LONDON, 27 May 2005 — Liverpool were basking in their moment of glory yesterday, despite a growing fear they will not be allowed to defend the Champions League trophy they so dramatically won in Istanbul.
Wednesday’s penalty shoot-out victory over AC Milan, after trailing the Italian favorites 3-0 at halftime, was the biggest final turnaround in the competition’s history and a great advertisement for the European game.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson and the entire national media were grappling with superlatives to describe the team’s achievement.
“Unbelievable. Incredible. Brilliant,” said Blair in a message to the club, echoing the view of tens of thousands of shell-shocked Liverpool fans in Istanbul and back on Merseyside.
Liverpool had already defied all the odds by knocking out Chelsea and Juventus on their way to the final, but their comeback at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium was seen by papers as the stuff of dreams.
An open-top bus parade through Liverpool was planned for later yesterday to celebrate the club’s fifth European Cup, harking back to the club’s golden era from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s.
However, some of the euphoria was being dampened by UEFA, who indicated they had no plans to change their rules and allow Liverpool to defend the trophy as a fifth English entrant.
England are entitled to have only their top four clubs in Europe’s flagship competition next season -- Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Everton. Liverpool came fifth.
In theory, the Football Association could ask UEFA to replace one of its four teams with Liverpool. However, the FA said earlier this month it would stick to the top-four finishers and has been lobbying for a fifth English place.
UEFA spokesman William Gaillard poured cold water on those hopes, telling Sky Sports News: “The tradition usually is that we don’t change rules in the middle of a competition.
“We set the rule a long time ago that said that a national association could have no more than four clubs in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League and in the Champions League itself.
“The rule is the rule and Liverpool will play in the UEFA Cup next year.”
Liverpool’s only hope is for a change of heart when UEFA’s executive committee meet in Manchester on June 17-18.
Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry put forward the club’s view, saying: “I think there will be a weight of expectation that says we should be given the opportunity.
“I think it’s always appropriate for the champions of any competition to be given the opportunity to defend it -- it would be very odd not to.
But he added: “I don’t think it’s for us to say we have to be there. We would love to be there next year. I think the world will say we have to be there.”
The night in Istanbul passed off peacefully with no reports of crowd trouble during or after the game.
Tired, but happy looking Liverpool fans sat in cafes in central Istanbul on Thursday morning reading English newspaper accounts of their triumph after a night of revelry. Thousands of supporters celebrated into the early hours in the city’s bars, mingling with Turks in what was a jovial and relaxed atmosphere.
