Dudek interview from Sports Illustrated

[reuque]

About 10 days old but I thought I'd just post it anyway. A few interesting tidbits to take away the craziness of the silly season.

World Soccer: Your name will for ever be linked to Liverpool's incredible Champions League Final victory over AC Milan in Istanbul in 2005, particularly that double-save late on Andriy Shevchenko.

Jerzy Dudek: The save is still hard to explain. Luck played a part. On the first save, I could only push the ball away. I fell into the goal, the ball dropped to him again, and I thought: "Get up quick! If you stay here, it's a goal."

So I threw myself forward and I stuck my hand up and -- bang! Normally, the ball would hit your hand, break your hand, and end up in the net, but I kept my wrist and palm strong and the ball just traveled high, high, high ... Shevchenko was so angry to have missed the first shot and because we'd got back into the game that he smashed the ball. If he'd gone for technique, just placed it, I'm sure he would have scored.

World Soccer: What was your immediate reaction?

Dudek: I looked at the scoreboard and said to myself: "That's what you wanted!" John [Arne Riise] kissed me, and I said: "What now?"

World Soccer: Well, penalties...

Dudek: I was confident because, in a shootout, a goalkeeper has nothing to lose. [Jamie] Carragher jumped on me and was like [puts on Scouse accent]: "Listen, Jerzy, put them under pressure. Whatever you do, do something. Be crazy! Do you remember [1980s Liverpool keeper Bruce] Grobbelaar?" I told him to let me focus. I looked at the notes on penalties: Shevchenko right, [Andrea] Pirlo left ... but I couldn't remember all of them so our goalkeeping coach said he'd signal which way to dive. I was focused, the penalty takers were nervous, and I took Carragher's advice. Afterwards, the goalkeeping coach said: "Good job, but why did you dive the opposite way to what I told you?"


World Soccer: It must be difficult to go from hero to substitute straight away.

Dudek: You're in heaven and then suddenly ... I knew [Rafa] Benítez would buy a goalkeeper and I'd be on the bench, but I needed to stay and enjoy the moment, even though there were frustrations. I became friends with [his replacement] Pepe [Reina] and never blamed him. I was only a little bit angry with Benítez but I couldn't understand why he didn't let me go. Then I found out why and had to recognize that although it didn't suit me, he was clever.

World Soccer: What was the reason?

Dudek: He wanted a good No. 2, a foreign No. 2. That way he wouldn't have the pressure of having an Englishman there, with people saying: "He's our hero, he's our future" -- blah, blah, blah. That happened to me with Chris Kirkland, and that's why Rafa always loaned out Scott Carson. Scotty is a very good goalkeeper who should be at Liverpool but Rafa didn't want Reina to have that pressure.

World Soccer: Having endured the frustration of being a sub at Liverpool, why join Real Madrid, where the situation was likely to be the same?

Dudek: I knew I could learn things here. I learned a lot under Benítez, about the way to manage a club. I'd never considered it before, but under Rafa I started to get involved. I started thinking: "Oh, this is interesting, what he's saying, what he's doing." And when Madrid came in, I thought: "This is the best team in the world, I want to know how it works; to see it on the inside." It was the best school for me for the future, as well as an education off the pitch: new language, new culture.

World Soccer: So would you like to be a coach?

Dudek: Possibly. I've started analyzing what my coaches do, and why, and I think I'm better prepared.

World Soccer: What was different about Benítez to other coaches you have worked with?

Dudek: A player can take the good and bad from all his coaches, all his experiences. In England, you need to be physically prepared; in Spain, you don't have to be physically prepared, you need to be a better technical player. Every country has its own right way. If you prepared Madrid like an English club, it might not work. It's great for me: I'm getting a real insight.

World Soccer: What qualities would you highlight about the coaches you've played under?

Dudek: [Poland coach] Leo Beenhakker is a very steady guy, everything's under control. Sometimes he seems switched off but he's always thinking. [At Liverpool] Gérard Houllier was fantastic with the players. He built a social club, a family, where the people who worked in the kitchen were treated with the same respect as the people up in the directors' box.

World Soccer: And Benítez?

Dudek: Benítez came and he was like: "OK, now we have to know what we're doing. It's not just a case of me telling you to run up a hill and you doing it. You need to be asking me why you're doing it, what you're gaining from it, the reasons we do things." Tactically, he was the best, too. Tactics are very boring, there's nothing worse than tactics for a player because you just stand there for hours while the coach says: "In this play, you move up there, you stretch out here, you close off that side." But Rafa did it and it really works.

World Soccer: What about Bernd Schuster at Madrid?

Dudek: Schuster is like Beenhakker. He has fantastic experience -- when you come into big games, he knows what to expect because he's lived it.

World Soccer: Does that mean it's an advantage for a coach to have been a player?

Dudek: Not necessarily. Your respect has to come from him as a coach, not from what he was as a player. Otherwise, you think: "I'll never be as good as him, I can't play as well as he did." That happened when [Zbigniew] Boniek was Poland coach. When he took over, we were all thinking: "Oh, our hero is now our coach." He was always bigger than the team. There were times when we should have taken responsibility but we didn't because the attitude was that Boniek is so big that he'll do it. The key is to take the best qualities from all those coaches but build your own identity as a manager. I am trying to learn from them all; it's a great education.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/world_soccer/05/19/dudek.qa/index.html

 

[Judge Jules]

Respect to The Dude. His form fell away in the latter stages of his time at LFC but the stick he has sometimes had on here in the past, from people with VERY short memories, is ridiculous.

Jerzy Dudek YNWA.

 

[Roopy]

[quote author=Judge Jules link=topic=24053.msg583154#msg583154 date=1212077631]
Respect to The Dude. His form fell away in the latter stages of his time at LFC but the stick he has sometimes had on here in the past, from people with VERY short memories, is ridiculous.

Jerzy Dudek YNWA.
[/quote]

The season before WC2002, he was tops.

 

[Stulikesdrums]

That world cup killed him.

Played three, lost three, conceded 8 or 9 i think.

He was never the same.

 

[darkstarexodus]

That's a fantastic interview with lots of insight. Thanks for posting it.

 

[viingx]

Thanks for everything Dude.

YNWA.

 

[Frogfish]

I put this up (what seems like) ages ago mate. It is a great interview.

 

[King Binny]

http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/es/1330058607349/noticia/Noticia/Jerzy_Dudek_se_despedira_hoy_de_la_aficion_del_Bernabeu.htm

Goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek will play his last game for Real Madrid at home to Almeria in La Liga on Saturday, the Spanish club said on their website (www.realmadrid.com).

The 38-year-old has been the understudy to Spain and Real captain Iker Casillas for the last four years, after leaving Liverpool for the Bernabeu in 2007.

In total, he played just eleven games, in other cases the content to a reserve role. Twice - in 2009 and 2010 he was extended by a one year contract. This time the Madrid club decided otherwise.

Dudek, who won 59 caps as an international with Poland, was a part of the Real squad that won La Liga in 2008 and the King's Cup last month.

He is perhaps best remembered for helping Liverpool win the European Cup final against AC Milan in 2005, when his goal-line antics and saves in the penalty shootout helped deliver the trophy to the English club.

Time flies. He's already 38 and its 10 yrs on since he signed for us for £4.85m.

Jerzy Dudek - New Madridista

 

[QUADRASPAZ]

Would have been ace if he could catch the ball. The 20p handed get.

 

[Athens]

I was a big fan of the Dude back in the day. That world cup he had was a nightmare though. Did Ian Wright say he must of had wrists like crisp packets or was that someone else?

 

[Judge Jules]

The Dude didn't cover himself with glory at that time, it's true, but he had a joke defence in front of him which never ships its fair share of the blame for how things went.

 

[Tinto]

He was absolutely outstanding for us in his first season and we finished 2nd in the league with plenty to look forward. Then in the following season, we were unbeaten until November, when I think it was against Boro Dudek made an error that lost us the match.

He (and Ged's reign) was never the same afterwards.

 

[Judge Jules]

Despite the fact that he was a former miner and hard as nails, the Dude was very much a confidence player. We had been playing some really good football that season but, because we were still getting used to it, we shipped a few goals in the process (mostly not down to the Dude himself). When we lost that Boro game GH lost his nerve and his patience, and ordered the team to go back to the defensive style which we'd used during the Treble season. The whole team were naffed off with the decision (you could see it in their play, and it was written all over their faces and their body language), so much so that we then went on our worst run for damn near half a century, and the Dude's form suffered more than most. If only GH had stuck with the way we began that season - so many things could have turned out differently.

 

[Avmenon]

I used to think that this was Reina's advantage, but to be honest it affects him too...you can see a big difference in Reina when he's confident with the defensive line

 

[Judge Jules]

That's true, but I do think he's a lot stronger mentally than the Dude. Witness the way he always bounces back after making a (rare) mistake.

 

[RolandG]

His double save alone will ensure that he'll always be remembered.

Thanx Jerzy for the great memories.

 

[Squiggles]

I liked Dudek a lot and was surprised when Rafa signed another keeper - no complaints though, obviously.

I think he's quite underrated. Although Pepe has raised the bar, Dudek did exactly the same when he joined. Terrific keeper.

