‘I Might Die’ by Mark Bodnar. Yes, I know it might seem I’m on some morbid theme, but it’s co-incidence I assure you.

Actually it was the following piece, ‘The Hardest Part’ that caught my eye initially.. which might not be morbid. Actually, looking at it now I’m not so sure!

‘The hardest Part’ is done in Acrylic on canvas, 28″ x 35″ and would set you back $4,000 from gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight.

Photograph by Chema Madoz, from Madrid. Madoz has several books of his work published, some of which are available on Amazon.

Post title borrowed from William Burrough’s ‘Ah Pook‘. Not sure what the actual title of the photo is, if any.

Taking a break from history for a day, let’s take a look at the decisions and tests that lie ahead for Liverpool in this their 7th European Cup Final.

Having won 5 out of 6 so far, and beating a team in white in every single one of those games, Liverpool will be happy to hear that AC Milan, although drawn as the home team and therefore allowed to wear their first choice strip, have decided to wear their second choice strip. It’s white. The reason for this is that they have won 4 European Cups in their white strip and lost two in their first choice red and black. Of course in all this superstition the fact that they made the exact same decision for the 2005 final and lost to the same Liverpool team seems to have been lost on Milan.

Even with superstition on their side Rafael Benitez´s Liverpool have a lot of big decisions to make.

The goalkeeping department seems to take care of itself. Reina is the undisputed No.1 and Dudek the No.2. Padelli did very little to impress on his debut against Charlton recently so the news that both Reina and Dudek should recover from their respective knocks in time for the Final brings with it great relief.

The defence shouldn´t hold too many surprises either. Carragher will be in the centre and it will most probably be Agger who lines up alongside him. There is an argument to be made for Hyypia´s inclusion but Agger has played most of the season and done really well so Hyypia will have to make do with a place on the bench this time around. The ever dependable Steve Finnan should start at right-back and Riise will play at left-back unless Benitez decides he is more use on the left hand side of midfield. In that case it will be Arbeloa who comes in at left-back.

It is in midfield where the biggest decisions have to be made. Gerrard will play, but whether that will be in the centre, on the right or off a lone striker nobody will know until about 18:45 on Wednesday. Gerrard started in the centre in 2005 but was sent into a more advanced position for the second half when Hamann came on. It was this substitution that allowed Liverpool back into that game and so you would think Mascherano will start this game to give Liverpool the kind of balance the introduction of Hamann gave them. This would give us the same Gerrard and Mascherano pairing we saw in the secondleg of the Chelsea tie and allow Pennant to come in on the right. It would though mean that Xabi Alonso would miss out and I can´t see that happening. It has proven more beneficial to start with Gerrard on the right and move him into the centre if needs be and that´s what I expect on Wednesday.

The left-hand side of midfield is going to be the hardest position to call. It´s between Riise, Kewell, Zenden and Gonzalez. Of all those the least likely to start is Gonzalez, but his pace could be an advantage against an “aging” Milan back line. Zenden was in pole position until he injured his ankle in training recently. Reports indicate that he is on crutches and so looks likely to miss out completely. I feel very sorry for Zenden who lost two semi-finals with Holland and one two with Barcelona so far in his creer. To miss out through injury now would be tough, but in all honesty it is probably a blessing in disguise for Liverpool. For me it is between Riise and Kewell to start. I don´t know which way it will go.

Up front it has to be either Crouch up front on his own with either Gerrard or Kewell playing behind him or Kuyt and Crouch. Bellamy´s pace will be useful off the bench and Fowler´s finishing should only be used in an emergency or for a brief appearance at the end.

With so many key decisions to be made before Liverpool´s best side can be picked there´s very little time to worry about stopping the threat of Kaka. Playing with a 5 man midfield would allow someone to focus on him but it might leave our lone striker too isolated. It´ll be a very interesting team sheet that´s for sure.

After Aston Villa´s win in 1982 the English dominance of the European Cup was ended by Hamburger SV in 1983. It saw a run of 6 straigh victories for English clubs. Hamburg interuption proved toonly be a blip as in1984 Liverpool were back again!

It was Roma in Rome and it was penalties.

After taking a break in 1979 and 1980 to let Nottingham Forrest do back-to-back wins Liverpool returned to the European Cup Final in 1981.

This time it was in Paris and Liverpool faced the team who have won the European Cup more times than any other team, Real Madrid. No problems!