NewsLiverpool's Greatest - No.71: Emile Heskey
Years: 2000-2004
Appearances: 223
Goals: 60
Trophies: League Cup (2001, 2003), FA Cup (2001), UEFA Cup (2001), UEFA Super Cup (2001)
Emile Heskey was one of the attacking spearheads of a trophy-laden period for Liverpool under Gerard Houllier.
Signed from Leicester City at the outset of the new millennium, the England international could be an unplayable presence at his best.
Quick, strong, deft in link-up play and a finisher with head or foot, Heskey scored 22 times in 56 appearances during an impressive first full season at Anfield, 2000-01.
Predominantly in partnership with Michael Owen up front, but Robbie Fowler too, he helped the Reds achieve a remarkable treble triumph.
There was League Cup, FA Cup – in which he scored in four different rounds – and UEFA Cup success that term, alongside European Cup qualification.
A UEFA Super Cup win followed at the outset of the next campaign, with Heskey scoring in the 3-2 victory over Bayern Munich in Monaco.
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Watch on YouTubeHe then totalled 14 goals in 2001-02 as Houllier’s side fell short in a tilt at the Premier League title and bowed out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage.
The striker would never quite rediscover the tall heights of his first 18 months on Merseyside, though did add 21 more goals to his tally across 2002-03 and 2003-04 while sometimes used in an unnatural left-flank position – and lifted another League Cup too.
By the time he moved on in 2004, Heskey had featured in more than 200 games and reached the mark of 60 goals.
“Liverpool fans seemed to take to me, and I like to think that was because a big part of my mentality was putting the team before anything else,” he said.
“I’d come from a background where if someone needed help you helped them. It’s hard graft for everyone, so if your mate needed a boost then you go and help them. That was where I came from and that translated to how I played football.”
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