Soccer/Champions League final: Steven Gerrard has urged Liverpool not to pass up the opportunity of claiming the club's first European Cup in 21 years tonight as they attempt to spark a new era of dominance at Anfield.
The England midfielder is convinced he'll fulfil a childhood dream by emulating Emlyn Hughes, Phil Thompson and Graeme Souness in lifting the trophy. Yet, he will remind his team-mates before kick-off that this is effectively a chance in a lifetime.
"We have to make sure we don't have any regrets at the final whistle, that we have given every drop when that time comes," said Gerrard.
"This is the biggest game of our lives, so we have to give everything we have, and to come back with a winner's medal in the biggest club competition around would mean the world to me. But I will lift that trophy. I know I will. We have world-class players and, believe me, they are in the mood to do this.
"It's so important for the future of Liverpool. Imagine how much that would help us in terms of prestige and attracting top-class players, plus the financial impact it would have.
"This is the ultimate. There will be a lot of pressure to perform, but you just have to deal with that. The pressure only comes in big games and that's where you want to be, but maybe there is even more on Milan. I hope they underestimate us because, if they do, they are in for the shock of their lives."
Liverpool fans who travelled to Istanbul were managing to pick up tickets on the black market last night - though at a steep price. Turks who were selling them were asking 1,000 a pair, supporters said.
But some fans were able to negotiate them down. Ray Duffey (50), from Liverpool, and 37-year-old Gerard McCarthy from Dublin - who works as a pub manager in Brussels - said they had managed to talk a vendor down to €800 for the pair.
"There are plenty about; it's the Turks who are selling them, but really it's more than I wanted to pay," Duffey said, though he quickly added: "It means we can relax now. We're going to see the game.
"We think more tickets should be made available in the first place to the true fans. Liverpool's allocation of 20,000 in a stadium of nearly 70,000 seems rather low."
With the clock ticking down to tonight's kick-off, Liverpool fans filled a number of bars in the central area and belted out their favourite anthems, while locals gathered to watch, seeming amused at the spectacle, and police strolled around on floats or cruised by in cars.
Two people, thought to have been arrested in the city centre, may not have been, the British Consulate-General said. The people called a British Foreign Office helpline, but were not actually taken into custody, and were looking forward to watching the match, a spokesman said.
British police concerns now centre on Liverpool fans making their way to the match - the Ataturk Olympic stadium is about 30 miles from the city centre. Fans were told they would need to set out in good time even with the late evening kick-off local time to negotiate what are bound to be congestion problems in the traffic-filled city.
