24 August 2001

A showpiece occasion in Monaco at the beginning of the 2001-02 season illustrated just how far Liverpool had progressed under manager Gerard Houllier.

The Reds were still riding high following their treble winning exploits of the previous campaign and were now back amongst the big boys of European football, with Champions League winners Bayern Munich offering the perfect test of Liverpool's credentials.

Houllier had already bolstered his squad with the acquisition of highly-rated Monaco left-back John Arne Riise and the young Norwegian got his Reds career off to the perfect start on 22 minutes when he applied a fine finish to Michael Owen's right-wing cross to open the scoring on his old stomping ground.

It was a thoroughly deserved advantage and one that they doubled on the stroke of half-time when Emile Heskey's surging run sent him clear of the defence before clipping a delightful finish past Oliver Kahn.

If Liverpool fans were both surprised and delighted by their half-time advantage, then they were well and truly in dreamland within 60 seconds of the restart when Michael Owen made it 3-0.

The England man gave the German defence a cameo of the havoc he would cause them on international duty a week later when he took advantage of a mistake by Pablo Thiam to race on to Jamie Carragher's pass and apply a superb left-foot finish.

At this point it looked like Liverpool could go on and score more goals but the prospect of an embarrassing defeat seemed to spark the European Champions into life and they reduced the arrears on 56 minutes through Hasan Salihamidzic's header.

All of a sudden there was an urgency about Bayern's play and the introduction of Carsten Jancker seemed to stir a discomfort in the Reds' defence that ultimately paid dividends with the towering forward looping a header beyond Sander Westerveld to put them right back in the frame with nine minutes to go.

The Germans pushed forward desperate to pull off an unlikely comeback but the Liverpool defence held firm to secure the cup and become the only English side to have ever raised five trophies in a single calendar year.