"Had he not said that, I probably never would have won that final": Raymond van Barneveld brought out 'The Eye of the Tiger' after Taylor outburst

After four world titles with the BDO, Raymond van Barneveld accomplished a feat by winning the 2007 PDC World Championship barely a year after his switch. On the podcast Dartpraat, Van Barneveld looked back on that legendary final against Phil Taylor.

The World Championship final in question was played on Jan. 1, 2007, at the Circus Tavern. Van Barneveld eventually won after a deciding leg in the thirteenth and deciding set.

However, Van Barneveld went into that final without much confidence. "If you saw the whole tournament a little bit: after the first round against Colin Lloyd, I didn't lose a set, but he actually didn't lose a set either. I was a bit worried anyway that he was undefeated and often pulverized his opponents in the final."

The final also started particularly badly for 'Barney'. "He comes on in that orange shirt and runs away to 3-0 in sets. 9-1 in legs even. I wasn't so into that shirt, but somehow I was distracted by something and couldn't get myself focused. He was right in it. 'Bloody hell, 3-0,' I thought. I was going to take into account, like everyone else, 7-0."

Trailing 3-0, Van Barneveld took a break from the stage and was whispered something by his coach Ed van der Veen. "Come on Ray, what we trained on. You're the best, come on! Phil is behind me, and I'm not going to repeat what he said, but that wasn't very pleasant."

"What's that for," I thought. He was leading 3-0 and I had only won one leg. Then the 'Eye of the Tiger' came into my mind and I started demolishing him. If he hadn't said anything, he would have walked away in no time to a win of 7-0, 7-1 or 7-2, I think."