a pre-game show at 2 p.m. with studio analysts Seamus Malin, Eric Wynalda and former Liverpool star and current New England coach Steve Nicol. The broadcast trio of Derek Rae, Tommy Smyth and field reporter Janusz Michallik will be at Athens. ...

Thanks to its new association with Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts, GolTV has secured the English-language broadcast rights for this summer's Copa America. The tournament set to begin June 26 in Venezuela will air in English on Gol's Spanish and English channels. Locals Phil Schoen, Ray Hudson and Lindsay Dean are expected to call the matches. Univision owns the Spanish-language rights. ...

The American presence in the EPL could drop by as many as four players before next season on news that defender Oguchi Onyewu has been released by Newcastle. DaMarcus Beasley returned to PSV Eindhoven from Manchester City after a brief loan stint. Defenders Cory Gibbs (Charlton) and Jay DeMerit (Watford) were each relegated.

Broadcast highlights

TODAY: Deportivo de La Coruna-Sevilla, 11 a.m., GolTV; Recreativo-Real Madrid, 1 p.m., GolTV; Atletico Madrid-Barcelona, 3 p.m., GolTV; Chivas USA-L.A. Galaxy, 5 p.m., Telefutura; Guadalajara Chivas-Club America, 7 p.m., Univision. TUESDAY: Chelsea-Manchester United (FA Cup), 8 p.m. (tape), FSC; WEDNESDAY: Liverpool-AC Milan, 2:25 p.m. (live) and 7 p.m. (tape), ESPN2; Santos-Club America, 8:30 p.m., FSE. THURSDAY: Libertad-Boca Juniors, 7 p.m., FSE; FRIDAY: Montreal-Miami FC, 8 p.m., FSC.

It's Liverpool, Milan again: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

[The General]

No one else looking forward to this on Wednesday?

Also, if you have any strong opinions, please share.

Thank you

[tom123]

willhill 2.30 2.80 3.00 shows tie
interwetten 2,10 3,10 3,50 shows home
Which one do you believe? You cann't know everything immidiately from report(It happened past forever). But from the odds you'll find something what is going on.