Jerzy Dudek
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Jerzy Dudek (born March 23, 1973 in Rybnik, Poland) is a Polish football player. He is currently playing as a goalkeeper for Liverpool F.C. and has the squad number 1.
Signed by Liverpool on August 31, 2001 as a replacement for Sander Westerveld, Dudek also plays regularly for the Polish national team. After suffering a stressful Template:Wc Dudek was dropped from the Liverpool team after several bad performances in the English Premier League (especially after a number of errors against Manchester United F.C. on December 1, 2002) but has since regained his place in the team after Chris Kirkland suffered an injury.
Prior to Liverpool, Dudek played for Concordia Knurów, Sokół Tychy, and Feyenoord Rotterdam.
On 25 May 2005, Dudek became an instant hero in Liverpool after a characteristically mercurial performance in the Champions League final in Istanbul against A.C. Milan. Dudek made an incredible double save in the dying minutes of extra-time to prevent Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko from scoring a goal which would almost certainly have been the match winner. Dudek helped to win the trophy for Liverpool with two saves in the penalty shoot-out. Prior to each of the Milan penalties, Dudek performed a variety of movements in an attempt to distract the penalty takers.
During the post-match interview, Dudek stated that his flamboyant approach to the penalty shoot-out had been influenced by Bruce Grobbelaar, a former Liverpool goalkeeper. Grobbelaar was the hero of the 4-2 penalty shoot-out victory over A.S. Roma in the 1984 Champions League Final after provoking Francesco Graziani to miss by wobbling his legs in mock fear.de:Jerzy Dudek fr:Jerzy Dudek nl:Jerzy Dudek no:Jerzy Dudek pl:Jerzy Dudek sv:Jerzy Dudek