Hernan Crespo: I wanted to quit football after 2005 UCL final loss to Liverpool

Hernan Crespo

Liverpool’s 2005 Champions League triumph left one Milan player a broken man, with Hernan Crespo this week admitting that he “wanted to stop playing” after the game in which Liverpool achieved a feat that he believed to be “impossible.”

The Anfield side famously came from three goals down to force penalties in Istanbul, with Crespo telling a university lecture that he was already thinking of the man of the match prize when his two goals had helped the Italian side to a 3-0 half time lead.

“When I was little I saw Milan on television so when I had the chance to play for them in a final and I scored two goals, it was too good to be true!” he said.

“My legs were shaking during the half time interval. It wasn’t good just to get to the final, but I was proud to have been man of the match.

“I was hoping that the second half would pass by quickly but then everything changed in six minutes. It was destiny.

“Afterwards I wanted to stop playing, it didn’t seem fair to me. I thought what had happened was impossible.

“It was a day when everything came easily to me personally, but when you realise it still wasn’t enough it’s terrible.”