Barca shock Liverpool

Michael Owen notches up his 14th goal of the season.

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Liverpool 1-3 Barcelona
Phase Two
Group B

Liverpool endured their first Champions League defeat of the season as they were outclassed by the artists of Barcelona.

Michael Owen gave Liverpool the lead, but two wonderfully worked goals from Patrick Kluivert and Fabio Rochemback put Barcelona ahead.

With six minutes remaining, Marc Overmars added a third to kill the game.

The turning point was losing the goal just before half-time

Liverpool assistant manager Phil Thompson

Apart from brief periods, Liverpool played more like artisans than artists.

While they led, Liverpool were happy to hit Barcelona on the break.

But as they chased the game ,the home side found it difficult to create chances.

Early on, Emile Heskey missed two chances to put Liverpool ahead.

On each occasion he was set-up by passes from the right, first from Danny Murphy and then from Vladimir Smicer.

Heskey also went close just before the interval when he controlled the ball on his chest and fired in a low shot which Phillip Cocu cleared off the line.

It was left to Owen to snatch the lead for Liverpool.

On 27 minutes, he sprinted into space to collect Vladimir Smicer's defence-splitting pass.

Bonano was quickly out, but Owen was quicker, slipping the ball under the Argentine goalkeeper to claim his 14th goal of the season.

Just before the hour, Owen showed that he was human when he missed a golden chance to restore Liverpool's lead.

Bonano had failed to collect Smicer's cross from the left, but somehow Owen placed his volley wide of the empty net.

Brazilian masterclass

After Owen's opener, Barcelona took a while to regroup, but when they did it was with devastating effect.

Marc Overmars cut in from the right and fed Rivaldo, who with one touch looped the ball over Sami Hyppia and Stephane Henchoz.

Without hesistating, Kluivert swivelled and volleyed the ball low and hard past Jerzy Dudek.

The Polish goalkeeper made several important saves either side of the interval.

First he denied Overmars with a one-handed save and then on 49 minutes he thwarted Kluivert with his feet.

Barcelona took the lead after Kluivert and Rivaldo had swapped passes to allow Rochemback the briefest glimpses of goals.

That was all he needed as he curled his shot inside Dudek's left-hand post.

Overmars completed the scoring for Barcelona as he beat Liverpool's offside trap, rounded Dudek and slipped the ball home.

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Liverpool: Dudek, Carragher, Henchoz, Hyypia, Riise, Gerrard, Murphy, McAllister, Smicer, Owen, Heskey. Subs: Kirkland, Fowler, Berger, Diomede, Biscan, Wright, Litmanen.

Barcelona: Bonano, Christanval, Andersson, de Boer, Coco, Luis Enrique, Gabri, Xavi, Cocu, Rivaldo, Kluivert. Subs: Reina, Reiziger, Saviola, Overmars, Gerard, Rochemback, Geovanni.

Referee: H Krug (Germany).