IT IS barely three years since Gérard Houllier uttered that unforgettable, regrettable line about Liverpool being “ten games from greatness”. Little did he know that defeat by Bayer Leverkusen would follow in only the second of that sequence or that the European Cup, like the Premiership title, would elude his team, but suddenly greatness is only 90 minutes away for many of the maligned players Houllier left behind last summer.
Perhaps greatness is not truly the word, but immortality does not seem too far off. Should Liverpool triumph in Istanbul on May 25, Jerzy Dudek, Djimi Traoré and Igor Biscan, Anfield pariahs of the recent past, will be added to a list that includes Tommy Smith, Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness and Ian Rush, players who