“I saw their lineup in the locker room, and I was like, ‘s---.’”
Ahead of the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final in Istanbul, Turkey, Liverpool defender Djimi Traore got his first taste of just how good AC Milan was. The Italian giants boasted one of the best teams of the 2000s. It featured the likes of Kaká, Andrea Pirlo, Andriy Shevchenko, Paolo Maldini, Clarence Seedorf, Hernán Crespo, Gennaro Gattuso, Alessandro Nesta…the list goes on. They were also led by legendary manager and former Italian international Carlo Ancelotti.
Traore, then 25, was relatively new to First Team action, but was tasked with shutting down the world’s best.