The greatest team to never to win the Champions League? Paolo Maldini, Hernan Crespo, Kaka and AC Milan's super side of 2005

AC Milan GFX - GOALCarlo Ancelotti's Rossoneri may have ultimately gained revenge over Liverpool for 'The Miracle of Istanbul', but the team beaten in Turkey was even stronger than the side that triumphed in Athens in 2007Paolo Maldini remembers very little of the 2007 Champions League final - because he had taken so many painkillers just to get through it. The legendary defender was 38 at the time and in dire need of knee surgery, but there was just no way he was going to sit out AC Milan's meeting with Liverpool in Athens. Just two years previously, the Rossoneri had been the victims of 'The Miracle of Istanbul', where the Reds prevailed on penalties after sensationally coming from three goals down at half-time. Consequently, revenge was all that mattered to Maldini. "We had everything to lose," he told GOAL, "because if we lost again to Liverpool then it would be something very difficult to erase."Milan were, thus, willing to do whatever was required to get over the line in Greece, and both coach Carlo Ancelotti and midfielder Clarence Seedorf admitted afterwards that the Rossoneri hadn't played particularly well in their 2-1 triumph at the Olympic Stadium. They didn't care, though. As Gennaro Gattuso said, "It's our turn to celebrate now."However, even in that moment of release, relief and redemption, the Italy international admitted that the pain of losing the 2005 final would stay with him "for a lifetime" - and that's partly because neither he nor his team-mates will ever be allowed to forget it. Why? Because unlike in 2007, the gulf in quality between the two teams was enormous. Kaka has called the 2007 winners "a beautiful side", but it was nowhere as good as the one beaten in Istanbul. As ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher admitted on The Overlap, "When you actually look at that team - that team photo before the final - you're thinking that's one of the best teams not just of that era, but one of the best teams ever." So, how on earth did they fail to win a single major trophy that season?...Team of legendsMilan added Jaap Stam and Hernan Crespo to a team that romped to the 2003-04 Serie A titleMilan should have been bidding for a third consecutive Champions League crown in Istanbul. Having edged out Juventus in the defensive masterclass/war of attrition that was the 2003 final in Manchester, the Rossoneri were, with all of their main rivals faltering, perfectly placed to retain their title after routing Deportivo La Coruna 4-1 in the first leg of their quarter-final clash at San Siro.However, they suffered an infamous capitulation in the return fixture at the Riazor that stunned Ancelotti. "This was not expected," he admitted after his side's 4-0 drubbing. "It's inexplicable and we have to find the strength, in this moment of disappointment, to get back and focus on the league." Milan did precisely that, though, and clinched their first title for five years in emphatic fashion, ultimately finishing 11 points clear of closest rivals Roma. For Ancelotti, a coach considered a cup specialist, scudetto success was incredibly satisfying, and, having broken his title duck, the feeling was that a new era of domination was dawning at San Siro - particularly after the 2004 summer transfer window.As well as strengthening an already brilliant backline with the signing of Jaap Stam from Lazio, Milan added another weapon to their attack by convincing Chelsea to give them the (still) criminally underrated Argentine centre-forward Hernan Crespo on a season-long loan. Given the quality already at Ancelotti's disposal, it really did feel like he was now in possession of one of the most talented teams of all time.Milan had Brazil No.1 Dida in goal, Cafu, Stam, Alessandro Nesta and Maldini in a fantasy football-esque defence, Andrea Pirlo playing the quarterback role in a multi-talented midfield that also contained Gattuso and Seedorf, with Kaka providing the ammunition for two of the most lethal finishers in football up front, Crespo and Andriy Shevchenko.In short, they should have won both the scudetto and the Champions League - and, for a long time, it looked like they would.Strain begins to showMilan were well-placed to win a double at the end of April 2005 but they failed to win a single game in any competition in MayMilan were by no means flawless during the 2004-05 season, but that was more a reflection of the strength of Serie A at the time than any real weakness on their part. The Italian championship was very much the Premier League of its day, meaning