The transfer window has been open for 2 and a half weeks now (since the Premiership season ended). Liverpool fans all over the web are getting nervous and even Benitez has been angered by the slow pace of things [thanks to Bif for this article]. I must say I’m not worried though.

The club have already moved to sign a few young players, signed Andre Voronin and have added more potential first teamers.

By all accounts Lyon’s Florent Malouda will sign within a week for a fee of between £8m and £10m, and is in Liverpool as I type, to complete a medical. Malouda was voted player of the year in France and looks a decent player. I don’t know that much about him but with Zenden and Gonzalez leaving we could do with another left-winger. This guy seems to score goals too which Liverpool need from all parts of the pitch. I would imagine that we’ll sign another left-winger though to compete with him and probably start as first choice. Simao has been strongly linked but that one’s not fitting for me.

On the other side of the pitch it looks like the attention has been focused on Roma’s Alessandro Faiolhe Amantino Mancini. While Malouda doesn’t seem like someone who’ll set the World alight, Mancini looks a very gifted prospect indeed. In my opinion Liverpool are lacking the kind of arrogance (not too much mind, we are LFC) and flair that a player like this can bring. There are no figures being quoted at this point but you can be sure it would be £15M up. From the looks of things he’d be well worth the risk.

These two would do very nicely. For starters…

As Frank mentioned I had an eventful trip to Athens last week. There had been many a set back before I left Ireland and, since I had already planned to go to Barcelona to meet my brother’s beautiful new baby boys, I spent the last few days before the Final in Spain. By the time departure day arrived I was VERY sick and so couldn’t travel on my early flight from Barcelona to Liverpool. It seemed that after overcoming so many set backs I had to finally admit defeat.

As anyone who has been following my Liverpool posts this season will know, giving up is not the Liverpool way and it was killing me that I wasn’t going to be there. Something that not many people can understand is that it was the fact that there would be two empty seats at the Champions League Final that was bothering me more than the money I had spent on the trip that would now all go to waste.

I contacted a few friends to see if there was any way to get the tickets to someone else and a few more for some consolation in my lowest moments. It wasn’t possible to get a taker for the tickets. Frank was one of those I contacted and despite not being a football fan himself he told me to continue my journey and get to the Final. Yes I had missed the flight I was booked to travel on, but there was a later flight from Barcelona to Liverpool that would get me to John Lennon Airport in time for my flight to Athens.

Despite my health worries - which by the way still hadn’t improved - I realised that I had come to far. I had overcome to many obstacles to give up now. I had to go to Athens and do my best to help Liverpool bring home number 6.

And so I went, I suffered, and we lost.

Yes, yes, laugh it up! The thing is though that had this final turned out to be anything like the last Champions League Final I attended it would have been a story that I could have dined out on for years to come. It didn’t but I’m still proud to have been there and proud of the team I support for their performances in every Champions League game other than the Final.

Having been so convinced that Liverpool would once again triumph, where did it all go wrong? Well I lay the blame solely at the feet of manager Rafael Benitez.

The starting 11 was a mistake. It was clear long before the Final that Zenden wasn’t up to the job. Riise left-wing with Arbeloa at left-back or starting Kewell and then switching to Riise, or maybe even bringing on Zenden depending on the situation, would have been a much better option. Playing Kuyt up front on his own was also stupid. It has been tried before playing for both Holland and Liverpool. It has never worked! And then there was the idea to switch from the 4-4-2 formation that got us to the final and play 4-5-1. Of course our 4-4-2 is almost a 4-5-1 at times with the way Kuyt plays so deep, but then that’s my point about him playing the lone striker isn’t it?

I could go on but it won’t change anything. I don’t understand why Rafa made so many mistakes with his team sheet or why his substitutions were so poor but I still believe that he is the right man for the job. The funny thing is that when I went to Istanbul I went with very little faith in Benitez but hope in my heart. In Athens I went full of faith in Benitez’s ability to out wit Milan tactically and certain of victory. It’s a funny old game!

There are positives to come out of the game and the season however. Benitez performed excellently in Europe, the home form in the Premiership was fantastic and players like Pennant have started to find their feet. Benitez is continuing his ruthless ways by axing Gonzalez after just one season and looking to offload Bellamy also. Kewell gave a few decent displays in the final weeks of the season but his days still seem numbered unless he can do something to convince Benitez to keep him on as a squad player. Perhaps the most encouraging sign for the future though can be seen in the faces of Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher after the final whistle in Athens. These two men are the backbone of the club and to have them hurting so badly can only be good for the many more years they will spend playing for Liverpool. I can say with 100% certainty it is not a feeling they will want to repeat.

I just removed a soccer post from BifSniff. The blog police are probably thinking it’s because I have no love for soccer, but no, it wasn’t that.

Eoin, who does all the BifSniff soccer posting these days had a draft scheduled for release which he never got to finish due to his adventures abroad… so he asked me to remove it until he got back.

Yesterday i was getting sms briefings on his progress as he tried to make his way to Athens for the Champions League Final - it was exciting stuff I can tell you, but I’ll let Eoin fill you in when he gets back.

Eoin did relate his prediction for the game to me: 2-1 to Liverpool with Crouch and Gerrard scoring.

The last time Eoin shared a prediction with me it was eerily accurate. I am now on my way to the bookies…

What better way to end the build up but with a great video of the 2005 Final.

Liverpool´s great run of 4 victories in 7 years was brought to an end in 1985. They reached the Final yet again and had the chance to win back-to-back European Cups for the second time. It was Juventus who came away with the spoils that day in the only European Cup Final Liverpool have lost to date. While many believe that Liverpool were robbed that day by a penalty that wasn´t the true horror of the day occured in the stands. It is known today as the Heysel Disaster.

The Heysel disaster is one of the reasons for Liverpool´s fall from power but the love of the European Cup still burnt strong in the hearts of all Liverpool fans and at the heart of the club during the 20 year absence. It was fitting then that Liverpool´s return to the European Cup Final should go down as one of, if not the, greatest finals of all time.

It was, quite simply, the stuff of ledgend and I was privileged to have been there.

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.