The Perfect Revenge

On May 23, 2007, AC Milan and Liverpool met for the second time in a Champions League final — two years after Istanbul, where Milan had led 3–0 at half-time and lost on penalties. In Athens, the script was entirely different. Milan won 2–1 to claim their seventh European Cup — equalling Real Madrid's record at the time. Both goals were scored by Filippo Inzaghi — the striker who had missed the 2005 final through injury and spent two years waiting for this moment. The first goal deflected in off his arm and stood. The second came from a Kaká through-ball after Benítez removed his defensive midfielder. Liverpool pulled one back through Dirk Kuyt in the 89th minute — but this time, Milan held. Average age of the Milan starting lineup: 31.12 years. Average age of Liverpool's: 26.51. Experience, patience, and the memory of Istanbul proved decisive.

The Weight of Istanbul

No football match exists in isolation, and the 2007 final is impossible to understand without the 2005 one. In Istanbul, Milan had led Liverpool 3–0 at half-time through goals from Maldini (54 seconds), Crespo (two). They were six minutes from the European Cup when Gerrard, Šmicer and Alonso scored three goals in seven second-half minutes to level the match at 3–3. Dudek saved from Shevchenko in the shootout. Liverpool won. The defeat — from a position of such control — was described by players as psychologically devastating. Gattuso said it would stay with him for a lifetime. Maldini called it the greatest disappointment of his career. For the squad, the two years between Istanbul and Athens were defined by that result. The chance to face Liverpool again in the final of the same competition was not simply a football opportunity. It was, for many of them, the only outcome that could bring closure.

Milan's road to Athens had been built largely on the brilliance of Kaká, who carried the team through the knockout rounds. They defeated Celtic narrowly over two legs, overcame Bayern Munich in the quarter-final, and dismantled Manchester United 5–3 on aggregate in a semi-final — with Kaká scoring twice at Old Trafford in what the club later called their "perfect game". He finished the tournament as top scorer with 10 goals— the highest total in that season's competition.

The Starting Line-Ups

Goal by Goal

The Two Goals That Won the Final

The first goal arrived in the 45th minute — on the stroke of half-time — through a sequence that almost exactly mirrored Milan's opening goal in the 2005 final. In both matches, the free kick was won when a Liverpool player fouled Kaká on the edge of the area. In both matches, Andrea Pirlo delivered the set piece. In 2005, Maldini scored directly. In 2007, Pirlo's shot struck Inzaghi's arm — or shoulder, depending on the camera angle — and deflected beyond Reina, who had dived in the original direction of the free kick. The ball clearly hit Inzaghi's upper arm. The referee Herbert Fandel allowed the goal. Inzaghi later said his deflection was deliberate — but that the arm contact was not.

The second goal in the 82nd minute was a direct consequence of a tactical decision by Liverpool manager Rafa Benítez. In an attempt to chase the match, Benítez withdrew the defensive midfielder Mascherano and sent on striker Peter Crouch. Within minutes, Kaká found the space that Mascherano had been occupying — drove forward from midfield — and slid a perfectly weighted through-ball between Liverpool's centre-backs. Inzaghi had timed his run to the inch, was clean through on goal, took the ball past Reina with his right foot, and rolled it into the empty net. 2–0.

The Final Seven Minutes

Kuyt's 89th-minute header — converted from a Pennant corner flicked on by Agger — gave Liverpool hope and conjured the spectre of Istanbul for the final time. Replays suggested Kuyt may have been offside. The referee allowed it. For the last minute of normal time and two minutes of stoppage time, Milan defended with the discipline that had eluded them in 2005. Crouch's aerial presence caused problems. Gerrard drove forward. But Milan — with Maldini marshalling the backline at 38 years old — held. When Fandel's whistle sounded, Gattuso sank to his knees. Maldini raised his arms. Inzaghi — who had waited two years to play a Champions League final — stood in the centre circle, arms wide, face to the sky.

Match Statistics

What the Revenge Meant

For Carlo Ancelotti, the Athens victory was his second Champions League title as Milan's manager — he had also won in 2003 against Juventus. For Maldini, it was his fifth European Cup winner's medal — a record at the time, later equalled by Clarence Seedorf who also played in Athens. For Inzaghi, it completed a circle. He had been on the bench in Istanbul, recovering from injury, watching his teammates lose a final they had controlled. Two years later he scored twice in the rematch.

Kaká finished the season as the Champions League's top scorer with 10 goals and was rewarded in December with the 2007 Ballon d'Or — becoming the last player to win the award before the ten-year Messi–Ronaldo era began. He received 444 votes to Ronaldo's 277 and Messi's 255. It was the last time for a decade that the award went to anyone else.

The 2007 final did not produce the drama of 2005 — there was no three-goal second-half comeback, no legendary goalkeeper performance, no penalty shootout. What it produced instead was something rarer in sport: the quiet satisfaction of a team that had suffered a historic wound and returned two years later to answer it with a composed, disciplined, and ultimately decisive performance. Liverpool had more shots, more corners, and more possession for stretches of the second half. Milan had Inzaghi, Kaká, Pirlo, Maldini — and the memory of Istanbul to make sure they did not let it slip again.

Explore Milan's journey