The miracle of Istanbul
"After 20 years off the major European football stage, Liverpool FC, under new Spanish manager Rafael Benitez, faced utter humiliation at half-time in the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul. Three goals down to the brutally efficient and talented AC Milan, the inexperienced new Liverpool - an uneasy mix of local heroes, young Spaniards and soon-to-be-outcasts - was staring down the barrel of a possible record European Cup final defeat in front of 40,000 of its own fans and a global TV audience of hundreds of millions. That is until six extraordinary minutes of second-half carnage, allied to Red courage and resolve, changed the very course of European football history and mapped a new di