there weren't many gimmes on any given weekend - as underlined by the fact that Ancelotti's side lost away to Livorno and Siena, while also dropping points at home against Messina, Bologna and Brescia. Nonetheless, the Rossoneri reached the end of April top of the Serie A standings (albeit only on goal difference from Juve), and with a 2-0 lead over PSV from the first leg of their Champions League semi-final. It was at that point, though, that we saw the first real signs of the strain of competing in Europe while at the same time trying to fend off Fabio Capello's almost equally brilliant Bianconeri in a savage scrap for the scudetto.On May 4, 2005, Milan scraped into the Champions League final on the away goals rule after losing 3-1 in Eindhoven, with Massimo Ambrosini's 91st-minute goal proving decisive. "We were very scared when we were 2-0 down," Ancelotti admitted. "But the most important thing about my squad is that even when they were down, they kept playing. It was a huge battle against a very good team."Unfortunately for Milan, it took an awful lot out of them, because just four days later, they were beaten 1-0 at home by Juventus in what was effectively a title decider. All of a sudden, Ancelotti's team looked mentally and physically tired."No one can find fault with the Rossoneri - the applause from the fans at the end of the game against the Bianconeri is proof of that," Antonio Di Rosa wrote in the Gazzetta dello Sport after David Trezeguet settled a close contest at San Siro. "They currently sit second in the league, and it would be a mistake to ease off now, with 270 minutes of play still remaining. "But Milan has also reached the Champions League final on merit and the team needs to recharge, regain its balance, summon the energy required to fight until the very end and, above all else, return from Istanbul with that prestigious trophy."But they didn't. Milan had very little left in the tank and back-to-back draws, with Lecce and Palermo, handed the title to Juventus five days before the Champions League final.Majestic MilanHernan Crespo's second goal against Liverpool was a thing of beauty and appeared to kill the gameDespite their dramatic dip in form, Milan arrived in Istanbul as the overwhelming favourites to prevail, given Liverpool were, by Carragher's own admission, "bang average". Nobody had expected them to even get out of the group stage - and they only managed to do so thanks to their inspirational captain Steven Gerrard, who had scored a stunning late winner against Olympiacos.They had also just finished fifth in the Premier League - a whopping 37 points behind title winners Chelsea. And yet Liverpool had sensationally beaten the Blues - and Capello's Juventus before that - on their way to their sixth European Cup final. It was that remarkable ability to rise to the occasion that made former Manchester United defender Stam extremely wary of the Reds."Liverpool are a good all-round side with every department possessing a lot of quality," the Dutchman told reporters on the eve of the final. "As a team they defend very well and in Jamie Carragher they have a top class centre-back. In midfield, Steven Gerrard is probably Liverpool's main driving force and up front Milan Baros and Djibril Cisse are also big dangers because of their pace and movement, so we need to be careful. Some people are saying that AC Milan are favourites, but I think it's an even match to call."For 45 minutes, though, it was a complete mismatch. The Italian giants needed fewer than 60 seconds to take the lead, with Maldini of all people volleying home a free-kick from wide on the right flank. The veteran defender would later joke that he "realised something strange was going on" when he got on the scoresheet but there was nothing especially surprising by the way in which Milan outclassed Liverpool during the first half. Man for man, they were on a whole other level to Benitez's bunch of misfits. "They had Maldini, Pirlo, Seedorf, Shevchenko, Kaka..." Gerrard later told UEFA. "In every position, they had one of the best players in the world."Basically, there wasn't one weak link in the starting line-up and they were capable of the most fantastic football - as so beautifully underlined by Crespo's second goal of the game, which saw the forward dink the ball over Jerzy Dudek after being put in on goal by the most wonderfully measured through-ball from Kaka from inside his own half.Both the quality and the timing of the strike, coming as it did just one minute before the break, prompted former Liverpool striker John Aldridge to concede on local radio, "It's all over. I'm afraid to say we need a