19 nationalities in Milan-Liverpool final
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-24 09:36

Call it the United Nations final. Players from 19 different countries will be represented Wednesday when AC Milan and Liverpool play in the Champions League final in Istanbul, Turkey.

AC MIlan's Hernan Crespo, front, Jon Dahl Tomasson and Jaap Stam, right arrive at Istanbul's airport Monday May 23, 2005. AC Milan will play Liverpool in the Champions League final on Wednesday. [AP]

Six-time champion Milan will have three Brazilians in the starting lineup and one on the bench, along with two Dutch stars, a Ukrainian, an Argentine striker with maybe a Dane, a Georgian and a Portuguese in reserve.

Liverpool can beat that easily. Rafa Benitez' team most likely will have nine different nationalities on the field when the game begins, with two more on the bench.

Liverpool has a Polish goalkeeper (Jerzy Dudek), defenders from Ireland (Steve Finnan), Finland (Sami Hyypia) and France (Djimi Traore), midfielders from Spain (Luis Garcia and Xabi Alonso), Germany (Dietmar Hamann) and Norway (John Arne Riise) and forwards from the Czech Republic (Milan Baros and Vladimir Smicer). On the bench, Benitez has Australian forward Harry Kewell and Croatian midfielder Igor Biscan.

Milan has four Italian starters, while Liverpool has two English.

Milan enters the game at Ataturk Stadium as the clear favorite. Carlo Ancelotti's team boasts an experienced back line, well-organized midfield and Ukraine's Andriy Shevchenko and maybe Argentina's Hernan Crespo supported in attack by Brazilian star Kaka.

Liverpool's biggest star is England midfielder Steven Gerrard.

Milan captain Paolo Maldini has been playing for the club for more than 20 years and is chasing his fifth winners' medal in his seventh final. All but one of the 14 players on the team that edged Juventus on penalty kicks two seasons ago are expected to be on the squad against Liverpool.

"This team is stronger because we still have the champions from that time and we have added more," Ancelotti said, referring to the arrivals of Kaka, Crespo, Cafu and Jaap Stam over the last two seasons.

"Two years ago was different because it was the beginning of our team and we had to open a cycle," he said. "His final fits in well with that cycle."

Ancelotti is bidding to emulate Real Madrid's Miguel Munoz by winning the title twice as a player and twice as a coach.

While Milan is out to recapture the trophy it won at Old Trafford two seasons ago, Liverpool is back in the final for the first time since it won its fourth European title in 1984.

Liverpool upset Juventus and Chelsea in previous rounds, eliminating the two teams that went on to win the domestic titles in Italy and England.

Wednesday's game comes four days before the 20th anniversary of Liverpool's last appearance in the final and the Heysel stadium tragedy. Rioting Liverpool fans caused a stampede which left 39 people dead, all but one of them Italian supporters.

The anniversary was marked by Liverpool and Juventus fans during their quarterfinal at Anfield on April 5. With about 60,000 Liverpool and Milan fans converging on Istanbul this week, there will be a strong police presence in the Turkish capital.

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