Djibril Cisse came off the bench to force an equalizer and then scored in extra time as Liverpool beat CSKA Moscow 3-1 to win the European SuperCup on Friday.
France striker Cisse scored two minutes after coming on in the 81st minute at Stade Louis II. He also slotted in from an angle after seeing his shot blocked in the 103rd.
Cisse set up Liverpool's third goal, crossing perfectly from the right for Luis Garcia to head home in the 109th.
PHOTO: EPA
Daniel Carvalho put UEFA Cup winner Moscow ahead against the run of play in the 28th.
"It was tough for us at the beginning, but we managed to come through it," said Cisse. "Scoring two goals tonight in a final, for sure it will increase my confidence. There has been a lot of speculation in the last week saying I would leave the club. But that is not the discussion I had with the boss. I have signed a contract two years ago and I still have three years left."
Champions League titleholder Liverpool now has 11 European trophies, and four in the last four years.
Liverpool won the SuperCup in 1977 and 2001, and has five European Cups (1977, 1978, 1981, 1984 and 1905) and three UEFA Cups (1973, 1976 and 2001).
Liverpool coach Rafael Benitez would not say whether Cisse will stay at Liverpool, or whether Michael Owen will arrive from Real Madrid but hinted both options remained open.
He praised Cisse, who has attracted interest from Marseille.
"The game was ready for Cisse in the second half, we needed fresh legs and he is a good player," Benitez said. "We are happy to win this trophy."
Moscow took the lead when Elvir Rahimic's pass caught out Liverpool's defense and Carvalho beat the offside trap to fire past goalkeeper Jose Reina.
Garcia, one of five Spaniards in Liverpool's starting lineup, missed a good chance to equalize in the 36th when he curled a shot narrowly wide.
Benitez selected Garcia to play just behind Spain striker Fernando Morientes. Steven Gerrard sat out, so defender Jamie Carragher wore the captain's armband.
The second half started with Liverpool holding the ball well but posing a limited threat. Garcia's backheel enabled Josemi to line up a fierce shot from 20m which went narrowly wide.
Frustrated, the Liverpool fans resorted to chanting "Michael Owen, there's only one Michael Owen.: Owen is hoping to return to Liverpool, where he scored 158 goals.
Those chants soon turned to cheers when Cisse profited from a fortunate rebound that looped over Moscow 'keeper Igor Akinfeev, presenting Cisse with a simple tap-in.
Narrowly beaten in this week's final Champions League qualifying round, Everton and Monaco were handed potentially tough draws Friday in the UEFA Cup first round.
Everton, which lost to Spanish side Villarreal, will travel to Romania for the first leg of its match with Dinamo Bucharest, while Monaco hosts Dutch side Willem II.
The winners of the two-legged matches advance to the group phase, which leads to the knockout rounds.
Defending champion CSKA Moscow was pitted against FC Midtjylland of Denmark and losing finalist Sporting Lisbon faces Swedish side Halmstads BK.
Everton chief executive Keith Wynass said the club had high expectations.
"We really need to go as far as we can in this competition," he said. "Certainly reaching the last 32 to make it financially viable. It could be a long slog through Europe for us."
Monaco president Michel Pastor said he still had "some regrets" after the principality side's elimination to Real Betis, but that the UEFA Cup was a chance for his players to make amends.
"We need to put in an honorable performance," Pastor said. "Now our team needs to show its capacities and to go as far as possible."
Marseille's sporting director Pape Diouf said playing against Belgian side Antwerp would not be easy, despite the 5-1 win over Deportivo La Coruna which enabled 1993 European champion Marseille to make the draw.
The English-Argentine soccer rivalry is legendary, but when English champion Chelsea wanted a smooth wine for its 100th anniversary festivities, it chose Argentine grapes.
The Mendoza winery that produces a distinctive Chardonnay Cristobal 1492 said on Friday it is sending some 30,000 bottles of the white wine for the club's festivities through the end of the year.
The chardonnay, produced from select grapes grown in the shadows of the Andes, won a top prize in 2004 from the World Wine Market International Wine Competition in San Francisco, and was praised for its delicate appeal to the palate. Still, Eduardo Lapania, owner of Bodega Don Cristobal winery, was stunned the English picked his wine.
"For us it was a real surprise," said Lapania, whose winery also produces malbecs, merlots and other wines that are beating a path to Europe and the US.
Argentina and England have a storied rivalry on the soccer field. They have met in five World Cups, and the most infamous was Argentina's 2-1 quarterfinal victory in 1986, featuring Maradona's "Hand of God" goal, and a second score that has been ranked the greatest in World Cup history.
Lapania said the bottles are being shipped with special labels emblazoned with the blue Chelsea lion on a white background embossed with the words "Chelsea Football Club."
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