miracle." But that's exactly what the Reds produced.'We just couldn't believe it'Two years after scoring the decisive penalty in Manchester, Shevchenko missed in Istanbul to hand the trophy to LiverpoolMuch is rightly made of Benitez's tactical tweaks during the interval, and Gerrard's remarkable refusal to admit defeat - both of which played pivotal roles in the seemingly defeated underdogs drawing level by the hour mark. However, it still feels like what Ancelotti called "six minutes of madness" said as much about Milan's mental strength as that of their opponents.Claims that the players were already celebrating have always been fiercely denied by Maldini. "There was a lot of speculation about what happened at half-time," the Italy icon acknowledged in an interview with Italian rapper and podcaster Fedez. "We all went into the dressing room shouting because we were incredibly tense, so Ancelotti had to step in and yell to get us to quiet down."People claimed we were celebrating but, as captain, I would never have allowed that, and my team-mates wouldn't have done it either. So, these claims are far from reality; it's almost foolish to even comment on them."There is no denying, though, that Milan completely lost control of the game - and their emotions - after Vladimir Smicer's speculative shot from distance found its way past Dida, just two minutes after Gerrard had given Liverpool a lifeline with a looping header. "We felt the impact," Cafu told FourFourTwo. "Then, when they netted the third, we just couldn't believe it."Remarkably, Milan managed to regroup and dominated the remainder of the match. However, when Dudek denied Shevchenko from point-blank range with arguably the most astounding save in Champions League final history, Cafu "knew all was lost even before the penalty shootout started".Milan's heads had undeniably gone, resulting in the Rossoneri missing three of their five spot-kicks. Even Shevchenko, who had scored the decisive penalty in Manchester two years ago, saw his effort saved by Dudek, as Liverpool claimed a fifth European Cup against all odds by triumphing 3-2 in the shootout. A 'cruel' gameMaldini and his team-mates continue to be tormented with questions about their implosion in Istanbul Just as he had been in La Coruna the year before, Ancelotti was almost at a loss for words, but he pointed out that Milan had been "marvellous" for almost the entirety of the match, and argued that they had "lost in an honourable way".The manner of the defeat devastated the players, though, and to such an extent that Crespo said the fallout felt "like a funeral". Maldini, meanwhile, revealed that it was a year before he could bring himself to rewatch the game. "It was only then that I realised how well we had actually played," he told GOAL. "We dominated for about 110 of the 120 minutes. But it all just reminded me of how peculiar and cruel football can be."It was certainly strange that the strongest side of Ancelotti's eight-year stay at San Siro failed to win either the scudetto or the Champions League. As the coach subsequently said himself, "In 2007, we had extraordinary motivation. But we won it through determination rather than quality. The 2007 team was technically inferior to 2005."And it's hard to disagree. Several key figures were still starters, including Maldini, Pirlo, Seedorf, Gattuso and Kaka, but by the time Athens rolled around, Shevchenko, Stam and Crespo were no longer at the club, while a 36-year-old Cafu had been relegated to the bench - behind Massimo Oddo. For that reason, they had to dig deep to overcome a vastly improved Liverpool team that had twice as many shots as Milan in the 2007 final.The disappointment of failing to win in Istanbul has, thus, never gone away. Pirlo has even described it as "pain in the arse" that he still feels "every now and then". And that's hardly surprising, because what unfolded in Istanbul was utterly unforgettable."Not even the Brazil team that won the 1970 World Cup could not have staged a comeback with Milan leading 3-0," Diego Maradona declared at the time. "I have seen comebacks like that in football but never against a side that was as clearly superior as AC Milan."As Carragher said, Milan really could - and indeed should - have gone down as one of the greatest Champions League winners of all time. Instead, they'll forever be associated with one of the biggest bottle jobs in football history."I played in eight European Cup finals, and won five of them, but people only seem to remember that one," Maldini later lamented in an interview with UEFA.com. "It left an indelible mark." One that not even the 2007 triumph could erase.