Liverpool UCL hero Jerzey Dudek reveals how he stopped AC Milan in 2005 final

Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek saves the decisive penalty from AC Milan forward Andriy Shevchenko in 2005 Champions League final

Liverpool’s Istanbul hero Jerzy Dudek has hailed the importance of Bruce Grobbelaar’s antics and claimed it helped him win the Champions League in 2005.

Dudek famously saved two penalties in the Champions League final against AC Milan in 2005 to win Liverpool’s fifth European Cup after having been 3-0 down at half-time. It was arguably the most famous Champions League final of all time and his penalty shoot-out heroics were all thanks to a former goalkeeper.

“I did a little bit of Bruce Grobbelaar,” he told us in the sixth episode of MasterCard’s Priceless Moments video series. “If you watch the games, [Bruce] was out of power then immediately he went to save the penalty and I had that in my mind.

“But Carragher came to me just before the penalties and he jumped on my back, he was pushing me like ‘Do something, put them under pressure, please put them under more pressure, I don’t know… like Grobbelaar did, you remember’. I said, ‘Okay but give me a few seconds because I got the book, and I need to study my penalties.’”

Grobbelaar famously danced and jiggled on his line during Liverpool’s 1984 European Cup win over Roma. During the penalty shootout, his legs turned to jelly and it was enough to put off the penalty takers.

Serginho fired Milan’s first penalty over the crossbar, and while Jon Dahl Tomasson and Kaka both converted, Dudek saved from Andrea Pirlo and, to win the cup, Andriy Shevchenko.

“When I do the hands I want to see the player see me doing this,” Dudek added. “And [Serginho] shot over the bar and I thought ‘it’s working, you made him scared, carry on! Carry on, carry on and do something more’, and I had the fortune to save some.”

There may never have even been a shoot-out had Dudek not made an incredible double-save from Andriy Shevchenko late into extra-time. It was voted the most memorable moment in UEFA Champions League history and the Polish goalkeeper said it was one of the biggest moments of his career.

“It was a crucial moment, he added. “It was the last minute of extra-time. I thought there were two different players shooting at me, it was incredible.

“Straight after that I was thinking to myself, ‘this is the moment you were waiting the whole of your career for, the whole of your football life’. But there was penalties.”

Dudek played 184 games for Liverpool but the Champions League final was his most famous.