'OK, no more discussions, this is what we do...' the real story of the Ataturk half-time teamtalk

'I'M NOT SURE IT WAS A TALK, RAFA'S ENGLISH WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH'... WHAT HAPPENED INSIDE THE REDS DRESSING ROOM AHEAD OF THE DRAMATIC COMEBACK AS TOLD BY THOSE WHO WERE THERE

- By PAUL GORST

THE first half of Liverpool's first European Cup final in 20 years had them teetering on the brink of humiliation.

As the half-time whistle sounded in the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul, on May 25, 2005, Rafa Benitez's players trudged off the pitch 3-0 down to AC Milan.

They were dead and buried with seemingly little hope of a rescue act against arguably the continent's finest team.

What followed was the most iconic fight-back in the competition's history as Liverpool turned the game around to level the scores in the second period. They then went on to win the trophy on penalties.

Twenty years on, here the ECHO takes you inside the dressing room for one the most famous half-time team talks ever.

RAFA BENITEZ: I was preparing what I was going to say at half-time with the team 2-0 down. And my English was not the best. It still isn't now, so imagine 15 years ago! We then conceded the third goal. The message to the players had to be the same, I needed to give them confidence, to make them believe.

LUIS GARCIA: It all looks a bit blurry now. I remember myself getting in and seeing all the players sitting trying to cool down, there were faces of frustration all around. We didn't play that bad, they were just too good.

JERZY DUDEK: We knew we didn't have all day and it took us something like two or three minutes to get from the pitch to the dressing room, it was very far away. Then you have to get back on time as UEFA made sure everything was on the minute. We knew we had to be ready. We had maybe eight or nine minutes to correct things.