Reds banking on penalties

LIVERPOOL – Midfielder Xabi Alonso says Liverpool will have the edge over AC Milan if the Champions League final goes to a penalty shoot-out again.

Rafael Benitez’s side beat the Italians on spot-kicks after a memorable 2005 final and also knocked out Chelsea in the semi-finals this season when the game went to penalties. “We will love to go to penalties if it finishes the same way as it did in 2005.We practice them a lot.It is always important to do that,” Spaniard Alonso told reporters.Polish keeper Jerzy Dudek produced the shoot-out heroics with his ‘rubber-legs’ antics in Istanbul two years ago.Dudek has since been replaced by Pepe Reina in goal but Alonso says the Spanish keeper is just as adept at saving penalties.”Jerzy was good for us in Istanbul and Pepe is known in Spain for saving penalties,” he added “He prepares a lot and prepares for them well and the player who has to shoot should be worried.”His secret is researching how people shoot their penalties and he learns where they will put the ball.”Alonso does not expect the final to be similar to the amazing 2005 showpiece when Liverpool conceded three first-half goals before recovering to draw level in six second-half minutes.He scored the goal that brought the tie level at 3-3 after 60 minutes, lashing home a rebound into the roof of the net after Dida had dived to save his penalty.”Two years ago we conceded in the first minute and it broke the plan we had.It meant they had more space and Kaka played very well in that first half,” he said.”We will try not to let that happen again and perform the plan as we want to.”It’s not often you see a final like that.Going three goals down at halftime, it was unbelievable scoring three goals against them quickly.* Meanwhile, Liverpool forward Craig Bellamy is determined to silence his critics by helping Liverpool to Champions League glory.The Welsh international has endured a chequered career and was forced to leave Newcastle in 2005 following arguments with team-mates.He was also at the centre of controversy after allegedly hitting Liverpool’s John Arne Riise with a golf club during a training camp in Portugal in February.”This is the moment for me.If it happens then everything I have done, all the rubbish I have had to go through, all becomes worthwhile,” Bellamy told reporters.* Germany’s Herbert Fandel will referee the Champions League final between Liverpool and AC Milan Uefa said yesterday.Fandel, an experienced referee at international level since 1998, will be assisted by Carsten Kadach and Volker Wezel, Uefa said in a statement.The 43 year-old has proved to be something of a bogeyman for Liverpool and a lucky charm for Milan in the past.Fandel has officiated matches involving AC Milan five times since 2002, all of them victories for the Italian side in which they only conceded one goal.Meanwhile, Liverpool have never scored in three appearances with Fandel, including their 0-1 Champions League defeat at home to Barcelona in March, another defeat and a draw.Fandel’s track record also includes an Under-21 game between Italy and England in 2000, when AC Milan’s current star midfielders Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo were on the winning side (2-0) against Liverpool’s Jamie Carragher.Nampa-Reuters”We will love to go to penalties if it finishes the same way as it did in 2005.We practice them a lot.It is always important to do that,” Spaniard Alonso told reporters.Polish keeper Jerzy Dudek produced the shoot-out heroics with his ‘rubber-legs’ antics in Istanbul two years ago.Dudek has since been replaced by Pepe Reina in goal but Alonso says the Spanish keeper is just as adept at saving penalties.”Jerzy was good for us in Istanbul and Pepe is known in Spain for saving penalties,” he added “He prepares a lot and prepares for them well and the player who has to shoot should be worried.”His secret is researching how people shoot their penalties and he learns where they will put the ball.”Alonso does not expect the final to be similar to the amazing 2005 showpiece when Liverpool conceded three first-half goals before recovering to draw level in six second-half minutes.He scored the goal that brought the tie level at 3-3 after 60 minutes, lashing home a rebound into the roof of the net after Dida had dived to save his penalty.”Two years ago we conceded in the first minute and it broke the plan we had.It meant they had more space and Kaka played very well in that first half,” he said.”We will try not to let that happen again and perform the plan as we want to.”It’s not often you see a final like that.Going three goals down at halftime, it was unbelievable scoring three goals against them quickly.* Meanwhile, Liverpool forward Craig Bellamy is determined to silence his critics by helping Liverpool to Champions League glory.The Welsh international has endured a chequered career and was forced to leave Newcastle in 2005 following arguments with team-mates.He was also at the centre of controversy after allegedly hitting Liverpool’s John Arne Riise with a golf club during a training camp in Portugal in February.”This is the moment for me.If it happens then everything I have done, all the rubbish I have had to go through, all becomes worthwhile,” Bellamy told reporters.* Germany’s Herbert Fandel will referee the Champions League final between Liverpool and AC Milan Uefa said yesterday.Fandel, an experienced referee at international level since 1998, will be assisted by Carsten Kadach and Volker Wezel, Uefa said in a statement.The 43 year-old has proved to be something of a bogeyman for Liverpool and a lucky charm for Milan in the past.Fandel has officiated matches involving AC Milan five times since 2002, all of them victories for the Italian side in which they only conceded one goal.Meanwhile, Liverpool have never scored in three appearances with Fandel, including their 0-1 Champions League defeat at home to Barcelona in March, another defeat and a draw.Fandel’s track record also includes an Under-21 game between Italy and England in 2000, when AC Milan’s current star midfielders Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo were on the winning side (2-0) against Liverpool’s Jamie Carragher.Nampa-Reuters