Steven Gerrard on Liverpool's road to the 2005 UEFA Champions League final against Milan in Istanbul

In this piece, presented by Turkish Airlines, former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard recalls his team's progress to the 2005 UEFA Champions League final, perhaps the most dramatic showpiece in the competition's history.

Group stage

Matchday 1: Liverpool 2-0 Monaco
Matchday 2: Olympiacos 1-0 Liverpool
Matchday 3: Liverpool 0-0 Deportivo La Coruña
Matchday 4: Deportivo La Coruña 0-1 Liverpool
Matchday 5: Monaco 1-0 Liverpool
Matchday 6: Liverpool 3-1 Olympiacos

It took a two-goal victory against Olympiacos on Matchday 6 for Rafael Benítez's side to squeeze the Greek club out of second place in the section and earn a spot in the round of 16. That 3-1 win at Anfield is a game which Gerrard remembers fondly.

"I thought the dream was over," he says as he remembers Rivaldo giving Olympiacos the lead at Anfield. "I thought, 'That's us done now. Out of the cup.'" However, Benítez gave his charges an inspirational talk at the break, and after Florent Sinama-Pongolle levelled early into the second half, Neil Mellor put the Reds ahead on 80 minutes, setting the stage for Gerrard to blast in a dramatic late third.

"I remember seeing [Jamie] Carragher doing a Cruyff turn, and I'm thinking, 'What are you doing?' We're out wide. I'm obviously just waiting in the box with my arms up, saying, you know, 'Get it in the box.' And then I had to adjust a little bit, I got the contact absolutely perfect, and it was one of those feelings: I knew as soon as [the shot] left my foot. Then it was just about seeing the game out for the last few minutes, but it was one of the best nights of my life because the dream was back on."

Round of 16

Liverpool 3-1 Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer Leverkusen 1-3 Liverpool
(agg: 6-2)

A Luis García finish and free-kicks from John Arne Riise and Dietmar Hamann helped Liverpool to rack up a significant lead in the first leg, and they were just as impressive in the return fixture. Luis García added two more and Milan Baroš put in a third before Leverkusen pulled one back late on.

Quarter-finals

Sami Hyypiä after scoring the opener against JuventusGetty Images

Liverpool 2-1 Juventus
Juventus 0-0 Liverpool
(agg: 2-1)

Goals from Sami Hyypiä and Luis García in the first half at Anfield set the tone for this tie. "Hyypiä scored an out-of-this-world volley," Gerrard says of the Finn's tenth-minute strike from a ball flicked on from a corner.

"It was actually a poor corner from myself. I remember just trying to put it in the area, but big Sami was awesome in the opposition box. He would score really big goals. And, again, when you score first at Anfield, it gives you a lot of belief and confidence."

That early opener was followed by a 25th-minute stunner from Luis García, who met a hopeful infield ball with a stunning effort on the half-volley. Gerrard remembers watching the Spaniard shaping up from an unpromising position and thinking "please don't shoot, please don't shoot", only to be stunned by his finish. "Obviously, one of the best goals I've witnessed," he says, describing his former team-mate as "a little magician".

Semi-finals

Luis García struck the only goal against Chelsea at AnfieldAFP via Getty Images

Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool
Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea
(agg: 1-0)

After a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge, Liverpool had arguably done the hard work against Chelsea, and Gerrard remembers the crowd playing their part in a narrow second-leg win: "This is the best atmosphere I witnessed at Anfield by a mile."

Gerrard's flicked ball over the Blues defence led to Luis García scoring the only goal of the game after four minutes. In retrospect, it was "the most important goal, probably, of all our careers," says Gerrard, mindful that "without that goal, we don't get to the final".

However, if an early strike might have eased Liverpool's nerves, José Mourinho's Chelsea were fearsome competitors. Indeed, they threatened to grab an equaliser that would have won the tie more than once, Eidur Gudjohnsen notably firing across the face of goal late on.

Gerrard remembers it well. "I'm thinking, 'Oh no.' You're just waiting for the net to go. That's the little bit of luck you need on the journey to a cup final, but Chelsea, on the night, were better than us in the end. They were stronger, they finished better, but we managed to get over the line and the celebrations after that were fantastic."

AC Milan's Cafu has also looked back over his side's run to the final here, while Gerrard and Cafu will be reviewing the showpiece in our next article in this series.