The Wobbler wins it for Liverpool

He said: "Carragher came up to me before the penalties and asked me if I remembered the final in 1984, and Grobbelaar. So he was the inspiration."

Dudek's psychological tricks also extended to handing the ball to each of the Milan players with mock courtesy just before they took their kick.

The first Milan player to suffer was the Brazilian Serginho. Poker faced, the goalkeeper scurried along the line towards one post, then across to the other, his arms outstretched.

Serginho - mercurial on the pitch moments before - shot with the finesse of a Sunday league player and put the ball well wide.

Dudek's clowning had served its purpose. Before the Milan bench had the time to cry foul, Dudek did it again. Italian international Andrea Pirlo stepped up for Milan's second penalty and limply hit the ball into the Pole's hands.

Surely Andriy Shevchenko would not succumb to such gamesmanship? Yes he would. Shevchenko's shot went straight down the middle, rebounding off Dudek. With more than 30,000 ecstatic Liverpool fans packed into the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul, the man once derided as the "Slippery Pole" had pulled it off and the Champions League trophy was Liverpool's to keep.