When the match came down to a penalty shoot-out, Dudek versus Dida had the Brazilian in the AC Milan colours as the strong favourite. Dudek does not inspire confidence; he does not even inspire the faith of his manager, Rafael Benítez. So unconvinced has Benítez been to Dudek’s dubious talents that he has not been an automatic selection. Yet the difference between victory and defeat came down to the two saves that Dudek made in the shoot-out against Dida’s one. And having gone down to his right to deny Andriy Shevchenko, the game was over, the deed was done. Dudek was a champion of Europe.
Dudek? Of Dudek, we know too much already. At least, it would seem that Benítez does. More than anything this season we attach to Dudek the gentle shot from Wayne Rooney that he let through his hands at Anfield and his fumble of a drive that gave Bayer Leverkusen a precious away goal and a glimmer of hope in the first knockout round of the European Cup.
Last night, though, Dudek took his inspiration from Bruce Grobbelaar, the Liverpool goalkeeper in the 1984 final, whose wobbly-knees routine helped to put off AS Roma in the shoot-out. “Carra (Jamie Carragher) came to me before the penalties and said, ‘Remember Grobbelaar’. I just tried to put them off,” Dudek said. “We didn’t perform very well in the Premiership but we did a fantastic job in the Champions League. We’re in heaven.” Of his double save from Shevchenko in extra time, he said: “I don’t know how I did it.”
It had seemed an unremarkable night for Dudek before half-time. He had picked the ball out of his net three times and while he was not directly culpable for any of them, he could perhaps have done better with two. For the first, a shot by Paolo Maldini, he reacted too late. The second, from Hernán Crespo, he could not possibly reach, but for the third, from Crespo again, he appeared to launch himself at the ball without using his arms. And with that, it had appeared, the contest was over.
But Dudek reappeared after half-time in new colours: those of Liverpool’s saviour. First, a long, low save from a hard, low free kick from Shevchenko, guided around a post. Then, with time almost up and Milan looking to end the debate, that remarkable double save from Shevchenko: first the parry, then the follow-up, for which he had to rise fast from the ground in order to tip the ball over the crossbar. If ever there was a moment when Milan must have thought that destiny was against them, it would have been then.
And so, finally, to those penalties. Maybe it helped to calm Dudek’s nerves that Serginho, the first penalty-taker for Milan, blasted his shot over the bar, because thereafter only two of the remaining four would go past him.
Next up was Andrea Pirlo, one of the most feared dead-ball specialists in the game. Dudek danced around on the line — he also danced a couple of yards away from the line, a breach for which the referee could have demanded a retake. But the referee let the offence go and Pirlo sent his shot low to Dudek’s right. Dudek guessed correctly and made an excellent save.
Next to face him was Jon Dahl Tomasson, who scored, and then Kaká, who also scored. Last up was Shevchenko, who had to score to keep Milan’s chances alive. Shevchenko sent his shot almost down the middle and again Dudek was equal to it, thrusting up his left hand to parry. And thus did he win the European Cup for Liverpool.
It may have been his last game in a Liverpool shirt, but maybe it will ensure that he is not remembered for the gaffes but the glory.