'He was a young kid who played with no fear'
"He was unstoppable… he was always capable of winning the games for us."
Unstoppable. One of many superlatives used by press and pundits alike during the peak of Michael Owen’s Liverpool career to sum up his playing style.
In this instance, they’re the words of Vladimir Smicer – one of many who benefited from the striker’s ruthless nature in front of goal around the turn of the century.
Owen was the boy wonder who soared through the ranks at the Reds Academy to become a first-team sensation at the age of just 17, never looking an inch out of place alongside more physically imposing teammates and opponents – and he’s the subject of the latest episode of Premier League Heroes, which you can watch above now if you’re an LFCTV GO subscriber.
Those talents were seamlessly transferred to the international stage too; global phenomenon status was ensured after an electrifying showing in England’s World Cup finals campaign of 1998.
This just 12 mere months after his senior bow for the club, a game in which he scored after coming on as a second-half substitute against Wimbledon at Selhurst Park. Naturally.
“When you’re playing in front of one man and his dog, it’s a different mentality to playing in front of 45,000 people at Anfield,” says Robbie Fowler, another who fitted the ‘teenage striking sensation’ mould.
“Some people will struggle, some people can’t handle that. But some people will take to it like a duck to water and Michael did that. He was a kid playing with no fear.”
Such gallantry was never more evident for Liverpool than in the 2000-01 season when Owen’s 24 goals fired Gerard Houllier’s side to an unprecedented treble of trophies as the FA Cup, UEFA Cup and League Cup were added to Anfield’s silverware cabinet.
Indeed, his exploits in that FA Cup final on a glorious sunny May afternoon in Cardiff easily rank among Owen’s finest in red.
“That Arsenal team was one of the best I ever played against; it had players who were at the top of their game…” his strike partner Emile Heskey recalls with thoughts that anyone who was present at the Millennium Stadium that day will concur with as the Gunners emphatically imposed themselves on the contest.
And yet, despite finding themselves a goal down, energy levels depleting rapidly in the heat, and playing against the clock, Owen hauled Liverpool to glory, scoring twice in the final moments to decide the destination of the famous old trophy in an act that surely played a part in him scooping the Ballon d’Or for 2001 later that year.
In total, 297 appearances for Liverpool yielded 158 goals and four major honours before Owen departed for Real Madrid in 2004.
He later joined Newcastle United and then, controversially, Manchester United, but it was during his time as a Red that he was at the peak of his powers and confirmed himself as a genuine Premier League hero.
Watch ‘Premier League Heroes’ on LFCTV at 12pm and 4pm BST on LFCTV.
The show is also available on demand on LFCTV GO, where you can also catch up on the first three episodes of the series, which focus on the Liverpool careers of Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Robbie Fowler.
Four more instalments of ‘Premier League Heroes’ - on Sami Hyypia, Steve McManaman, Luis Suarez and Fernando Torres - will be aired over the coming weeks.