The ex-Red talks to Goal about that famous night in the Ataturk Stadium – and explains why you won’t find him in any of the pictures

He was there for one of Liverpool’s greatest nights, but you’ll do well to find Scott Carson in the pictures.

It has been 15 years since Rafa Benitez’s Reds shook the world. Their victory over the mighty AC Milan in Istanbul is one that will never be forgotten. The greatest Champions League final of them all? It just might be.

“It’s one of those mad nights where you just think ‘it was meant to happen’” says Carson. “You could play that game 100 times and Milan would win 99, but sometimes destiny is on your side.”

Carson was an unused substitute as Liverpool pulled off their miraculous comeback at the Ataturk Stadium. He was just 19 years old, and had moved to Anfield just four months earlier. His professional career, to that point, totalled just eight matches. 

“I felt strange, to be honest,” he tells Goal. “I’d not been at the club long, so it didn’t really feel like my success, if you get me? I didn’t feel like I’d earned it.”

Is that why he stayed out of the photos?

“Yeah. You see some people at the front of the celebrations and they have barely played. That always sat uncomfortably with me. 

“Josemi was one of them. The whole time I was there, I don’t think I spoke to him once. I’m not sure he spoke a word of English to be honest, but he made sure he was front and centre when the cup was being lifted!

“I’ve seen other players do it, and you think ‘what are you doing?’. You have to think how it’s going to look. If you’ve played most of the games, fair enough, but I’d only been at the club a couple of months. I arrived when most of the groundwork had been done.”

In Istanbul, Carson actually offered his medal to Chris Kirkland, who had been ruled out of the final due to injury. 

“He deserved it more,” he reasons. Kirkland, one of the nicest men in football, politely declined the offer. 

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