Treble Winners

At a club with an illustrious history as Liverpool FC has, it takes some feat to register a memorable season but 2000/01 was certainly one of those as they lifted a trophy haul in the form of the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup.

I suppose it all began the season earlier when the Reds finished off the season losing 1-0 against Bradford City, meaning Liverpool finished two points off Champions League qualification which left them settling for a spot in the UEFA Cup.

The last time Liverpool had lifted silverware was back in 1995 when they lifted the League Cup after beating Bolton Wanderers in the final with McManaman scoring twice. It was Liverpool’s longest major trophy drought since the early 1960s. However, the League Cup campaign could easily have gone differently as they were nearly knocked out in the third round against Chelsea with Liverpool needing extra time to seal a 2-1 win. After that close encounter, the Reds went on the rampage and scored another 20 goals on route to the final including thrashing Stoke City 8-0.

Thirty minutes in to the League Cup final against Birmingham City, Fowler scored an absolute scorcher. Heskey headed it to Fowler and Robbie smashed it in. “Fowler’s onto it, Fowler’s hit, Fowler’s scored”. Heskey could have doubled the tally after a cross in from Vladimir Smicer but he scuffed it. Liverpool could have secured the win in the 91st minute when Fowler was in with a chance for his second but he blasted it over. Surely it was all over? No… Birmingham’s O’Connor went down after a dodgy tackle in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Penalty. Purse stepped up, and scored in the 95th minute. Sander Westerveld went the right way but the penalty was too strong. Extra Time.

Both teams had chances in a nervy final half hour. The Blues came close through Bryan Hughes and Liverpool through a Gary McAllister free kick. Liverpool kept pushing and looked more and more likely to score, and in the 115th minute Didier Hamann rattled the woodwork after an excellent shot outside the box. Despite Liverpool having many chances, it went to penalties which Liverpool won 5-4 in sudden-death.

Liverpool fans started asking themselves, is this the start of something big?

Just month’s later Liverpool reached the FA Cup final after beating Wycombe Wanderers 2-1 at Villa Park with two late goals from Emile Heskey and Robbie Fowler to set up a final against Arsenal. Liverpool were enjoying life after winning the League Cup, a place in the UEFA Cup Final to look forward to in a weeks’ time and also winning five of their last six games in the Premier League.

Onto the second final of the season and the Reds are back at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff this time to face Arsenal in the FA Cup final. The first half against The Gunners was a dull affair although we did see penalty appeals for both teams, Liverpool’s Heskey was chopped down in the box whilst Thierry Henry went round the keeper to have his shot saved by defender Henchoz with his hand!

Two minutes into the second half and Michael Owen earned Liverpool a free kick which Danny Murphy crossed in for Heskey to force a save from England stopper David Seaman. Arsenal were also close to scoring with Henry and Pires linking nicely but Sami Hyypia produced a world class goal line clearance to deny the opening goal. The deadlock was finally broken in the 71st minute when Arsenal scored after a poor clearance by Sander Westerveld. Robert Pires played it to Freddie Ljungberg and the Swede finished it off beautifully.

Step forward 21 year old striker Michael Owen who bagged two goals in five minutes to turn the game on it’s head. The talented England striker had broke Arsenal fans’ hearts and the Liverpool fans were ecstatic with joy. What a comeback!

With the second trophy in the bag for 2001, Liverpool now travelled to Dortmund to face Spanish side Deportivo Alaves in the UEFA Cup Final. Liverpool had scored 14 goals in the knockout stages whilst free scoring Alaves had scored 31 goals, including nine on aggregate in the semi-finals. This was Liverpool’s first European final since the Heysal Disaster ban and it was Alaves’s first ever European final and also their debut season in European competition. A goalless draw was looking very unlikely!

Within a few minutes Heskey earned Liverpool a free kick which McAllister stepped up and crossed in. Babbel headed it downwards for it to cross the line. His sixth goal of the season. Good start by Liverpool. 1-0. Not long later Owen passed it to Gerrard to double their lead. The 10th goal of the season for the soon to be Liverpool captain. Alaves scored soon after with a strong header from Alonso however Liverpool earned themselves a penalty before the end of the second half for McAllister to bury and make the score line 3-1.

The second half saw Alaves score two goals straight after kick off. Contra put in another good cross and Moreno scored a lovely header and minutes after, the same man, Moreno, stepped up with a stunner of a free kick and scored. The drama was far from over as substitute Fowler went past a number of players and placed it into the corner only for Alaves to equalise again in the 88th minute.

In another nervy extra time for Liverpool, made even more anxious through the golden goal ruling, Alaves went down to 9 men and helped seal the win after Geli headed in an own goal.

Liverpool had won the treble.

In what will be remembered as one of Liverpool’s best ever seasons it was topped off with Michael Owen winning the Ballon d’Or and securing a spot in the Champions League after beating Charlton Athletic 4-0.