My biggest game Michael Owen
Arsenal 1 Liverpool 2 2001 FA Cup Final, Cardiff
When Michael Owen reflects on the two games he feels define his career, the 2001 Ballon d’Or winner puts a match-winning display for Liverpool ahead of his iconic breakthrough performance for England against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup.
The teenage Owen scored a goal that was instantly hailed as one of the best seen at a World Cup as he raced half the length of the field to create a moment he admits changed his life, but it was a display three years later that he cherishes most.
There are not many times when you go onto a football field believing no one can stop you, but that is how I felt in the 2001 FA Cup final against Arsenal.
At every step of my early career, I believed I could score against anyone; give me the ball, create a chance for me and it will be a goal. That was my attitude when I was a teenager, and the success I had with Liverpool and then with England did nothing to dilute that belief.
In that cup final v Arsenal, I felt as if I was unstoppable if I was given a chance.
We were second best for most of the game, but it was only 1-0 going into the closing stages and I felt that my moment was coming.
This was an Arsenal team at the peak of their powers: Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Freddie Ljungberg and Thierry Henry were all giving us real problems, but it all turned around in the final few minutes.
I scored from what was pretty much my first chance of the game, and then I knew the second one was coming with their defenders tiring. When the ball came for me to run on to I knew I was going to score; it’s such a wonderful feeling.
I remember running at the Arsenal defence and it was up to me what happened next. They couldn’t stop me and I knew the cup was in my hands. When the shot went past David Seaman, the rush was as good as it got for me in football. That’s why it will always be the best day of my career.
Football is about winning trophies and I remember the pride my family felt after my goals that day. It was my only FA Cup final and a wonderful memory.
They say the value of the FA Cup has diminished in recent years, but finishing fourth in the Premier League is not the dream you have growing up. You want to win trophies and that is why I look back on that day with so much satisfaction.
The other time I felt like that was against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup, when I was given a start by Glenn Hoddle. I just knew I would score that night.
People still talk to me about my goal to this day and there is no doubt it changed a lot for me in my career. I didn’t do a lot of research into the Argentina defence prior to the game, but it was clear that they didn’t likea quick striker running at them. That was obvious from the first minute. The goal felt so easy. I got the ball from David Beckham and I could see their defenders were in horrible positions. Roberto Ayala was a great player, but he was not in the right place to defend against me and from the moment I got the ball I thought of one thing: goal.
As I look back on it now, it was the moment that changed my life. When you score a goal like that, it changes the way you are viewed all over the world and even though I always had belief in my ability, everyone knew about me from that moment on.
When the ball came for me to run on to I knew I was going to score
That goal against Argentina represents everything I stood for. I was fearless, I was ruthless. No opponent intimidated me. When a striker feels like that, he is very difficult to stop.
Interview by Kevin Palmer Michael Owen’s autobiography Reboot is available now