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Michael Owen has said that if he had to pick one player from his career with whom he would “go to war” alongside, he would choose former Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard.
That is high praise indeed from Owen, who shared a dressing room with some elite players during his time at Liverpool, Manchester United, Real Madrid, and England. At Anfield, the striker formed an incredible on-field partnership with Gerrard after the pair progressed through the youth ranks within a few years of each other.
During the Gerard Houllier era at Liverpool, Gerrard and Owen were the bright young stars of the team that won five trophies in 2001, although only one went on to establish himself as a real club legend.
For Gerrard, his battling qualities were complemented by supreme technical talent. For that reason, Owen paired Gerrard with Zinedine Zidane in a recent podcast appearance, when asked to name his ultimate five-a-side team based on those he lined up alongside as a player.
Speaking on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, when asked what the differences between the midfielders were, Owen explained: “The best player I ever played with was Zidane.
“Elegance, just a ballerina, just beautiful, incredible, everything that he did was just unbelievable.
“But if you said to me ‘you’re going to war now, you’re playing in the biggest game of your life tomorrow. Who do you want alongside you?’ I mean Stevie was everything.
“He was just too big, too strong, the best passer of the ball you could imagine. We all talk about [Paul] Scholes and Becks [David Beckham], great passers of the ball; Stevie’s passing was incredible. His goal scoring, his vision.”
While Owen dazzled in his early career at Liverpool and enjoyed one impressive scoring campaign at Real, the ex-forward admitted he felt “half embarrassed” in the latter stages of his injury-impacted career.
“Well, I've said before, I sort of split my career into two. Almost Liverpool and maybe Madrid. And then afterwards, because I just wasn't the same.
“Not that I didn't like it. I loved it at United. I love you and the lads and whatever. But I'm not me. You know what I was when I was 18, and you know what I was when I was 30. I was half embarrassed.
“I'm coming out, they've been to these big stadiums, St James' Park, Old Trafford, with my name on my back.
“It's like, can I not just change my name and just think of something, like call me something else? I don't want people to remember me like this. Still good, still scoring. But I'm not what I was. It's killing me. But, what can you do?”
English (US) ·