Owen is Reds' Euro boy

In February, the Liverpool and England striker scored his 20th European goal in the Reds 2-0 home win over Auxerre to become the club's joint top European scorer alongside moustachioed legend Ian Rush. On Wednesday night, in Liverpool's UEFA Cup first round first leg encounter with Olimpija Lubljana, Owen was his team's hero as he nodded home a 77th minute equaliser to cancel out Anton Zlogar's opener 11 minutes earlier and overtake his boyhood hero in the scoring stakes yet again.

"It's special!" Owen admitted after snatching the important 'away goal' and pass Rush in the Euro leaderboard.

"I'm really pleased to get the record," he added, "Records always mean something to you and it's a special moment for me."

And his manager Gerard Houllier was equally delighted to see his young star net the leveller: "It is a special and historic night for Michael," he said.

"We celebrated the goal with him. It was a good cross and it was a wonderful header by Michael - it was a great goal!"

Though it took the 23 year-old seven games more than Rush to reach the summit, what is remarkable is that 16 of his strikes have come away from home.

This is not the first time Owen has overcome a barrier set by the former Welsh International. In 1991 he beat Rush's scoring record for the Deeside primary schools - but Owen still has some way to go to beat his overall scoring record with the Merseyside club. Rush scored 335 goals for Liverpool, while Owen's current tally is 147. But would anyone bet against him beating it?