Liverpool v Milan Champions League final rematch? Opponents in 2005, Kewell and Crespo now rivals for Asian showpiece
- Yokohama Marinos welcome Al Ain for the first leg of the AFC Champions League final on Saturday
- The coaches met on the field on multiple occasions but the most famous was 19 years ago, when penalties decided it after six goals were shared
The AFC Champions League final sees the two men in the dugouts face off in a rematch of one of the most epic games in club football history.
Yokohama Marinos coach Harry Kewell will welcome his Al Ain counterpart Hernan Crespo to Japan on Saturday as they contest the first leg of Asia’s biggest club match, but it is not their first continental showpiece in opposition.
The pair met in the European equivalent 19 years ago in Istanbul, when Liverpool and Milan played out the highest-scoring final of the Uefa Champions League era.
Each featured in their side’s attack on that fateful night in 2005, with Kewell in the red of Liverpool and Crespo in Milan’s changed white strip.
While the former Argentina international may have left a much bigger mark on the game, the Australian, despite lasting only 23 minutes, enjoyed the last laugh.
Though the two men also met twice in the Premier League during Crespo’s time at Chelsea – either side of his season-long loan at Milan – their most famous encounter was that final in Turkey.
