Liverpool favourite Vladimir Smicer has admitted he agrees with Carlo Ancelotti’s comments on Jerzy Dudek but insists it’s all irrelevant anyway.
Tuttomercatoweb have an interview with the former Liverpool midfielder today in which Ancelotti’s recent comments about Dudek were put to him.
The Real Madrid manager was keen to point out this week that current rules in football would have prevent Dudek from his infamous Champions League final antics in 2005.
The Polish goalkeeper was the hero of the hour against Ancelotti’s AC Milan side in that final in Istanbul when he repeated Bruce Grobbelaar’s trick of dancing on the line to distract the Milan penalty takers.
It worked as he saved two of the spot kicks in the 6-5 victory, and made Dudek famous, with it later described as the ‘Dudek Dance’ and people urged to ‘Do the Dudek’.
It is one of the most famous moments in the history of the Champions League but modern rules against goalkeepers now stop any repeat, with stoppers now blocked from distraction tactics and forced to keep at least one foot on their line.
Smicer, though, insists it wouldn’t have made any difference for the Liverpool goalkeeper 20 years ago, as he’d have saved the penalties anyway.
“Carlo is absolutely right, with today’s rules Jerzy couldn’t do what he did in Istanbul,” he said.
“Today goalkeepers can only think about how to save, while at the time he used to his advantage moves that were not considered fouls at the time.
“But be careful: he would have saved penalties even if he remained still on the line. Jerzy was great even if he remained on the line. Then the penalties by Shevchenko and Pirlo, who were absolutely fantastic players, to tell the truth were not precise.”
