Owen's Moscow magic
Tuesday 5 November 2019 13:47, UK
MICHAEL OWEN got his second hat-trick of the month and the ninth of his Liverpool career as The Reds continued to exert their influence over Group B of the Champions League with a 3-1 win over Spartak Moscow.
The Russians, fast becoming the whipping boys of the competition, went ahead in the 23rd minute having started brightly, through Aleksandr Danishevski but Liverpool equalised six minutes later and The Premiership leaders went from strength to strength.
In the second half, Spartak perhaps overcomitted in the search for victory and they conceded with 20 minutes to go from a set piece and Owen wrapped things up in injury time with a simple tap in.
Milan Baros had missed two good opportunities for the visitors before they were shocked by Danishevski's opener.
Given far too much space on the right edge of the box, the ball was rolled to Danishevski and he fired the ball into the top corner, Spartak's first goal in the tournament this year.
However, just as the celebrations were beginning to die down, Liverpool equalised as Jamie Carragher was given time and space on the right to swing over a superb cross and Owen was there to head home from ten yards.
The second half was a tense affair with Spartak trying to avoid missing out on the chance of Uefa Cup action whilst Liverpool were content to wait for their chances.
Eventually it come in the 70th minute as a towering header from Sami Hyypia looped off a defender's shoulder and came off the bar, the follow-up appeared to have been blocked but the ball came out to Owen and he made no mistake from a couple of yards out.
Owen, the only Liverpool man to have scored a hat-trick away in Europe got his second on his travels when Danny Murphy laid the ball on a plate for him and he tapped home from close range in injury time to give The Reds a tremendous chance of getting through to the second stage.
Valencia missed the chance to secure their place in the next round of the Champions League as they conceded a last minute goal to Basel in Switzerland.
Ivan Ergic gave Basel the lead just after the half hour only for Ruben Baraja to equalise in the 35th minute.
The Spanish international midfielder has been in stunning goalscoring form recently for both club and country and he notched another on Tuesday night.
Curro Torres appeared to have booked the Spanish league champions a place in the next round with a goal in the 72nd minute but the sending off of Roberto Ayala two minutes from time proved crucial.
The visitors could not cope with the loss of their defensive lynchpin and Ergic got his second of the night in injury time to give Basel a valuable point.
