Seedorf calls tune for Milan revenge squad

"He will prove himself to be the king of the Champions League," said Seedorf this week.

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But what price Seedorf to prove himself the most influential of Kaka's many courtiers tonight?

Seedorf, at 31 a veteran of three European Cup wins, should by rights be looking towards the closing moments of a career touched throughout by glory.

He was jettisoned from the Dutch national team by Marco van Basten in similar fashion to David Beckham's exclusion by England but Seedorf has taken that particular insult a little differently from his English counterpart.

While Beckham has chosen to take his roadshow to Los Angeles, Seedorf has set about proving Van Basten wrong and should the Milan midfielder prevail with Carlo Ancelotti's team tonight, few players will deserve their revenge more than one of the survivors of the disappointment of Istanbul 2005.

Seedorf said: "I am living the best moment in my life. I want the fourth European title of my career so badly.

"I am a sincere person and all we want is sporting revenge against Liverpool. To lose a final in six minutes like we did in Istanbul will always be in our heads.

"We have planned for this match and now we have arrived at the moment when we can return the blow. That night in Istanbul I wept for those fans. I looked round the ground and they were broken."

Seedorf, a product of the much-vaunted Ajax youth system, won his first European Cup with the Dutch club in 1995 and has subsequently lifted the trophy with Real Madrid in 1998 and Milan at Old Trafford in 2003 - the only player to win the competition with three different clubs.

He has been key to Milan's progress this season, scoring the second goal as Milan swept Manchester United aside in the second leg of the semi-final at the San Siro.

He was superb in support of Kaka that night and, even after 15 years in the European game, that performance still surprised many people.

Former England captain David Platt said: "I don't think some people realised just how good Seedorf was until that night in Milan. I think some saw him as one of the more ordinary Milan players - if indeed they have any - but that performance against United was such that nobody will think that any more. It was a masterclass and anybody lucky enough to see it will remember it."

The former Inter player has been taken to the hearts of Milan supporters. The Dutchman has excelled for the past three years as part of a midfield that includes Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo.

What made Seedorf's display against United so hard to take for the Premiership club was the fact that he had done it before, in 2005.

He believes the reason for the longevity of his career is simple. "My secret is easy," he said. "Not drugs, not alcohol, not cigarettes. Just simple things, like milk. With these ingredients I work each day with intensity and force.

"All I desire at the moment is for May 2007 to become a unique and memorable month.

"First I want this title and after that my fourth baby is due. That would be perfect. If I win the Champions League it is a success that will be dedicated to my family and my friends.

"Against Manchester United we have played sensationally. We demonstrated to everybody that we were completely superior in that game."

Seedorf, who was left out of the Holland team for last summer's World Cup, may yet return to grace the international stage and was included in the squad for the friendly against England last November.

Publicly he seems phlegmatic about the end of his international career but in Holland he is known to wish desperately for an extension to his time with the national team.

Tonight, however, he is not Van Basten's problem, but Rafael Benitez's.

"This Liverpool side are more dangerous than in 2005 and have more experienced players," added Seedorf.

"There is the danger - Steven Gerrard is a star European and he is their spirit. Our mission is to cancel out his work. If the Englishman does not have the ball then our chances of victory are much improved.

"The key will be a goal. I go into the match knowing that if we go 1-0 up it will change the landscape. They play a different style to United and if we score they will find it hard to come back. What happened in 2005 will not happen again."