Mersey's foreign legion on the march

"People are desperate for success here and I think they deserve it. On the big stage you can feel what a special place Anfield is and what special people Liverpudlians are." From wherever they've come, Rafael Benitez's class of 2005 appear to have become similarly intoxicated.

In the 50th Champions' Cup climax, Liverpool's starting XI may just be the most cosmopolitan seen in any previous final, likely as it is to comprise a Pole, an Irishman, two Englishmen, a Finn, a Frenchman, a German, two Spaniards, a Norwegian and a Czech - not forgetting an Australian and Croatian on the bench. "Yes, but we're all Liverpool," smiled Hyypia. With Benitez, of course, now enshrined as the "fifth Beatle".

His vision of an esprit de corps echoes the glory days. Of the 26 players who won Liverpool's four European Cups between them from 1977 to 1984, only a barmy Zimbabwean goalie Bruce Grobbelaar and Aussie midfielder Craig Johnston came from beyond the British Isles, so building a team spirit then was far more straightforward than the task offered to Benitez.

Yet his triumph has been "to simply recover the values of the collective" and make his foreign legion both understand, respect and be inspired by the importance of the tradition and heritage attached to the club. The affection offered in return to players like Luis Garcia who reports how his mates back in Spain and the rest of Europe are all cheering the Liverpool renaissance, has staggered the new boys.

And here's the irony. Benitez admits the philosophy which he believes is the foundation of success - that is, of "hungry players working relentlessly as a team whether they have the ball or not" - was taken straight from the club he faces tonight. The AC Milan of Arrigo Sacchi, he believes, were the masters, the model for the modern game.

Yet Carlo Ancelotti, who was as a disciple of Sacchi's after playing as a midfielder in his two European Cupwinning teams of 1989 and 1990, now believes he has produced an outfit with a touch of extra individual flair to go with the team ethos.

Better than the Gullit and Van Basten era? That's sacrilegious but there's little doubt that when his side really turn it on, with arguably the most complete midfield in Europe in Gennaro Gattuso, Kaka, Andrea Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf feeding Andriy Shevchenko while being protected by a defence which has kept nine clean sheets in 12 games, they really ought to have too much class and experience.

Yet that's what we said about Juventus and Chelsea too, both of whom were dashed against the Jamie Carragher rock. When Benitez was asked here yesterday about who might get the nod up front in his tried and trusted 4-5-1 formation, he teased: "Both (Djibril) Cisse and (Milan) Baros are good enough and maybe both will play, why not?" Yes, and Evertonians might be cheering for the team in red...

For there's no reason why Benitez would gamble by changing his successful European formula at this stage. Yet the sniping that Liverpool are scruffy mongrels up beside Milan's pedigree poodles and that they've even swopped roles with the inventors by becoming boring slaves to catenaccio clearly tickles the Italians.

For despite their sluggish end-of-term performances which saw them only hobble past PSV in the semis and lose the Serie A title race with Juventus - they haven't won for a month - Milan really do appear to possess a superiority complex about this match. Ancelotti suggests he doesn't just want to win but to win in style, while owner Silvio Berlusconi cockily assumes they will, while waffling on about their image being everything in front of 150 million TV viewers.

It evidently irks Benitez a bit but won't deflect his focus. "We are not boring, I have the videos to prove that we have been exciting and entertaining in Europe this season," he protested here. Presumably, they're the ones he offered Arsene Wenger after he'd portrayed their place in the final as being akin to Millwall reaching the FA Cup Final.

Benitez's crew won't be patronised. They are Liverpool FC, one of the great clubs, they're in the European Cup Final again, don't have to bow to anyone and feel the force is with them to become only the second English team in two decades to lift the Cup.

For who knows how inspired Jerzy Dudek, Hamann, Baros, Vladimir Smicer and Harry Kewell may be while playing perhaps their last game for Liverpool before Rafa's revolution mark II in the summer? And wouldn't it be fitting if, amid this foreign legion, Steven Gerrard, a boy from Huyton, delivered the one explosion of brilliance which both brought the Cup back home and also persuaded him to stay at home.

As Liverpool's army of fans, who look set to dwarf the Milan contingent in the 70,000-seater stadium here tonight - Shevchenko even had to appeal to his team's fans to get to Istanbul - gave their gently amused hosts another rendition of their hymn, you could almost believe Hamann's suggestion that the "incredible power of their support" may make the final difference. Milan could feel they're walking alone here tonight.