Smicer: My greatest memory of all
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Never have Liverpool supporters sung as loudly as they did on 25 May 2005. And who could blame them? Half-time at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul and their heroes' hopes of a first European Cup in 19 years looked dead and buried, the Reds having retreated to their dressing room 3-0 down to a rampant AC Milan. Nobody could imagine Liverpool turning their desperate situation around – nobody, perhaps, except their thousands of fans packed into the ground.
"Honestly, we didn't believe we had a chance," Vladimir Smicer tells FIFA.com in this exclusive interview. "But we had 45,000 spectators who'd made the effort to come all that way, who weren't about to give up and who kept on supporting the team. So we made it our mission to try to make them happy and make ourselves a little happy in the process. For that to happen, we had to stop conceding goals and manage to score one – and if we could just get one, maybe we could get back up and running again."
Steven Gerrard got the ball rolling, rekindling hopes with a 54th-minute header, before Smicer added a second with a fine strike two minutes later. Xabi Alonso then wiped out the rest of the deficit on the hour mark to ensure extra time and, eventually, a penalty shoot-out that had looked a forlorn hope before Liverpool lit the blue touch paper. The rest is history, goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek taking centre stage as the Reds were crowned European champions.
Scorer of the decisive spot kick in Istanbul, Smicer shares his memories of that remarkable night on its tenth anniversary. The former Czech Republic midfielder, who registered 27 goals in 81 appearances for his country, also looks back at his time in France and his subsequent roles as a coach and politician in his homeland.
FIFA.com: Having hung up your boots for the last time in 2009, do you miss playing football?
Vladimir Smicer: Believe it or not, but I haven't actually ended my career yet (laughs). I'm still playing, in the Czech sixth division, for the little village where I live. It helps me stay in shape. But, yes, playing in front of 30,000 spectators in stadiums full of atmosphere is something I'll miss all my life.
You spent much of your career in France. Do you have good memories of that time?
Of course. I spent five superb years in France. The first three at Lens were exceptional, at a club that's like a family: I was young and I'd travelled abroad for the first time to go there. I learned a language and a new culture; it was very enriching. I was a little disappointed by my second experience with Bordeaux, from 2005 to 2007. We had a great team and we were very competitive, but I was sidelined for several months because of injury. I would've liked to have given the club a little more, but overall I have great memories of France.
Between those two spells, of course, there was Liverpool…
An extraordinary club, and the one that left me with my greatest memory of all in football.
You are no doubt referring to the 2005 Champions League final, which Liverpool won on penalties after trailing Milan 3-0.
Absolutely, that was the high point of my career. The stakes were huge – for Liverpool, who were going for their fifth title in the competition 19 years after the last, but also for me. I was 32 at the time. I knew this was my last 'big' match because at that age it's difficult to hope for more. I'd already played in a European Championship final with the Czech Republic a few years previously [in 1996], but the opportunity to play in that kind of game is very rare. And the match itself was really special – a final against the great AC Milan, then to be losing 3-0, and then for me to score a goal and a penalty in the shoot-out. It really was an exceptional evening, the biggest match of my whole career.
In all honesty, did you still believe in your chances at half-time?
Honestly, no. But we had 45,000 spectators who'd made the effort to come all that way, who weren't about to give up and who kept on supporting the team. So we made it our mission to try to make them happy and make ourselves a little happy in the process. For that to happen, we had to stop conceding goals and manage to score one – and if we could just get one, maybe we could get back up and running again. You never know what'll happen in football, but given the way the first half had gone, it was unthinkable. Milan were unplayable, Kaka was putting on a show and Hernan Crespo was on fire. We weren't thinking about winning the game, but we wanted to end it with our heads held high. And then in the space of six minutes, we scored three goals. It was crazy.
You scored the second goal yourself with a low shot from 20 metres out.
Yes, that goal gave us a lot of hope. At the time, though, I wasn't even sure I'd scored. My view was a little obscured, Dida got a hand to it and, above all, none of my team-mates celebrated the goal. They were already ready to go and score the third.
Xabi Alonso equalised and the game went into extra time and penalties. How was the decision made that you would take one of the spot kicks?
The manager, Rafael Benitez, came over to ask if I felt like taking one. I was confident, I'd got a goal and I'd already scored several penalties for Liverpool. He said to me: "You want to do it?" Without hesitating, I said: "Yes." Then he replied: "OK, you'll take the fourth one." And, all of a sudden, I felt this huge pressure weighing down on me, but I tried to talk some sense into myself. I had, I think, the right age and experience to take on the responsibility. I owed it to myself to prove my maturity. You're never sure of scoring a penalty, and I knew this was my last shot for Liverpool. I didn't have a choice – the last memory I was going to leave the club of me had to be a good one.
Injuries blighted the rest of your career and you retired four years later, taking on a management role with the Czech national team. How did you find that?
It was a very good experience. I ended my career at Slavia Prague on 9 November 2009 and the following day I was offered the job of team manager. The idea was to fulfil the same sort of role that Oliver Bierhoff has with the Germany team. I spent four good years in that position, especially the first two. We qualified for the European Championship in 2012 and reached the quarter-finals, losing to a Portugal side with Cristiano Ronaldo. After that, we missed out on qualifying for the World Cup. That was a big disappointment for me because it was within our reach. The coaching staff changed after that and I went back to Slavia as a coach and then decided shortly afterwards to get a little distance from football. I hadn't stopped until then. I needed to take a breather, relax a bit and spend time with my family. I've now got myself involved in a different kind of struggle, which is more political: I'm combatting obesity among young people.
The situation has improved for the Czech Republic, who are top of Group A in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying. What do you make of the team's recent performances?
We've started well in the EURO 2016 qualifiers. The first match got us off on the right track because we beat the Netherlands at home. That was the turning point we'd needed after our failure to reach the World Cup in Brazil and a run of four friendlies without victory. We were under pressure, but all of a sudden everything started going right: we won in Turkey, Kazakhstan and against Iceland. More recently, we did less well against Latvia, but we've still made a good start, which I'm really pleased about. With the EURO being held in France, I'm particularly keen for the Czech Republic to be there. It would obviously be something special for me.