No football partisan of any shape, form, race, creed, colour, religion, or degree of passion can ever remain unmoved by what transpired in Istanbul five years ago.
It was simply one of the most stirring comebacks in the history of the game, arguably the most incandescent moment in Liverpool’s long history. It was a moment that suspended reality, became what schoolboys dream of, created another category of nailbiters, and gave us Jerzy Dudek: The miracle at Istanbul. Even Frank Capra could not have directed it better.
That game itself gave the club millions of new supporters. Outside Melaka bus station, lies the home of the Liverpool Fan Club of Melaka with a huge banner bearing the club crest with the words 2005 Champions League Winners emblazoned on it. These fan clubs dot the Malaysian landscape as they do in Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
Rafa Benitez can truly be proud of that history.
He was also part of a brief period of time when the four clubs that run the Premiership were considered the epicenter of world football.
Four managers sporting outsized egos, brought their different personalities, philosophies, mannerisms, and even dress styles to bear to the league. The matches were sometimes humdrum but the preceding head games were not.
Exasperating and boorish at times but one could never feign indifference to what was said and what was meant. Those years were a boon to anyone in the business of decoding sideline antics. There was lots to mine.
The Premiership does not have the same juice with Mourinho and now Rafa gone. Newer and far more grim forces are at play, much to to with economic survival and financial fairness. One suspects, Sir Alex has fewer reasons to carry on.
Fare thee well, Rafa, and thanks for all the fish.