DJIBRIL CISSÉ : “We were devastated after losing 3-0 in the first half against A.C. Milan. At halftime, Rafa Benítez spoke and tried to encourage us and get us back into the game. He was very optimistic.
“But what really changed everything was Steven Gerrard’s speech. He asked the coaching staff to leave him alone with all the players. He told us he was a Liverpool lad, that he had always been at the club, and that he didn’t want to see his team being humiliated like that. He said that if we scored one goal in the first 15 minutes of the second half, we would win the match. He was the one who scored that goal.
“It was the best captain’s speech I heard in my entire career. He asked everyone, including Rafa Benítez, to leave because he only wanted to be with the players. That gave us a lot of power to go out and win the match. You need guts to do something like what Gerrard did.”