Liverpool enjoyed one of the most memorable days in its recent history on Sunday to beat arch-rivals Manchester United 2-0, win the League Cup final and secure a place in next season's UEFA Cup.
Goals near the end of each half at the Millennium Stadium from Steven Gerrard (39) and Michael Owen (86) gave them a deserved victory over United and secured their sixth piece of silverware under French coach Gerard Houllier and a record seventh success in the competition.
The win also lifted some of the gloom surrounding Anfield following a dramatic slump in their domestic league form over the last three months which has brought them just two wins in their last 16 league games.
PHOTO: AP
Houllier, who paid tribute to his Polish keeper Jerzy Dudek, told Sky Sports, "We've beaten a good team today, it was a good Manchester United, don't get me wrong.
"Jerzy was the hero at times. I told him before the game `Today it will be your game.'"
As for the significance of the win for the rest of Liverpool's season, he said, "It will probably get us a bit of relief. I think we can play in the Premiership with less pressure on us because we know we'll be in Europe, so let's go now for the best."
PHOTO: REUTERS
Owen said, "That [the goal] was the first real chance I had in the game -- but you have to play until the 90th minute.
"I'm delighted for everyone, for the fans who made the long journey down and the players -- we have taken a bit of stick this year, we haven't had a great year."
United manager Alex Ferguson added to the praise for Dudek, saying, "They got the break in the first goal with the deflection. There was nothing really in the game in the first half.
"In the second half, the deciding factor was their goalkeeper. I thought he was absolutely fantastic. I don't know how many saves he made but every one was fantastic."
Liverpool was always more determined and lively than United in what has become a happy "second home" for them.
Sunday's win was their third here after victories in the 2001 League and FA Cup finals. They also beat Manchester United 2-1 in Cardiff in the 2001 Charity Shield game.
Ferguson's team created enough chances, especially in the second half to earn Dudek the Man of the Match Award, but overall, Liverpool was more incisive and took its chances when they came.
Gerrard's booming 30m drive in the 39th minute, which took a deflection off David Beckham as he tried to block it, looked to have settled the clash which only came to life after his goal following a largely scrappy opening half.
But Owen, whose two late goals sank Arsenal in the 2001 FA Cup final, raced away on the break after Rio Ferdinand, United's ?30 million England defender, had given away the ball on the halfway line, to fire a second past Fabien Barthez and put the result beyond doubt.
United went close to an equalizer just before the interval when a shot from Juan Sebastian Veron was punched clear by Dudek and a follow-up shot from Paul Scholes was cleared off the line by Stephane Henchoz.
"I think I was in the right place at the right moment," Henchoz said. "It was important because we had just scored the first goal and it was important go in at halftime with that goal advantage."
Ruud van Nistelrooy twice forced excellent saves from Dudek in the second half, but Beckham, Veron and Wales' most famous footballing son Ryan Giggs failed to deliver for United who were well-beaten in the end.
Owen, who tucked home his 19th goal of the season, sent Liverpool's fans into raptures with most of them forgetting the disappointing season they have endured so far.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier