While Liverpool had the Spanish duo of Pepe Reina and Xabi Alonso, there was a future World Cup winner in West Ham United’s ranks too during that 2006 FA Cup classic at the Millennium Stadium.
By his own admission, Bobby Zamora had no idea about the glory that was to come for his one-time Hammers teammate.
Though there were a few clues.
Lionel Scaloni made just 17 appearances for West Ham United after joining on loan from Deportivo La Coruna – not Real Betis, as Zamora mis-remembers – during the second half of the 2005/06 season.
Zamora recalls the ferocity with which Scaloni went about his business on the pitch, in stark contrast to his friendly, accommodating nature off it.
The ‘fire’ and the ‘aggression’ that fuelled his on-pitch persona is certainly something that has served him well in one of the most high-pressure coaching roles in the whole of the sport.
Yet, Scaloni has never been afraid to show his emotions or wear his heart on his sleeve either.
Bobby Zamora recalls playing alongside Argentina hero Lionel Scaloni at West Ham United
Just last week, before Lionel Messi rolled back the years with two vintage strikes against Venezuela in a World Cup qualifier, Scaloni welled up when considering the idea that Argentina’s eternal icon may soon be riding off into the international sunset.
The one-time Lazio, Atalanta and Real Mallorca wideman also broke down after masterminding La Albiceleste’s World Cup triumph over France back in 2022, albeit with a quite literal helping hand from Emi Martinez.
Zamora, speaking opposite Adebayo Akinfenwa on the Beast Mode On podcast, remembers another time when the tears fell from Scaloni’s eyes. Though these were tears of tragedy, rather than joy.
Scaloni sportingly rolled the ball out of play after seeing Djibril Cisse injured, with only moments of normal time remaining at West Ham 3-2 up against Liverpool. And, after the play resumed, his attempted clearance went only as far as Steven Gerrard just inside the Hammers half.
Approximately eleven seconds passed between Scaloni’s misplaced boot upfield and Gerrard lashing a 35-yard stunner past Shaka Hislop.
“[The ball] drops to Stevie and I’m stood behind him,” Zamora says. “It bounces and he takes that shot, and I remember seeing it go…
“Bang, in. That’s not even the winner, that’s to draw the game.”
Scaloni ‘was just crying’ after Steven Gerrard inspired Liverpool’s FA Cup comeback
Zamora will have known exactly how Scaloni felt once Liverpool, thanks to some Pepe Reina heroics in the resulting penalty shoot-out, eventually triumphed in arguably the most dramatic FA Cup final of the 21st century.
The striker was one of three to be denied from 12 yards, alongside Paul Konchesky and the similarly-luckless Anton Ferdinand. Yet, Scaloni clearly took plenty of responsibility for the game reaching spot-kicks in the first place, though few could legislate for Gerrard hitting that shot any sweeter than he did.
If it wasn’t Gerrard, one of the finest long-range shooters in the game, we’d call it a once-in-a-lifetime strike.
“Lionel, I remember after the game when we went through [the penalties], he was just crying,” Zamora said, the last he ever saw of a man who would say his goodbyes soon after.
“I think he felt it was his fault, [but] Stevie has to hit a worldie for it to happen. It’s part and parcel of football.”
Nearly twenty years on, Scaloni’s reputation as a manager far outweighs that of Scaloni the player. Argentina’s World Cup triumph in Qatar was their first since the Diego Maradona-inspired Albiceleste side of 1986.
“No, not at all,” Zamora added when asked if he envisaged such a bright future for Scaloni the coach. “To be fair, he could hardly speak English.
“He came on loan. A great guy, lovely, lovely chap, hard working. An Argentinian defender, you know what it’s all about. He’s going to foul [opposition forwards], pull, pinch, bide time, all of that.
“No, I would never have said he was going to go on [to achieve what he has]. But he had that desire, the hunger, the aggression. I think, as a manager, you need that fire and that aggression.”
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