Andriy Shevchenko has opened up on the dark demons he still continues to face when he thinks about AC Milan's collapse against Liverpool in the 2005 Champions League final.
The Reds beat AC 3-2 in a penalty shoot-out to win the European Cup for a fifth time after sensationally coming from three goals down at half-time.
Milan were hot favourites heading into the final and went ahead inside the opening minute through Paolo Maldini.
A double from Hernan Crespo then gave Milan a seemingly unassailable lead heading into the half-time break.
But Liverpool fought back to level in five mad second-half minutes through Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer and Xabi Alonso.
Milan dominated possession in extra-time, and they were denied by a miracle double save by Jerzy Dudek from Shevchenko with three minutes remaining.
Serginho and Andrea Pirlo missed Milan's first two penalties, while Dietmar Hamann and Djibril Cisse were on target for the Reds.
Substitute Jon Dahl Tomasson put Milan in contention before John Arne Riise missed Liverpool’s third spot kick.
Kaka then scored for Milan, but after Smicer scored for Liverpool, Shevchenko saw his kick saved by Dudek to spark wild scenes of celebration from all those involved with the Anfield club.
And now reflecting on the night, Shevchenko has revealed that he has still not got over his side’s collapse at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.
“The wound is still bleeding. It bothers me that they said that we were carried away by the euphoria,” he told radio Marca.
“Maldini said at half time to be careful. The first months after the final I would wake up screaming in the middle of the night thinking about it.
“Now that I am a coach I think about those minutes in which we scored three goals. It is not a criticism of Ancelotti, but I would have stopped the game, changed something.”
