FINAL fantasy

'IT WAS AND IT WILL ALWAYS BE THE BEST EVER IN TERMS OF EMOTION AND EVEN TACTICAL CHANGES'

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AFA Benitez is in full flow. It's 15 years since his Liverpool team pulled off the most miraculous of football comebacks and the Spaniard is recalling the celebrations with a very obvious pride.

Around one million supporters poured on to the city streets to welcome home their heroes a day after Liverpool had rescued a half-time deficit to beat a star-studded AC Milan on penalties in the Champions League final.

Wave after wave of supporters streamed into the city to commemorate one of the great sporting comebacks and to cheer the people who had made it all possible.

They are scenes that have come to define a generation for Reds fans and the celebrations left an indelible mark on those who had the privilege of being involved.

Not least for Benitez, who lights up when remembering the unforgettable events across Liverpool on May 26, 2005.

"You will never forget these days," he tells the ECHO in an exclusive chat on the 15-year anniversary of Liverpool's fifth European Cup triumph.

"Everything was amazing, from the celebrations in Istanbul, to the flight back and then the atmosphere in the city.

"There were people everywhere. On the roads, the bridges, street-lamps, trees. Everywhere. It was like the 'red sea."

The iconic images could not have been envisioned just 22 hours or so earlier when the two teams had taken the pitch in the Ataturk Stadium.

Milan were one of the most revered teams on the planet and the Reds had punched above their weight throughout the competition.

With a sprinkling of stardust and a tenacious approach to defending, Liverpool had fought their way to a first European Cup final since 1985 after being just a few seconds from group-stage elimination a few months earlier.