 

[Avmenon]

Istanbul hero Jerzy Dudek hung up his goalkeeping gloves for good last night after playing his final game of professional football for Real Madrid against Almeria.

The man who made that unforgettable extra time save from Shevchenko in the 2005 Champions League final and then followed that up with crucial saves in the penalty shoot-out, received a rapturous ovation from fans and teammates alike as he left the field for the final time after Madrid's 8-1 victory on the final day of the La Liga campaign.

Dudek's name will forever be etched into Anfield folklore following his Istanbul heroics - and back in 2007, two years after that nerve-shredding final, we caught up with our big Pole to ask for his memories of that dramatic night.

Here is that interview once again in full.

If you're reading this, Jerzy, then best of luck in whatever you choose to do next from everybody at Liverpool Football Club.



Jerzy, when was the last time someone stopped you in the street to talk about Istanbul?

To be honest every time I go out everyone is asking me about the final. They all have their own point of view and opinions about the game. Every time I go out in Liverpool or Manchester it still happens and they still ask 'how was it in Istanbul?' It still stays with them which is good. My friends always ask me what the fans say to me when I meet them in the street and to be honest a lot of the things I can't repeat here. They talk about the Dudek dance and my shaky legs, they ask me about my saves and the atmosphere in the stadium. Most importantly to me though, they speak about themselves as well. One moment in particular stands out for me and that was when we were 3-0 down at half-time and as we walked back to the dressing room down the tunnel, the fans were on their feet singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. We were 3-0 down and still they were singing songs. It was just fantastic! At the end we won it because of them. They lifted us up and helped us to believe that we could achieve it."

What was the mood like in dressing room after going into the break 3-nil down?

"At half-time, the fans had a lot more faith than I did. Sitting in that dressing room, if I'm honest, I wasn't thinking this could turn out to be the greatest night of my life. I was thinking no more goals, please. You have to believe in something but it was 3-0!"

Did Rafa talk to you personally at half-time?

"The manager told me to keep my head up but it was very hard. I was angry but I knew I had to be focused for the second half. I remember a final from three or four years ago that ended up 5-0 and that was on my mind. You can never give up though and you always have to believe in yourself. You always hope. Personal pride comes into it but we just couldn't subject the fans that had travelled so far to see us to any more pain. Then something strange happened in the second half. I don't know whether it was a miracle but it was just unbelievable and it's quite difficult to understand. When you play football you have to realise that you're playing for the people. In Istanbul, particularly in the second half and during extra-time, that's exactly what we were doing - playing for the people. We worked hard to pull ourselves back into the game. When teams from Europe play against English teams like Liverpool they are all afraid. Even when they're three goals up, they are afraid to concede a goal because they know what can happen. I think Milan were afraid when we scored the first goal and then scared when the second goal came just after. They simply couldn't do anything about the third because that's the power of Liverpool."

If you had to pick one highlight from the whole Istanbul experience what would you choose?

"When we came out of the tunnel to play the second half it was the greatest moment of my life. When I came out we were losing 3-0. I can still feel it when all the people were standing up and singing 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. I said to myself this is incredible, we're losing 3-0, second half to play, walking out of the tunnel and these people are still singing. It was unbelievable. It was the most fantastic moment to me. I don't want to mention any particular saves because this was something I had never experienced in my life."



Even before the game went to penalties, it started to look like it could be your night after all...

"After the goals made it 3-3, people talk about my save against Andriy Shevchenko but in the end I just did my job. I was prepared for the first shot and I saw it arriving. I saved it but for the second one, I just wanted to stand up as quickly as I could and just get as close to the ball as I can. Schevchenko thought it was so easy to put the ball into the net and that's why he did what he did. He shot as hard as he could and the ball hit my right hand and went so high over the crossbar. I don't know whether it was me or someone else who claimed that it was the hand of God that made the save but it certainly seemed like it because the hand came from nowhere. I was just on my knees and I couldn't stand up because it was so quick. It was certainly a miracle."

What do you remember of the penalty shoot-out?

"I remember everything from the penalty shoot-out. I was so focused. I was waiting all the time for the player to take the shot and then dive for the ball but that's not easy with penalties as the shooter waits for the goalkeeper too. When it came to the final penalty, it wasn't like I'd saved it and then thought 'Yes, we've done it!' It was like, 'I've saved it, is it finished or not?' Then I saw Jamie Carragher racing towards me and I knew it was all over. That was when I started to enjoy the night. It's so hard to put it into words what we all felt, but it was just this big, big happiness. I just kept thinking, 'We did it!' We were all enjoying ourselves out there and we wanted to stay on the pitch all night because the feeling was so good."

Fans have said that when you made that save it was the greatest moment of their lives. Was it the greatest moment of your life?

