"michael owen is a world class player and we simply could not counter his threat." fc bayern münchen coach ottmar hitzfeld was in no doubt about the difference between the sides as liverpool fc added the uefa super cup to the glittering array of silverware they had collected over the previous six months with a 3-2 victory in monaco.
owen scored one and set up another for the uefa cup winners who were back in the goals following their thrilling 5-4 victory against deportivo alavés the previous may in dortmund. liverpool, who had also won the english league cup and fa cup the previous season, did not need to hit such heights to go into half-time 2-0 in front against the european champions.
owen was in scintillating form and he set up new signing john arne riise for the first, the norwegian sliding in to meet the striker's low cross at the far post midway through the half. liverpool doubled their lead moments before the interval when emile heskey breezed past thomas linke and robert kovač before shooting beyond oliver kahn in the bayern goal.
the game looked effectively finished within a minute of the restart as owen beat kahn after latching onto jamie carragher's long pass. however, three goals up and coasting, liverpool sat back and invited a bayern comeback. having offered no shots on goal while liverpool built their three-goal lead, bayern, winners on penalties against valencia cf in the uefa champions league final, did their best to make up for lost ground by scoring with two headed goals.
hasan salihamidžić provided initial hope in the 57th minute when he nodded in owen hargreaves' corner and then substitute carsten jancker ensured a rousing finale when he looped the ball over sander westerveld with eight minutes to go. however, despite kahn's presence in liverpool's penalty area late in the game, an equaliser never looked likely.
