Michael Owen scored twice and set up the other to shake off his scoring slump on Wednesday as Liverpool jumped three places to fifth in the Premier League with a 3-0 beating of Portsmouth.
After nine games without a goal including two missed penalties, there were worries about England's top attacker. He responded by setting up a sixth minute strike for Dietmar Hamann and then hit the target in the 38th and 58th minutes before 34,633 relieved Liverpool fans at Anfield.
"Michael is so special," said Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier. "He made one goal, scored two, and showed he is not only a star player he a great team player.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"Michael did not only score goals but he worked tremendously hard. The effort our front two put in to shut down defenders and win the ball back was hugely important. Defending starts at the front.
"In fact Michael did not have too many opportunities, but he scored two," Houllier said. "His confidence will now improve because goals do that to strikers."
The Merseyside soccer giant, without a league title since 1990 despite a record 18, has struggled all season in the league and it was Portsmouth who knocked Gerard Houllier's team out of the FA Cup.
PHOTO: REUTERS
But Hamann calmed the fans nerves with a sixth minute strike.
Owen chased a cross which had been overhit and turned to curl in a cross which the German hit first time into the top corner from 20m.
After Harry Kewell had forced Pompey 'keeper Shaka Hislop into a diving save, Owen started and finish the move that ended with Liverpool's second.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Collecting the ball in midfield, the England striker found Jamie Carragher with a pass out to the right and then arrived in front of goal to sweep the defender's deflected cross into the net from close range.
On a one-sided game, Hislop saved from Danny Murphy before Owen struck again in the 58th minute, heading home a curling corner from Stephen Gerrard.
Scottish league
Celtic moved 19 points clear of Rangers in the Scottish title race with a 2-1 victory at Dundee on Wednesday.
Goals by Stilian Petrov and Henrik Larsson put Martin O'Neill's team in control as Celtic reached 80 points from 28 unbeaten games. Rangers has 61 from 27.
Just 8,953 fans at Dens Park saw Bulgarian midfielder Petrov put the Hoops ahead in the 38th minute when he charged up to make the overlap, meet a floated pass from Stephen Pearson and slide the ball home.
Celtic increased the lead in the 68th minute when John Kennedy headed Petrov's free-kick into the path of Larsson who slipped the ball past 'keeper Julian Speroni.
The game was virtually all over by the time Sebastian Kneissl replied for Dundee in the final minute and the Terrors slipped one place to eighth in the standings.
German Cup
Ivica Grlic scored the only goal to lift second-division Alemannia Aachen to a 1-0 victory over Borussia Moenchengladbach on Wednesday and send his team to the final of the German Cup against Werder Bremen and, very likely, to the UEFA Cup next season.
Grlic curled a free kick around the wall from 20m in the 43rd minute to secure another upset for Aachen, which had eliminated defending champion Bayern Munich in the previous round.
Werder Bremen needed two goals late in extra time to overcome second-division Luebeck in Tuesday's semifinal.
The final is May 29 in Berlin.
Aachen is very likely to play in next season's UEFA Cup since Bremen is expected to finish either first or second in the Bundesliga. With 10 rounds to go, Bremen has a nine-point lead over Bayern and is on course for its first double.
Ivo Ulich wasted the first opportunity for Moenchengladbach after 13 minutes and Vaclav Sverkos hit the far post from a narrow angle in the 20th.
Italian Cup
Stefano Fiore scored two second-half goals to lead Lazio to a 2-0 win against Juventus in the first leg of the Italian Cup final Wednesday.
The Lazio midfielder used an acrobatic volley to redirect a headed assist from Portuguese teammate Fernando Couto in the 59th minute and converted a bicycle kick in the 80th.
Lazio's Brazilian midfielder Cesar had his 53rd-minute penalty shot blocked by Juventus goalkeeper Antonio Chimenti.
Juventus was reduced to 10 men when Croatian defender Igor Tudor received a red card for fighting eight minutes from the end.
The Italian Cup has turned into a top priority for both clubs, which have each been eliminated from European Cup play and trail far behind leader AC Milan in Serie A.
Lazio came out energized for the second half after thinking it had scored in first-half injury time, when referee Pierluigi Collina annulled a goal by the Roman squad.
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