The Champions League final is the biggest game in club football.
Most players can only dream of playing in one, never mind winning it. The very best, own a number of winners’ medals.
Liverpool’s squad under Jurgen Klopp, and before him Rafa Benitez, have been fortunate to have featured in two finals each and got their hands on Ol’ Big Ears in 2005 and 2019 respectively.
With the Reds facing Inter Milan in the round of 16 this season, Klopp’s men will even be eyeing up the possibility of winning the famous tournament once again and becoming European champions for a second time in May.
But when Benitez’s side reached the Champions League final in 2005, it was against the odds and, having finished fifth in the Premier League, they headed to Istanbul not knowing when they would even get to play in the competition again, never mind reach a final.
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And for Didi Hamann, he prepared for the biggest match of his career not even knowing if he had a future at Liverpool.
With his contract expiring in the summer of 2005, he watched on disappointingly from the bench as AC Milan tore the Reds apart and stormed into a 3-0 lead, leaving the German fearing his Liverpool career would end with a pathetic whimper.
Yet his match-changing introduction at half-time prompted the miracle of Istanbul as the Reds recorded their finest hour, with the German awarded a new one-year deal in the aftermath of the most famous of victories for his efforts.
Many a player would have been distracted by their own future after finding themselves benched, but not Hamann.
While the German was understandably disappointed to be left out, and watched on aghast as Kaka ran riot, he was always ready to make a difference for Liverpool - even if he didn’t believe at half-time it was a game the Reds could win.
“I was disappointed, but it's a team game,” he exclusively told the ECHO. “The manager had an idea which is why he started the way he did, and he probably thought it was for the good of the team.
“It's a team game though, you have to pull together, there were some guys who had contribute during the rest of the competition who weren't even in the squad.
“I'll admit I was disappointed, but then again you have to be ready for the team when you're asked to come on and play.
“If I'm honest, I thought it was curtains for us.
“I think I was thinking the same as everyone else watching the game, I didn't see a way back for us, even if we got one goal it was going to be very hard.
“It was near enough impossible, but then that all changed at half time, I was warming up for near enough the full 15 minutes with the assistant manager.
“The mindset changed and it was a case of trying to get the next goal and see what happens and how they react.
“I didn't believe we could come back and win it, but I was hoping and once we got one back, I knew we'd get another one back.
“Then at 3-2, even the best teams make mistakes and we saw that we got them thinking and within six minutes, which has probably never happened before, we were back level.”
It’s a question every member of Liverpool’s squad in 2005 will repeatedly be asked for the rest of their lives, and the ECHO are no different when speaking to Hamann.
‘What did Rafa Benitez say and what actually happened in the dressing room at half-time?’
Unfortunately for us, the German is none the wiser.
Having been instructed to come on, he was getting ready so missed most of the Spaniard’s team-talk!
“I was only in for two or three minutes, and I was just told they were making a change which obviously meant I had to be ready,” he recalled.
“He (Benitez) just said the next goal was so important and then gave me my instructions.
“I was coming on to partner Xabi Alonso in the middle and it meant Stevie (Gerrard) could push further forward.
“I had my instructions on set pieces and that was it, I was off to warm up, so I don't really know what was said afterwards.
Goals from Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer and Xabi Alonso in just six minutes would see Liverpool recover from 3-0 down in Istanbul, before holding out until penalties.
Hamann took the Reds' first, scoring after Serginho had already missed for AC Milan.
Yet remarkably, the German did so with a broken foot.
But although he was in pain, Hamann was insistent that he would step up and take a penalty.
“I didn't realise at the time, but I had a stress fracture in my metatarsal which happened four or five minutes before the end of extra time,” he said.
“I didn't know at the time, but I knew it hurt but you're full of adrenaline which helped, and we had run out of substitutions, so it never really crossed my mind to not finish the game or to not take a penalty.
“I was one of the most experienced players on the pitch, so I knew I had to take one and thankfully I scored.”
While Hamann would win the Champions League in 2005, and was a treble-winner with Liverpool in 2001, he left the club the following year after their FA Cup final victory over West Ham, missing out on the 2007 final rematch with AC Milan as a result.
He was also one of a generation of Reds players who were unable to bring the Premier League back to Anfield as Liverpool's wait to be crowned champions of England dragged into a 30th year before Klopp delivered the elusive prize.
Out of contract in 2024, the German is currently expected to leave Liverpool at the end of his deal.
And while Hamann wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, he also thinks his compatriot could be tempted to stay at Anfield if the Reds continue to be successful under their manager and challenge for Premier League and Champions League glory.
"I think he's said this will be his last contract, but I haven't an idea what his plans could be in the future," he said.
"In modern football it's very rare there's a manager who's in charge for such a long time at a top club.
"Simeone is probably the only other at a top club along with Guardiola who have been there for a substantial amount of time.
"Clubs change managers on such a regular basis, and it comes down to whether Klopp thinks he can continue once his contract is up.
"His contract is up in 2024, but two years in football is an awfully long time and it will depend on what he wants to do.
"If the team still functions and the players still like to work with him, then I don't see any reason why he wouldn't stay on.
"It's a decision he needs to make in the future, Germany have a new national team manager and that might be one position he has pencilled in to potentially do.
"Maybe he wants to win a major tournament with Germany in the future, but it's too far down the line to even think about it at this stage."
Didi Hamann was talking exclusive to the ECHO courtesy of FreeSuperTips .
