I lost £200k bonus after being named in Liverpool's Champions League final squad by mistake

An ex-Liverpool player was left gutted and £200k out of pocket after a Champions League final squad blunder.

Stephen Warnock, who had been a regular in the Reds' journey to the 2005 Istanbul final making four European appearances, was initially named in the squad to face AC Milan only to be dropped due to an error.

The retired defender, now 42, shared his heartbreak on the Undr The Cosh podcast, recalling the moment he thought he'd made the cut. "I remember running in after the last training session and thinking, 'please be in'," he said.

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Warnock recalled a mix of joy and shock as he reacted "f***ing hell" upon seeing his name listed among the 18 players. However, the elation was short-lived when then-manager Rafa Benitez reversed the decision just hours later.

Detailing the crushing call, Warnock said: "I rang the family and told them to get the plane tickets booked. I was at home getting everything ready, then my phone goes and it's Pako Ayestaran, who was the number two at the time. He goes, 'we've make a mistake with the squad, you're not in it'. I was like 'what?'"

For Warnock, a lifelong Liverpool supporter, the disappointment was profound, not to mention the significant financial loss. "It shouldn't come into it but it did," he admitted, via the Mirror.

"It was one of the biggest games of football's year but our bonus was massive either way. It was £100k to lose it and £200k to win it, and I was thinking f***ing hell, that's a massive amount of money, because I weren't on that much money at the time.

"The other part of that was me