Actually, we were somewhat fortuitous I must admit. Leading up to the final, it was actually our fringe players that scored important goals for us. Had Mellor and Sinama Pongolle not scored against Olympiacos, Gerrard's screamer would have meant little. Against Leverkusen, it was Igor Biscan that put in a stellar performance in the absence of Gerrard and Alonso. Whilst he may have been a fan favourite, Luis Garcia was also one of the more frustrating players to watch as he was guilty of being too fancy sometimes, but it was his superb strike against Juventus that carried us past them. Who would have thought? Against AC Milan, we were heavy underdogs on paper. I mean Harry Kewell had just returned from a season-long injury, and along with the likes of Djimi Traore, Vladimir Smicer, Milan Baros and Djibril Cisse, we hardly had a squad that would strike fear in the opposition. However this is what makes Istanbul so special and it will be a long time before we see a fairy tale like this unfold again. After we leveled, Milan battered us until the final whistle, and absolutely tore us apart for 80% of the match. Heck even Stevie had to drop to righback to nullify Serginho. One key substitution Rafa did make (and only because Finnan got injured) was to bring on Didi Hamann who had Kaka in his back pocket for the entire second half.

Can't discount the importance the 12th Man made that day. We outnumbered the Milan supporters and the half-time rendition of YNWA got too many whether in a positive or negative manner. It rattled Milan but more importantly, it rejuvenated the belief of the players (proven by the accounts they each gave after the match).

No doubting the best interest of the club is at the top of each of our minds, it's just we differ in what is actually best?