Without Florent Sinama-Pongolle, Liverpool may never have reached Istanbul in 2005, where they would go on to win the Champions League final in the most fairy tale fashion imaginable.
Struggling to even get out of the group stage and 1-0 down to Olympiakos at half-time in their final fixture, it was the Frenchman, signed by Gerard Houllier, who scored the first goal that started a dramatic 3-1 comeback victory - best remembered for Steven Gerrard's late pile-driver - that paved the way to Champions League glory.
As Liverpool overcame Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus and Chelsea, in turn, Sinama-Pongolle was unable to make the squad for the final against AC Milan due to knee injury. That didn't stop him from celebrating wildly in Turkey as the Reds came from 3-0 down at halftime to pull the game all square before going on to win it on penalties on one of the most famous nights in the club's illustrious history.
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But as things turned out, the joy for Sinama-Pongolle didn't even last 24 hours as chaos around organisation of the victory parade saw Liverpool's fringe players miss out completely.
Speaking exclusively to Ladbrokes at the launch of their 5-A-Side Bet on the FA Cup Final, he said: "You go from this crazy night of celebrations, taking pictures next to the trophy, celebrating with your teammates, to what turned out to be one of the lowest moments of my career. Everything was great, we were all celebrating as a team, and then the next day, for people like myself, Anthony Le Tallec and Neil Mellor - who were all a part of the Champions League journey - we just had to witness everything that happened.
"We didn't get to travel back to Liverpool with the matchday squad. We all had to see the families of our teammates leave Istanbul with the squad - why not us? What about us players who were a part of that journey? There was a bus parade which had already been organised in town once the players arrived, but because we weren't on the plane with them, it meant we weren't going to be a part of it. I think it was the worst moment as far as organisation and logistics go, that Liverpool have ever had."
Over half a million people lined the streets of Liverpool city centre to witness their triumphant heroes return the European Cup to the Merseyside for the first time in 21 years, but alongside Mellor, two of the club's goal scorers against Olympiakos had been forced to watch the spectacle from the sidelines.
Sinama-Pongolle continued: "I mean, for a club of Liverpool's size to make those decisions and organise things the way they did - I struggle to believe that it was a wider decision made by the club; I think it was some kind of personal decision from someone high up. I'm not saying it was the club's decision; it was simply someone else who decided that was how it was going to be. I don't blame the club as a whole for it, and I would never want the club to think that.
"We took a later flight - which got delayed, and we heard from police in Liverpool that things had to go on time; they couldn't wait for us. That's it. I watched it on TV, man. I was sad, I was watching my teammates with their wives celebrating on the bus! Quite simply, I've gone from one of the happiest moments of my playing career, to the saddest, in the matter of hours. But that's life, I suppose. That's football!
"Trusting someone else's decision is something which I look back at now in hindsight - and with age - and I can't help but think things would be different if I could live that moment again. We were young and naive and just did what someone told us to do. But now? If that happened, I'd be saying to someone "hold on a minute, we're travelling with our teammates". But we weren't to know at that age. I guess we were just fragile, young and naive."
Fast forward 17 years and Liverpool are back in another Champions League final, this time against Real Madrid in Paris on May 28. Despite his sad memories about the aftermath of Istanbul, Sinama-Pongolle is hoping for another famous Liverpool win and cheekily perhaps the opportunity for the club to makes amends for that bus parade.
He added: "It's something I will have to carry with me forever, that I never got the chance to celebrate that journey. In fact, if I could say something, I hope that Liverpool win the Champions League this year, and Jurgen Klopp brings myself, Neil [Mellor] and Anthony [Le Tallec] back for their bus parade! If anyone sees this who could make that happen - that would be the greatest present the club could give one of their former players! Another chance to celebrate."
