Owen scores twice and Riise's free-kick beats Manchester United at Anfield

Michael Owen came into the 2001–02 season after a year of winning. He had scored both goals in the FA Cup final win over Arsenal as Liverpool took the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup, and in September he had scored a hat-trick for England in the 5–1 win over Germany in Munich.

Liverpool were without their manager. Gérard Houllier had been rushed to hospital at half-time of the 1–1 draw with Leeds in October and needed surgery straight away. His assistant, Phil Thompson, was in charge, and for the visit of Manchester United on 4 November he made one change from the side that had played in the Champions League in midweek.

Two before the break

Owen scored the first after 32 minutes. Vladimír Šmicer played the ball through, Emile Heskey dummied it, which confused Wes Brown and Mikael Silvestre, and Owen ran clear and curled it with his right foot past Fabien Barthez into the top corner.

Shortly before half-time Silvestre fouled Owen on the edge of the box. John Arne Riise, signed from Monaco for £4 million in the summer, hit the free-kick with his left foot from around 30 yards. It went in off the crossbar.

"Out of all the goals I've ever scored, that's my favourite because of the opponents, the timing of it and how I hit that ball," Riise said years later. "I know the fans still sing about it now and that means a lot."

A minute's reply

Five minutes into the second half Denis Irwin crossed from the left, the ball came off Riise, and David Beckham drilled it past Jerzy Dudek.

United's comeback lasted about 60 seconds. Barthez missed a deep cross and Owen headed in his second to make it 3–1. Šmicer could have had a fourth on 61 minutes but put his shot over the bar. Alex Ferguson took Beckham off for Paul Scholes.

It was Liverpool's fourth win in a row and United's second straight league defeat, their third of the season.

The rest of the year

Six weeks later, on 18 December, Owen was awarded the Ballon d'Or, the first Englishman to win it since Kevin Keegan in 1979. He finished the season with 19 Premier League goals. Liverpool won at Old Trafford too, and finished second, three points ahead of United in third.