Edwin van der Sar

I was 23 when I came into the team and 24 when we played the Champions League final against Milan.

We beat Milan already twice in the group stage and the third time lucky.

We had to play the final, especially for Frank Rijkaard.

He had a tremendous career, won three Champions League titles with Milan.

So to play that final and play against Milan for him was really special.

The game in itself was not great.

I had a few saves and I think Petter Kluivert scored in the 88th minute.

From that moment on, the sheer excitement you feel, is this really going to happen?

Is it really true?

And when the referee blew the whistle, then bam.

Yeah, it felt really as the academy players with Reiziger, Frank de Boer, Rijkaard before Seedorf, Edgar Davies, Ronald de Boer.

So we had five or six coming from the academy into a Champions League final and it felt like France, felt like

We were doing it together.

We had a fantastic coach, Louis van Gaal.

He was technically brilliant for us, explained a lot, and with the experience of Danny Blind at the back, Frank Rijkaard, they played Orr with the two at the back, or sometimes Rijkaard went to the midfield to make sure that Liepmanen could go forward.

We could play with that to win the team and have the excitement and have the celebration in Amsterdam on the canals with a boat.

It was just, yeah.

Fantastic.

True.

To play against an English team in the Champions League final feels a bit strange, because the charm of European football is playing teams that you don't really know.