Football is a funny old game, as Jimmy Greaves used to say. But never funnier – or rather weirder – than what happened in Athens on Wednesday night.

For the first 45 minutes Liverpool were not only the better team; they looked a league above Milan, even if their finishing did leave a lot to be desired.

With unlikely lad Jermaine Pennant causing the Rossoneri defence all sorts of problems wide on the right, the Reds might well have been 1-0 or even 2-0 ahead as the seconds ran down to the half-time whistle.

Then, horror of horrors, Xabi Alonso downed Kaka to concede a stupid free kick 22 metres out – and Andrea Pirlo’s free-kick drilled Milan into the lead, with the help of an unlikely deflection off Filippo Inzaghi's arm. The ball changed direction in the middle of Pepe Reina’s dive and against all the odds, Milan were in the driving seat.

Until then, Reina’s only work had been cutting out a string of poorly-placed crosses. It took some believing but there we were. Half-time - Milan 1 Liverpool 0.

Perhaps it was inevitable after that that it would not be Liverpool’s night. Just as they rode their luck to fight back from 3-0 down in the historic 2005 final, this time Dame Fortune was with Milan.

I don’t really count Inzaghi's second goal. It was a consequence of Liverpool throwing everything into attack in a bid to equalise. If only Dirk Kuyt’s overdue goal had been the equaliser and not just reduced the arrears to 2-1…then I truly believe Liverpool would have won.

The fact is they didn’t. Neither, for that matter, did Chelsea or Manchester United. And this after the Premiership had provided three of the four semi-finalists.

A great achievement for Milan to win the trophy for the seventh time, yes. But it should never have happened. On paper, all three English teams look superior all-round outfits to the Rossoneri.

But Milan have Kaka. And even if the Brazilian superman didn’t get his name on the scoresheet last night, and Javier Mascherano kept him under wraps for much of the game, his amazing bursts of pace had the alarm bells ringing in the Liverpool defence time and again.

Did the better team win? That’s open to debate. But at least Liverpool had the consolation of knowing they won the battle of the fans by a landslide. Rafa’s boys may have lost on the night, but the Scouse decibels at the Olympic Stadium proved they will never ever walk alone.

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