Liverpool star thought he was in UCL final squad – but error cost him £200k

One ex-Liverpool star missed out on £200,000 after being included in their Champions League final squad - only to be told it was a mistake.

Stephen Warnock had made four appearances in the competition in the Reds' run to the 2005 final in Istanbul, not missing a matchday across the group and knockout stages. He remained unsure if he'd been included to face AC Milan, however.

The former left-back, now six years retired aged 42, would find out his fate two days before the match ahead of their travel to Turkey. “I remember running in after the last training session and thinking, ‘please be in’," he recalled on the Undr The Cosh podcast.

And he exclaimed "f***ing hell" when he spotted his name in amongst the 18 listed. But he described what followed as an "absolute disgrace" from Benitez, who then performed a U-turn.

Warnock explained: “I rang the family and told them to get the plane tickets booked. I was at home getting everything ready, then my phone goes and it’s Pako Ayestaran, who was the number two at the time. He goes, ‘we’ve make a mistake with the squad, you’re not in it’. I was like 'what?’"

Being a boyhood Liverpool fan, it was a bitter pill to swallow for him - and that was without the financial hit it caused him. "It shouldn't come into it but it did," he continued.

"It was one of the biggest games of football's year but our bonus was massive either way. It was £100k to lose it and £200k to win it, and I was thinking f***ing hell, that's a massive amount of money, because I weren't on that much money at the time.

"The other part of that was me thinking 'f***ing hell that's a nice lovely bonus that either way'. You're a young lad, I've come from thinking last year thinking I'm gonna be in the Championship with Coventry being on decent-ish money but nowhere near that sum of money."

Liverpool of course went on to beat Milan on penalties after their miraculous comeback from three goals down, meaning Warnock did indeed miss out on a £200k payday. "[Steven] Gerrard came up to me after the game and said 'we'll make sure you get your money'. I've still not seen it. Like why say it," he added.

The saga, which also saw him miss the trophy parade after being moved onto a separate flight home, was the beginning of the end for his Reds career. He was beyond the point of return with Benitez and ultimately departed Merseyside in January 2007 to join Blackburn Rovers.