"Yes, definitely, there is no question about that. It was fantastic and really, really full of emotion. When I came back to Poland my wife met me because she couldn't be there. She watched the match on the big screen with all of my friends; I think about 50 of them. Then after the game they went to my village to find my parents and say thank you to them. I have seen this video afterwards and I felt really emotional that people felt the same. Fantastic!"

What was the first word you said when you saved the penalty from Shevchenko?

"Yesssssssssssss! I think everyone said the same! Everyone said those words and we did it, we did it, we did it! You can't describe it actually - it was fantastic, a fantastic moment."

Looking up from the pitch towards the fans in the stands must have been a special sight...

"I don't know who was having a better time - us or the fans? They were crazy before the game even started. I've since seen footage of fans in the pubs before the game and those scenes bring a tear to my eyes. They deserved that night and that feeling because they'd waited 20 years for it. After all the preparations they made to get to Istanbul with their songs, their flags and their beer, it was like one big family. Everyone was together singing songs and it was fantastic to see. I think the positive influence of the fans transferred into the team in the second half. My son told me he was keeping his fingers crossed and for the first time he was watching his daddy for the whole game. Everyone who was watching that game was thinking positive even when we were 3-0 down. The people I meet on the street always say, 'Jerzy, even at 3-0 down we still believed we would do it!'



How many times have you watched the video of that final?

"I only watch the penalties. In the holidays straight after the final we had a game with the national team and I said I don't want to see anyone, I just want to focus on this game but it was impossible. Everybody was asking me about the final and the coach came to me and said 'Jerzy please, just switch off and don't answer any questions about the game. Let's play this game and then you can enjoy your celebration for as long as you want'. I did it. We won it 3-0 in Azerbaijan and it was fantastic. Actually, when I was away with the national team, straight after the Champions League final my wife phoned me and said 'May was a very lucky month for you' and I said, 'I know, I know'. She said it wasn't only because you won the Champions League but because I'm pregnant. We have a daughter and I called her Victoria because of the Champions League final and I spend all of my time with them now."

Do you keep in touch with any of the players who were there in Istanbul but have since left the club?

"Yes, especially with the Czech players. I spoke to Vladi when we played away at Bordeaux in the group match and I speak with Milan Baros. I'm still in touch with Igor and Didi still lives where I live, in my village. So, yes, we still keep in touch. It was a fantastic achievement with a fantastic group of players. We still have a fantastic group of players with a good spirit."

How does it feel to know that you've played in a game that will never be forgotten?

"It's a special feeling. I personally think it was the greatest final ever and I don't know if there will ever be another final like it in the future. I hope Liverpool will win a lot more finals but I don't think it will happen in the same way. That is something that only happens once in the whole of your life. I was only just born when Poland drew 1-1 with England and everyone still talks about that game now. For us Polish people, the England game was the game of the last century. Maybe Liverpool winning the Champions League will be the game of the new century? When I think back to that night in Istanbul, I am happy for myself and my teammates but I'm much happier for the people. They will always stay with the club and want us to win more trophies. The players may move on to other clubs or hang up their boots and retire, but the fans stay through the good times and the bad times. Liverpool are the people's club. At the end of the day, you have to do everything for the people. They are the ones that come to see you and want you to win trophies for them. Hopefully that night we gave them what they deserved."

 

[Judge Jules]

Aside from the fact that the Dude can't seem to decide whether coming out for the second half to the sound of "YNWA", or saving the final peno, was the greatest moment of his life , that's a heartwarming interview. There were so many heroes that night, but he's unquestionably one of the biggest and always will be.

Jerzy Dudek YNWA.

 

[King Binny]

Former Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek wants to stay in Spain despite receiving offers to return to the Premier League.

The 38-year-old stopper is a free agent after he was released by Real Madrid last month following a four-year spell in the Spanish capital.

“I have not thought about hanging up my boots yet,” he told Marca. “My family is very happy in Spain and in Madrid. My son has a girlfriend, so my priority is to stay in football without changing country.”

Dudek, who was behind Spain captain Iker Casillas in the pecking order at Madrid, was rumoured to be considering a move to the MLS.

But the Pole has confirmed he has only received offers from Europe as of yet. “I have offers from Spain, Turkey and England,” he said. “What is clear is that wherever I go, I will go there to play.

“Although I have been happy at Real Madrid and I consider it my home, it is now time to play again.”

Dudek played a crucial role in Liverpool’s famous Champions League victory over AC Milan in 2005, when his penalty shoot-out heroics sealed victory for Rafael Benítez’s men.

 

[localny]

Fuck it, let's be be sentimental and bring him back as back-up. If we could take Brad, we should take the Dude!

 

[Judge Jules]

I doubt he'd be any worse than that Doni fella we've been linked with.