McAllister the man

Liverpool raise the Uefa Cup

BBC Sport's Trevor Brooking looks back at an astonishing Uefa Cup final.

Gary McAllister was outstanding.

He got the man of the match award, and at 36, to play the way he did was fantastic.

After 20 minutes, at 2-0 up, Liverpool were so dominant.

But then, to his credit, the Alaves manager Mane made a change, abandoning three at the back to go 4-4-2 - and it worked.

You just tore up the script and sat back to see what would happen

  Trevor Brooking

Alonso made a big difference, and suddenly, when he got that excellent header, they peppered the Liverpool goal.

When Gary got the penalty and Liverpool had their two-goal cushion back, you felt again that they would go on from there.

But they conceded two sloppy goals at the start of the second half and, at 3-3, you didn't know what was going to happen.

I was very surprised Moreno was taken off and Alaves reverted to just one up front. I think that was an error.

After Fowler hit a quality strike to put Liverpool back in front, they made the same error.

They took Michael Owen off to hang on to 4-3 and were punished with a goal at the near post.

At that stage, you just tore up the script and sat back to see what would happen.

Alaves lost one man, then another and it was a case of whether they could hold on for penalties.

Alaves must be very proud of the way their team fought

  Trevor Brooking

But it was that man McAllister whose delivery from the free-kick forced the own goal.

I desperately wanted to see a positive outcome but I felt sorry for the lad who scored the own goal.

I would rather have seen a spectacular winner, but it was good to see a positive result.

I don't think any manager would be able to say he enjoyed that, but Gerard Houllier must be delighted.

His side made too many defensive errors but they came through well.

Both sets of fans were magnificent and, though Alaves must be choked to lose, they must be very proud of the way their team fought.